Pandora's Rival: The Gizmondo

[jimid2]

They are misunderstood; but all the people who owned atleast the QD, loved them.

Well I didn't... It was too big to be a good cell phone, and the screen was too small and oriented the wrong way for good gaming... Oh, and there were like five good games for the damned thing after three years on the market... Add in the occasional inexplicable crash (usually right in the middle of a Road to Glory episode that left me starting all over from the beginning, again!) and I was glad to get rid of mine... Today, I happily carry my Sony-Ericsson W810i and a dedicated gaming system; the QD was an over-sized, inconvenient, pita. Though I have to admit, I did like the D-Pad on it...

 

[rammy]

QUOTE
It does? What, 30 or so fanboiz? Large fanbase laugh.gif


Obviously you dont know a lot about the Gizmondo, but if you
did you would know that theres a lot more than 30.


QUOTE
You must not have had many pieces then. I thought the design of the Giz was *terrible*. Small washed out interlaced screen, no stereo speakers, terrible - I mean TERRIBLE GUI and absolutely horrid boot and shut down times (can't just switch the damn thing off, it takes forever), god awful stiff clunky D-pad, "piano keys" that only work if you put all of your weight on them. To me the design of the Giz was a complete disaster. It had me saying "What were they THINKING" alot. The only thing that I liked about it was the rubbery coating.


Same lack of info here also, Otaku has taken apart many a device. but that matters for nothing
some giz owners dont like how it was built but they still enjoy using it...oh i see you may
have a fetish for rubber then.

I have a Giz and gp2x and they both have there pros and cons, i like some on here
dont like the look of the pandora, but it wont stop me wanting one. sometimes its
about sticking with something and most of the time it grows on you..

I played pc games online for years with keyboard and mouse.
then i got a 360 and boy was that hard and frustrating playing simular games
with a pad... :angry: ..god i hated it at first, but over time it grew on me... :wub:

 

[Frogboy]

Hold on....

QUOTE

The Gizmondo also had a feature called "Smart Ads." In exchange for a discount on the Gizmondo (of $170 in the US, £100 in the UK), up to three advertisements per day would be displayed on the handheld’s screen. Although the ads would not interrupt game play or other functions of the unit, the user would be forced to watch them before going on to the next function or shutting down the device. However because of the closure of the company, "Smart Ads" currently do not run on the 'Smart Ads' enabled devices.

That's not a feature....that's torture


Talk about it. Three ads may seem small but every day you boot it up and get those ads it would be torture. It would get to the point that when you buy another handheld you wouldn't sell your old one, you'd throw it at a wall.


You better be giving away the hardware if you are going to pull some stuff like that.

 

[rammy]

Hold on....

QUOTE

The Gizmondo also had a feature called "Smart Ads." In exchange for a discount on the Gizmondo (of $170 in the US, £100 in the UK), up to three advertisements per day would be displayed on the handheld’s screen. Although the ads would not interrupt game play or other functions of the unit, the user would be forced to watch them before going on to the next function or shutting down the device. However because of the closure of the company, "Smart Ads" currently do not run on the 'Smart Ads' enabled devices.

That's not a feature....that's torture


Talk about it. Three ads may seem small but every day you boot it up and get those ads it would be torture. It would get to the point that when you buy another handheld you wouldn't sell your old one, you'd throw it at a wall.


You better be giving away the hardware if you are going to pull some stuff like that.


If this had come along then i am sure we would of disabled it if it was that annoying.

instead of having a pop a the bad things about the giz have a look at some
stuff released/unrealeased planned for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfp8id6bpDU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeLkjSLG7wY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2es_8v64Jc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3NsGqrwr44

 

[___]

OMG! Craigix, MWeston and ED! Watch your back... if a guy named Dietrich invites you to a drive in his fancy car: RUN!

 

[DaveC]

QUOTE
It does? What, 30 or so fanboiz? Large fanbase laugh.gif

Obviously you dont know a lot about the Gizmondo, but if you
did you would know that theres a lot more than 30.

I have a Giz and gp2x and they both have there pros and cons, i like some on here
dont like the look of the pandora, but it wont stop me wanting one. sometimes its
about sticking with something and most of the time it grows on you..


I may not know everything about the Giz , but I have one. That is enough for me to know what rubbish it is. I am not even comparing it to anything else. I am not saying XYZ is better etc. On it's own merit it is bad. They made some very poor design decisions that as an end user makes the Giz experience not too good. It may grow on you, but so does fungus

 

[jens.l]

QUOTE
It does? What, 30 or so fanboiz? Large fanbase laugh.gif

Obviously you dont know a lot about the Gizmondo, but if you
did you would know that theres a lot more than 30.

I have a Giz and gp2x and they both have there pros and cons, i like some on here
dont like the look of the pandora, but it wont stop me wanting one. sometimes its
about sticking with something and most of the time it grows on you..


I may not know everything about the Giz , but I have one. That is enough for me to know what rubbish it is. I am not even comparing it to anything else. I am not saying XYZ is better etc. On it's own merit it is bad. They made some very poor design decisions that as an end user makes the Giz experience not too good. It may grow on you, but so does fungus


Have you tried Picodrive and some other Emus on the Gizmondo ?

MfG
Jens

 

[Trevsweb]

I'm not here to sturr up more giz fan love but...

The Gizmondo made it to commercial retail stores (all be it to the expense of the investors) the gp32/etc has not (only online stores)

Gizmondo had commecial games that looked quite good, the only games ive seen for the gp(etc) was payback(?) a loosly based gta clone that ran great but didnt look too fantastic past the particle effects but both consoles now rely on homebrew... this is where gp(etc) wins as this is what it was built for... gizmondo has no SDK really to speak of to allow proper homebrew... we rely on ports of ppc. this may change however with the new promised sdk :/ little late there carl lol

but if we had an sdk to work from then we wouldve been flying think of the possibilities... GPS, bluetooth, GPRS add SDIO support for wifi sd cards maybe. i think the only feature giz lacked was wifi to make it an awesome device.. the software stuff wouldve come if the company was around.

Think of the old gizmondo as gp32_console and the new console as :gp2x we shall see what can be done.

as for the pandora, love the specs but taking about the giz uglyness, it does look like that scene in Alien (cant rememeber if its 3 or ressurestion) where the alien is in the tube saying kill me... DS hybrid monkey baby or what. but seriously i want to see a working prototype before i pass judgement.

p.s: i just want to clarify even though i love gizmondo it doesnt mean im 100% happy about the new version coming/or not out this year...

p.p.s: yea someone posted on gizforums so now u have all 30 of us trying to strach ure eyes out hiss lol

 

[namco]

QUOTE

scene in Alien (cant rememeber if its 3 or ressurestion) where the alien is in the tube saying kill me



It's Alien Resurrection where Ripley finds the other mutated clones of herself.

 

[Trevsweb]

thought it was

 

[icurafu]

It's funny to see irrational fanboyism from a perspective that isn't my own.

By the way, my Pandora is gunna kick your Gizmondo's arse any night of the week.

 

[Trevsweb]

It's funny to see irrational fanboyism from a perspective that isn't my own.

By the way, my Pandora is gunna kick your Gizmondo's arse any night of the week.

yea when (your) pandora arrives
we are just here to correct wrong statements made on this post that is all. we know the gizmondos company was a shambles to put it nicely but the hardware is everything we wanted 3/4 years ago. the fact people are still using it is nice, all be it not many.. but i think you see our/my perspective as a "hate-all-other-console" if thats your thinking then you'd be very wrong.

Bring on the pandora and its most likely than not poor battery life, price? and production cost corner cutting that will happen, not to mention that it looks fuglyer than the gizmondo wedged in carl freers ass... but if it performs and does what it promises then we shall all meet sometime soon on a pandora site chatting about how we love our pandoras

 

[C B Felterbush]

Well at least you didn't come flying out of your corner with knives. However in your attempt to be gentle you let your delusional perspective of somethings success go to your head.

Why do you suppose all retail stores are online now? It is because they NEED to be. There is a shopping presence online that is larger than any customer base for any store in the world. Therefore the objective of delivering a good online shopping experience for the GP2X/Gp32/Pandora should be the number one advertising focus. Ensure a products online success and you ensure its success.

It is a lot more useful than dumping company resources into a fancy “Retail” store then wrapping the leftover money that was available for company use around a phone pole in the form of a Ferrari Enzo.

Your faith in the Giz is blurring your visions of the future of that company.

 

[craigix]

I find the Gizmondo following almost cult like, the worse Gizmondo treated its customers the more some of them would love it, like some beat up girlfriend defending her pimp. This is not how it should be.

I don't mean all gizmondo customers of course, many just walked away and got a DS or PSP, some on the giz forum are very tongue in cheek about their support for this new version.

But what I'd like to say to the ones left hanging on to the dream of the giz 'coming back' is that you are very welcome here, I hope you will checkout the Pandora and understand the effort and scene input behind it, and that the designers and people behind it have been on this forum and part of the scene for many years.

I can assure you it exists and there will be real photos of the first 'mk0' pcbs this week, and elsewhere on these forums are photos of various prototypes.

Oh and the battery life - we are aiming for 10+ hours, part of the clamshell design is so that we can get a massive battery in it.

 

[Trevsweb]

Why do you suppose all retail stores are online now?

im saying gp32/x really only had craigx's company to thank for getting the word out really
just not sure if its outsourced to the wider market to make an impact.

It is a lot more useful than dumping company resources into a fancy “Retail” store then wrapping the leftover money that was available for company use around a phone pole in the form of a Ferrari Enzo.
Your faith in the Giz is blurring your visions of the future of that company.

maybe it is but i dont really care if the CEO eats babies as long as it produces a decent product, also the enzo thing wasnt in the business plan so not really a bad judgement on a company more like a fool with not a lot of sense

i think the pandora will succeed with the support of the community and the support from the people behind it
and i'm reassured the battery life specs are looking good. i shall post the piccies on my forum if i may when their available.

gizmondo is our pimp and still provides us with joy and sexy bling cars lol i hate metaphors

 

[Nova]

Hold on....

QUOTE

The Gizmondo also had a feature called "Smart Ads." In exchange for a discount on the Gizmondo (of $170 in the US, £100 in the UK), up to three advertisements per day would be displayed on the handheld's screen. Although the ads would not interrupt game play or other functions of the unit, the user would be forced to watch them before going on to the next function or shutting down the device. However because of the closure of the company, "Smart Ads" currently do not run on the 'Smart Ads' enabled devices.

That's not a feature....that's torture


Talk about it. Three ads may seem small but every day you boot it up and get those ads it would be torture. It would get to the point that when you buy another handheld you wouldn't sell your old one, you'd throw it at a wall.


You better be giving away the hardware if you are going to pull some stuff like that.


If this had come along then i am sure we would of disabled it if it was that annoying.

instead of having a pop a the bad things about the giz have a look at some
stuff released/unrealeased planned for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfp8id6bpDU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeLkjSLG7wY

That's incredible!

 

[C B Felterbush]

a fool with not a lot of sense = Giz CEO

Out of the mouth of the fanboy, we should all be so lucky as to have our handheld in such good hands. Like the blind leading the deaf.

 

[Trevsweb]

personal life and business lives are totally different tho. if he wants to be an idiot with the money then hes only got himself to blame. in a recent presentation at V tec he owned up to being a moron with the car crap so im just gonna sit and wait and see what comes of this... maybe nothing but no harm in having faith in something when this is exactly what where doing with the pandora.

 

[C B Felterbush]

You think, sounds to me like you have faith in a frog to be you're prince.

 

[critical]

both consoles now rely on homebrew... this is where gp(etc) wins as this is what it was built for... gizmondo has no SDK really to speak of to allow proper homebrew... we rely on ports of ppc. this may change however with the new promised sdk :/ little late there carl lol

but if we had an sdk to work from then we wouldve been flying think of the possibilities... GPS, bluetooth, GPRS add SDIO support for wifi sd cards maybe. i think the only feature giz lacked was wifi to make it an awesome device.. the software stuff wouldve come if the company was around.

I disagree. It's easy enough to develop for the Gizmondo, it's just that most of the people on the Gizmondoforums site couldn't write "Hello World" in BASIC if their pocket money depended on it. Using the GPS and bluetooth features is straightforward. There's a good SDL port, there's OpenGL support, an unofficial SDK, and you can just target Windows CE if you want. IMHO the Gizmondo hasn't attracted many competent developers to write stuff for it because:

* The 2D graphics performance is shit.

* The majority of people posting on the forums don't seem that bothered if people do stuff or not, and make no effort to understand or learn anything.

* The homebrew scene, such that it was, featured a lot of 'misrepresentation' for a long time.

* The consoles aren't easily purchased from a reputable online store in different countries.

In contrast, the GP2X's community has many enthusiasts with a more mature approach to jolly the thing along... it's a more fertile playground. I say this as someone who once tried to spark interest in the Gizmondo a bit, and got disappointed. It just never reached the critical mass required for a sustained interest in the platform, I suppose. A couple of the above points could equally apply to the PSP scene, but it's just big enough to cope.

I mean no disrespect to those that contributed so positively to the Gizmondo homebrew scene (who I won't list to avoid offending by omission) - it's just my opinion.