The Next Version

[chad78]

We all know that one can never rest on one's laurels - so it is time to start planning the Pandora's sucessor.

Every game system that succeeds replaces itself very shortly after launch....

Examples - PSP > PSP Slim & Light
DS > DS Lite
GameBoy > GameBoy Pocket > (GameBoy Light) > GameBoy Color > GameBoy Advance
GBA > GBA SP > GBA Micro

Even the GP32 was planning on the XGP / XGP Mini / XGP Kids

So... What's next for the Pandora crew?

Pandora Svelte? Pandora BX? Pandora Pico? Pandora Forward? Pandora N900?

Now - seriously - what would a Pandora Petite look like? I'm thinking no keyboard - controls on the side - much like a PSP, only smaller.

I'd really like a GBA Micro sized device with a little bit bigger screen with much higher resolution. Say 600 x 360 for a 3 inch screen - or at least 400 x 240 at a 2.5 inch screen. (keeping the same aspect ratio of the Pandora.) It would need the touch screen, of course, 7 face buttons (XYAB - Start, Menu, Select) 2 shoulder buttons (L & R) a D-Pad, and 2 Analog sliders.

Say - out by Q2 09? Thanks!

 

[atomicthumbs]

Direct wireless neural interface

failing that, it would have an eye-tracker and fit inside a head-mounted monocle display

 

[crazedover]

Direct wireless neural interface

failing that, it would have an eye-tracker and fit inside a head-mounted monocle display

Heck, why stop there? Why not just implant it into the head? It can run off the electricity the human body naturally produces, a la the Matrix.

 

[Exophase]

I'd really like a GBA Micro sized device with a little bit bigger screen with much higher resolution. Say 600 x 360 for a 3 inch screen - or at least 400 x 240 at a 2.5 inch screen. (keeping the same aspect ratio of the Pandora.) It would need the touch screen, of course, 7 face buttons (XYAB - Start, Menu, Select) 2 shoulder buttons (L & R) a D-Pad, and 2 Analog sliders.

Say - out by Q2 09? Thanks!

Why are you already suggesting what a next version should have >_<

And if they did do such a thing there's no way they'd change the resolution and the interface, that'd make it totally incompatible with all sorts of software.

I also don't understand why people want such tiny handhelds. GB Micro somehow has a cult following (I think it's something trendy) but I don't see the appeal at all, and the device did more or less flop by Nintendo standards.

 

[someboddy]

I also don't understand why people want such tiny handhelds.

So true... as long as it fits in my pocket I prefer it has big as possible. That's why I think the Eee is a stupid idea.

 

[Firefox]

I find my GBA Micro very good for short bursts of play. I can just flip it on, play through a few races of F-Zero or whatever, and put it away again. It doesn't take up much pocket space, so its not a big decision whether to take it with me or not.

The display's a lot nicer than the one on my SP, too.

 

[Vince2501]

Given the fact that technology makes another quantum leap every six months, and the fact that this is basically an experiment for powerful open source hard ware by an indie developer. I would say the successor would come out sometime in 2012.

I could imagine the thickness decreasing but not much else. It would definitely be able to play Dreamcast at that point. But as far as anything else that could be added on, I would think a built in camera would work.

 

[GuchaRU]

Maybe somethink like Pandora->Pandora lite->Pandora phat (with HDD)
?

 

[Pleng]

To be honest, design wise I think the Pandora concept looks pretty much perfect. Obviously I haven't actually tried it out yet, but I'm imagining it to be pretty sweet from everything I've read and seen so far.

Therefore I'd expect a followup to pe pretty much identical, but just taking advantage of later technology. For example, in 2 years time maybe a version would be produced with a 1.5Gz CPU and 512Mb RAM. Maybe a faster GPU. VGA out capabilities would be nice too.

It would be good if future revisions were able to fit into original cases so one could upgrade , so to speak.

All this is pure speculation of course, but I don't see why it wouldn't be possible if the Pandora is sucessful. I see this as the new portable Amiga! First we had the A500, then the A500+/A600 with more ram, then the A1200 with even more ram and a better CPU. Then commodore went backrupt (a fate I hope is not repeated by the Pandora team!), so further evolutions were not possible.

I would imagine the next revision to be a straight jump from A500 - A1200, bypassing the plus and 600

All of this, is of course, totally pointless disussing now. I'm waiting for the release of the original Pandora!

 

[Svartalf]

Then commodore went backrupt (a fate I hope is not repeated by the Pandora team!), so further evolutions were not possible.

Not as likely. Commodore couldn't market or sell their way out of wet paper bag. They went under with the vastly superior (even over the Mac of the day...) machine- because they couldn't even be bothered to do the right things with selling it. They were obsessed with the idea that it was a souped up gaming machine and nothing more. The next pass at a C64 which sold so well for them (in spite of themselves, actually...).

 

[AireTamStorm]

So... What's next for the Pandora crew?

YOU are getting ahead of yourself :lol:

 

[___]

I swear to god, if the next generation handhelds would be implanted into your neural system, I would not buy one from GPH... I'd go with the neuro-pandora I guess. Sony neural-consoles would only make you poor, the microsoft x-mind-box would probably make you pay if you whistled or remembered drm protected music. If you get a GPH implant though, it would be using a really advanced OS but only the parts the programmers understood and it would all be in korean on their homepage. Also if you had a stroke or a seizure because of the crappy manufacturing, you would receive no support at all. the firmware updates would only increase waking up "boot" time in the mornings. damn.

I am sure excited for the future... <_<

 

[chad78]

Introducing - the Pandora Pico


And, as usual, click for big.

I'm thinking about adding a slide-out QWERTY for the purists.

oh crap - and I forgot the analog sticks! dang it.

 

[Exophase]

Introducing - the Pandora Pico


And, as usual, click for big.

I'm thinking about adding a slide-out QWERTY for the purists.

oh crap - and I forgot the analog sticks! dang it.



Great, you just took a GB Micro, made it wider, and put a stylus sticking out of a place where I wouldn't expect a stylus to be able to go :/

 

[Alex.]

"you can never start dreaming too soon" - that's true, but why dream of replacing a beautiful 4.3" screen with a tiny eye sore?

 

[chad78]

Great, you just took a GB Micro, made it wider, and put a stylus sticking out of a place where I wouldn't expect a stylus to be able to go :/

Um, no... I took a GB Micro, made it wider, put a stylus sticking out of a place it could easily go if it were designed to go there, added a third button under the screen - the Menu button, moved the a & b buttons, added the x & y buttons, removed the lines from the D-Pad, gave it a second speaker for stereo sound, made the screen bigger, and added the Tango GUI.

Now, here we have a altered mock up with all of the above - except it wider and taller, the screen is still a little bigger, the speakers have been moved - and I added analog sticks and a slide out keyboard, complete with special "Pandora" function key!



Clicken fur da biggun.

 

[chad78]

"you can never start dreaming too soon" - that's true, but why dream of replacing a beautiful 4.3" screen with a tiny eye sore?

I like small things. Why is the Pandora better than the Eee PC - two reasons, basically - game controls and pocketability. If you don't want to game, and you don't want to fit your UMPC in your pocket - then the Eee is better.

I want a smaller screen for the same reason I bought a GB Micro *after* I already had a DS Lite - the Micro can't do anything the DS can't do - in fact, it can do much less - but it's more portable, and better for short quick gaming sessions. I can have a Micro, my wallet, my cell phone, and my keys all in one pocket - doing that with a DS - especially since I use Nerf Armor - is impossible.

It's not that shrinking the screen is the goal - if I could fit a 22 inch screen comfortably in my pocket - I would. If it were lightweight, easy to use, easy to move with - hell yeah! bring out the rollout full color, high-def OLEDs, please! ... But, until that happens, small things will have to have small screens. And since I want a Micro sized Pandora - that's what I "dreamed up."

 

[Samalthos]

Great, you just took a GB Micro, made it wider, and put a stylus sticking out of a place where I wouldn't expect a stylus to be able to go :/

Um, no... I took a GB Micro, made it wider, put a stylus sticking out of a place it could easily go if it were designed to go there, added a third button under the screen - the Menu button, moved the a & b buttons, added the x & y buttons, removed the lines from the D-Pad, gave it a second speaker for stereo sound, made the screen bigger, and added the Tango GUI.

Now, here we have a altered mock up with all of the above - except it wider and taller, the screen is still a little bigger, the speakers have been moved - and I added analog sticks and a slide out keyboard, complete with special "Pandora" function key!



Clicken fur da biggun.



Why not go the whole shabang and add the mic and Cel Phone capabilities? God I wouldn't Fancy buying one of these though. it would cost way too much because of all the patents it would Violate and the fact that is almost one third the size of the original

 

[chad78]

Why not go the whole shabang and add the mic and Cel Phone capabilities? God I wouldn't Fancy buying one of these though. it would cost way too much because of all the patents it would Violate and the fact that is almost one third the size of the original

Damn - then don't buy it. I never said "Everyone should like what I like" I asked what would you like the next version to be like, and then I shared my wish list. In fact, I would like to see a mic built in, just like the Pandora already has, and use it for VOIP, if not straight up cell phone usage.

The shopped image was not to say "It has to be exactly like this" - it was to give an idea of what I was talking about. It wouldn't violate patents. Obviously, if their was a patent issue - they'd either come up with a different way of doing it, or they'd pay the patent owner - that's how people do things.

As far as the price goes - this is an imaginary future product - it could cost as little as an eyelash and as much as the moon. Now, realistically, I'd expect in a year or two - something like this won't cost much at all. Who would have thought 2 years ago, that you could buy a sub-notebook style UMPC that can run a full-fledged desktop operating system for less than $500. Today we argue about which one is better, the Eee, the Jisus, the Cloudbook, the HP Mini-Note, the Noad-Pad,...... I'd seriously expect to pay about $300 for something like this in 2 years. It's just as powerful as the current Pandora - only smaller, and with a screen with 3/4 the resolution.

Tech gets cheaper, smaller, and faster by the second. The PSP shrank, the DS shrank, the PS2 shrank, and then it shrank again. The NES, SNES, Genesis - all of these shrank in their lifespans as products. The GameBoy shrank, and if GamePark hadn't gone under - the GP32 was going to shrink and get much more powerful. The iPod, the MacBook... Do you need more examples?

 

[Samalthos]

Why not go the whole shabang and add the mic and Cel Phone capabilities? God I wouldn't Fancy buying one of these though. it would cost way too much because of all the patents it would Violate and the fact that is almost one third the size of the original

Damn - then don't buy it. I never said "Everyone should like what I like" I asked what would you like the next version to be like, and then I shared my wish list. In fact, I would like to see a mic built in, just like the Pandora already has, and use it for VOIP, if not straight up cell phone usage.

The shopped image was not to say "It has to be exactly like this" - it was to give an idea of what I was talking about. It wouldn't violate patents. Obviously, if their was a patent issue - they'd either come up with a different way of doing it, or they'd pay the patent owner - that's how people do things.

As far as the price goes - this is an imaginary future product - it could cost as little as an eyelash and as much as the moon. Now, realistically, I'd expect in a year or two - something like this won't cost much at all. Who would have thought 2 years ago, that you could buy a sub-notebook style UMPC that can run a full-fledged desktop operating system for less than $500. Today we argue about which one is better, the Eee, the Jisus, the Cloudbook, the HP Mini-Note, the Noad-Pad,...... I'd seriously expect to pay about $300 for something like this in 2 years. It's just as powerful as the current Pandora - only smaller, and with a screen with 3/4 the resolution.

Tech gets cheaper, smaller, and faster by the second. The PSP shrank, the DS shrank, the PS2 shrank, and then it shrank again. The NES, SNES, Genesis - all of these shrank in their lifespans as products. The GameBoy shrank, and if GamePark hadn't gone under - the GP32 was going to shrink and get much more powerful. The iPod, the MacBook... Do you need more examples?


no don't get me wrong I do like it. I was just thinking about everything that it would Entail. and please no more examples my brain hurts enough as it is sorry if it seemed I went off on you earlier I try to be nice and my words come out mean