PGS Windows 10 gaming handheld - GPD WIN competitor

[rygD]

Remember this ugly contraption where you could screw in a "joystick".

It is ugly, however things like that can be useful. Someone mentioned something like that for the Game Boy a few years ago and I really wanted to see it happen (primarily for one piece of software that made use of diagonals which I seem incapable of hitting with precision, resulting in wrong or additional notes).

 

[vcoleiro1]

PGS just did an AMA on Reddit. They are still saying this month for the Kickstarter. Supposedly they will show a prototype of sorts. Hmmmm

Here is the AMA: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4opa3g/we_are_pgs_lab_a_team_dedicated_to_making_the/

 

[rygD]

Backers will receive theirs on March 2017, and we stand by that. Delays suck, and we will avoid them at all costs.

I agree, delays suck, but I can't say that the part I bolded is a good approach. The final product could end up being worthless by chasing a deadline, or the project could implode as costs increase to get things done faster, and then you they may be left with a few or no units to send out, totally fucking over everyone else.

Although I am trying to remain open minded, I am getting tired of "we have a real prototype, and we will show it eventually". I was not all that impressed with the previous "prototype" but I have no right to judge someone else's method for making something. I hope their prototype isn't just a disassembled tablet shoved in a Jaguar case, using a Bluetooth controller because "see, we will have Bluetooth".

Best of luck to them, even if I never buy one of these. I am still interested in the project, and really curious how they will get everything in there at that price, and fit everything without issues.

 

[vcoleiro1]

Seriously though, and this is dreamer talk, if they ever did release it and it ended being what they showed for the price they mentioned, then it would pretty much have a big impact on sales for the WIN and Pyra. Not may people interested in this sort of thing would pass it up. But lets be honest here, that's not likely.

I will reserve any comments until I see their final KS though

 

[levi]

Perhaps, but it (a) runs Win10 on x86, unlike the Pyra (with launch CPU board at least) and (b) it hasn't got a physical keyboard unlike both the Pyra and the GPD Win, so it's fairly trivial to argue it's a different category of thing. Whether people searching for a device to hack and play games on discriminates between devices on their having a physical keyboard or not is up for debate though,

 

[vcoleiro1]

Thats not the feedback ive seen though, people would dump the others in a heartbeat - the cheap specs over using a virutal keyboard on the second screen overloads their minds. Not to mention they can use it as a regular Android phone

 

[Exophase]

PGS just did an AMA on Reddit. They are still saying this month for the Kickstarter. Supposedly they will show a prototype of sorts. Hmmmm

Here is the AMA: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4opa3g/we_are_pgs_lab_a_team_dedicated_to_making_the/

The bar for r/IAmA seems pretty low these days...

 

[erico]

I have seem too many fantastic promises before without delivering to actually bother.

 

[vcoleiro1]

Some more info from the AMA

What date are you targeting for the Kickstarter?
I find that if a date is given, people tend to count down to it and can share it.

PGSlab 1 point 31 minutes ago
The 28th of this month is what we're going for, but it's subject to change.

 

[directive0]

It will be fascinating if this device, for all the awkward and cringey marketing, manages to come up from the back of the pack and make a bigger dent than either the pyra or the WIN.

 

[Klumpen]

It will be fascinating if this device, for all the awkward and cringey marketing, manages to come up from the back of the pack and make a bigger dent than either the pyra or the WIN.

 

[TheOldOne]

Perhaps we should add the PGS to the pyra comparison chart. Just be sure to list "Fantasy Land" as the country of manufacture.

 

[vcoleiro1]

Well, they are now saying the 30th for the KS. We shall see

 

[Agricola]

My two cents on this thing:
As long as they don't show any prototypes and have made no devices like this before, I have no expectations at all. No, I don't want to see it added to the comparison chart, because there is nothing to compare between an idea for a device and 2 computers that are already in their prototype phase and are built by legitimate companies that can reference the success of their previous handhelds. Though I do understand that was at least partially a joke by @TheOldOne. I personally wouldn't even want the PGS, even if it was real, as the lack of a keyboard is crucial to me.

Even the freaking people behind the Coleco Chameleon understood that others just trust them in this time of Kickstarter vaporware if they show a working prototype. They did it in the worst way imaginable, but they got the concept. And the fact that PGSLab now postponed the reveal of their prototype while they already showed off all of these fancy pictures doesn't make them seem very trustworthy.

Oh, and I just read in the IAmA that they want to charge 230 to 260 US$ for it. There seems to be something wrong if you can get 8GiB of RAM, a QHD screen, a second smaller touchscreen, a 128GB eMMC, a 6120mAh battery and a Cherry Trail x7-Z8750 for 260$.

And then the statement

we'd rather under-promise than over-promise

They get asked about the performance of emulators, and the very uninformed reply is:

We can't go into specifics because of the legal nature of emulators, but the PGS more than meets the requirements for 6th generation emulators.

And to end my post, here's another strange quote:

Backers will receive theirs on March 2017, and we stand by that. Delays suck, and we will avoid them at all costs.

I wanted this post to be sceptic, but optimistic, but after reading this, I call dingo!

 

[vcoleiro1]

Well, I'm as sceptical as anyone else. That said, I should mention the $230 and $260 prices are only early bird specials limited to about 100 units (going by their draft KS page). The price rises after that. They also did say they would show a prototype in the KS . I shoiuld note there draft KS said it didn't meet KS rules pointing to two things

1) dont show photo realistic pics
2) have a prototype

So it will be interesting to see whats in their KS now, if it ever gets off the ground

 

[Agricola]

That said, I should mention the $230 and $260 prices are only early bird specials limited to about 100 units (going by their draft KS page).

I could be wrong on this as my source is basically just a NeoGAF post that rehashes other news sources, but didn't they say it was between 230 and 260$ after they pulled the first Kickstarter and when wanted to bring the PGS to retail with money fom a private investor? Before the incident with the leaked video from the planned Kickstarter campain?

 

[comradekingu]

You can, but you would need to sell millions and millions, which is the opposite end of the scale to a small project where any action is a bigger decision, but yet individually so.

I don't know what kind of company it is, and they seem not willing to disclose that.

They could do it if they delivered in for example 2018. That would be 9 months delay on something already into the future
"Get" is not immediate.

 

[TheOldOne]

If the PGS was real and at $260 with those specs I would happily buy one to replace my dieing phone. As much as I like the pyra it's not a phone replacement for me and the PGS would be primarily a phone for me. However at a realistic price for those specs it would be far too much for me to spend on a phone and I'd rather buy the pyra as a handheld and a cheep phone. Between a realistic $700+ for the PGS and $330 for the win if I absolutely needed a windows powered handheld for some reason I'd go with the win.

As I said elsewhere about it That's a big IF.

 

[vcoleiro1]

I could be wrong on this as my source is basically just a NeoGAF post that rehashes other news sources, but didn't they say it was between 230 and 260$ after they pulled the first Kickstarter and when wanted to bring the PGS to retail with money fom a private investor? Before the incident with the leaked video from the planned Kickstarter campain?

Their draft Kickstarter page says the early bird prices are $230 and $260 limited to 100 units. The price then rises to $280 and $320 after that.
So unless things change, that's what it is. And it could change - some things have to change I suspect for the KS page to meet the rules.

 

[EvilDragon]

That's little more than the PRODUCTION costs Apple has for an iPhone, and they produce their SoCs themselves.
So PGS probably would have to be a bigger company like Apple and sell more devices than iPhones are sold to be able to sell them for that price.
Especially if they use 3rd party components (which they apparently do)