What Is Your Worst Fear About The Pandora ?

[Middo]

For those worried about currency conversion losses etc., my understanding is that because WE (yes me included having paid with an Australian VISA card) have paid by credit cards the sum of 199 pounds that it doesnt matter what our respective dollar is worth. i.e. craigix will refund the 199 pounds that will convert to a dollar amount (actually higher than originally paid - so you will make a small profit) then as soon as possible, re-order the unit for 199 pounds so you are not out of pocket (appart from any fees that you credit card/bank may charge) The credit card percentage for both transactions will be charged to Craigix via their merchant services.

Please someone correct me if I am wrong above.

 

[sterling976]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. This is not confirmed in any meaningful way.

It is now.

 

[Svartalf]

What would happen if some obscure part (e.g. Audio Processor) ceases to be manufactured sometime during the Pandora's life? Would this break compatibility between batches? If so; That's my worst fear.

Since the whole SoC would have to be changed to do that (The bulk of the Pandora is in a SINGLE part... ) you'd have problems. Since you're not supposed going direct to the hardware but rather to at least the Alsa layer, you shouldn't have issues past the firmware sets- which can be handled by different NAND image sets, .opk's/.deb's, etc. If the SoC is EOLed, as long as there's an A8/A9 based SoC with a similar DSP engine for sound and an ES capable GPU, you should be fine.

Wouldn't that be a nice reward for the community support through pre-ordering?
The money will come with the second, third, whatever batch. 256MB will make sure that P. can hold the competition long enough It's a very wise decision IMO.

It'll be worth their troubles. They're already contemplating a second batch with what they've got in hand (which was nearly a thousand units OVER the planned rollout...). It's a very wise decision since it's my understanding that it's ending up not being that much more expensive for them to do this and it just unlocked a hell of a lot of things that they just couldn't do before. Now, while I still think they need to do Angstrom for the baseline firmware (KISS principle... Ubuntu Mobile, while nice, is not what you need in a gaming handheld with MID capabilities... You need something more akin to Maemo/Angstrom, from something like 12 years of professional Linux experience, including doing things like the Pandora...), the extra NAND gives you some "favorites" space or the choice of Ubuntu Mobile as an optional firmware set. The 256Mb of RAM just unleashed the GPU's capabilities and allowed games that would have had a tough time fitting to go right in.

 

[(naw)mcx]

That I don't get the reorder email.

D:

 

[undefined]

I die before getting my pandora

 

[ultm8]

That the second batch get's shipped after February... I didn't get a andora1: from the first batch.

 

[WizardStan]

That the second batch get's shipped after February... I didn't get a andora1: from the first batch.

Your fears are already realized. The second batch is slated for March. Sorry.

 

[CronoTriggerfan]

256 megs of RAM is great and all, but I sure as hell better not have to pay for this fucking thing a third time. After going through all this payment bullshit, there's gotta be a point where you just say "cut it out". How much is this going to delay the Pandora, anyways? Even a few months makes this waiting to the point of ridiculousness.

Again, I support the project, obviously; I preordered, which means I'm a blind follower. :lol: But my point of contention has always been delays and lack of hardware shown off, and now that there are probably more delays and still no hardware to show, the pros and cons are starting to even up on a RAM upgrade at all...

 

[cb88]

@chronotriggerfan international money transfers (and banks in general) are a massive pain my dad has to deal with them on occasion lighten up on them a bit it isn't like they aren't giving you your money's worth and they have said there shouldn't be any further delay unless it is stuff they just can't help

ridiculous or not it is life and it isn't fair we just have to get on with it can act mature while doing it.

and really... showing off the hardware isn't what is needed... they are working their butts of on a shoestring budget to get you THE coolest open source device in the world on time don't forget that

rarely if ever can you get everything you want there are always caveats but thankfully few of them seem to have acutally made it into the HW (with exception of the WIFI chip and SGX... but that is being worked on )

 

[WizardStan]

New worst fear: this is all a major social experiment.
See how many people will buy into a concept. Make it cool, but also reasonable. Keep pushing it around. It gets cooler, but got to still keep it reasonable. Cause a delay, how many people keep following? Make it a little cooler, cause a delay. Keep dangling that ever sweeter carrot in front of the masses, see what they do. Where is the breaking point?
Is there a point where the concept is too good to be believed, or once they've got some people in on it, can they just keep making it better and better? 6 months ago, if Craig had said "256 megs RAM" how many people would have believed? Now, after all this work is it actually plausible. But maybe there isn't any. Maybe they're working for a college, playing with people, trying to gauge just how much they can promise without delivery before people start requesting refunds. He even said himself, if people aren't happy, they can get refunds.
Maybe the experiment is over when everyone has requested their refund. Apart from a few teaser prototypes, there aren't going to be any more made!

 

[mali]

New worst fear: this is all a major social experiment.
See how many people will buy into a concept. Make it cool, but also reasonable. Keep pushing it around. It gets cooler, but got to still keep it reasonable. Cause a delay, how many people keep following? Make it a little cooler, cause a delay. Keep dangling that ever sweeter carrot in front of the masses, see what they do. Where is the breaking point?
Is there a point where the concept is too good to be believed, or once they've got some people in on it, can they just keep making it better and better? 6 months ago, if Craig had said "256 megs RAM" how many people would have believed? Now, after all this work is it actually plausible. But maybe there isn't any. Maybe they're working for a college, playing with people, trying to gauge just how much they can promise without delivery before people start requesting refunds. He even said himself, if people aren't happy, they can get refunds.
Maybe the experiment is over when everyone has requested their refund. Apart from a few teaser prototypes, there aren't going to be any more made!

:lol:

 

[CronoTriggerfan]

@chronotriggerfan international money transfers (and banks in general) are a massive pain my dad has to deal with them on occasion lighten up on them a bit it isn't like they aren't giving you your money's worth and they have said there shouldn't be any further delay unless it is stuff they just can't help

ridiculous or not it is life and it isn't fair we just have to get on with it can act mature while doing it.

and really... showing off the hardware isn't what is needed... they are working their butts of on a shoestring budget to get you THE coolest open source device in the world on time don't forget that

rarely if ever can you get everything you want there are always caveats but thankfully few of them seem to have acutally made it into the HW (with exception of the WIFI chip and SGX... but that is being worked on )

Oh, so now having to pay three times for a product and having some disdain for that is "immature"? If some jackass on eBay made you pay for a product three different times because of issues, they'd get negative feedback, so why should this situation afford any less analysis in that manner?

I also need to point out your "on time" statement; you don't think this will cause delays? It most likely will. We probably won't hear about them until the 28th or so when they finally say, "Delayed until 2009, see you on the flip side." And yes, showing off hardware IS what's needed before a product launches. Tell me, if tomorrow Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony announced a new product and didn't show you jack shit as to what it could do, would you buy it? No, you wouldn't, and if you would, you're just silly. My point is that despite the fact that Craig and Co. are a small, upstart company, that doesn't mean you stop holding them accountable and being just as skeptical about being an uninformed consumer as you would with any other product.

 

[cb88]

quite true... but they do have legitimate reasons that they could not have forseen

also they aren't selling these on ebay are they?... they allowed you the opportunity to preorder

no I don't think it will cause delay.... the 256mb chip was already being produced only at too high a cost time spent making the switch should be negligible

"didn't show you jack shit"
seems we've seen a whole lot more than that they even have ubuntu booting on it

since when are you an uniformed customer? there is more info already out on this device than there ever will be for the Wii PS3 etc...

also most people buying video games don't even know what is in the box... they only know it plays games

what do we know...
It plays games
runs ubuntu
runs anstrom
has 3d HW
has a DSP
has awesome battery life

for crying out loud they can't give you much more can they? zodttd has made a good many videos as well as notaz (LCD viewing angle looked awesome)

 

[hobbyman II]

just a bit of balance here

Craigix has been running Gbax for ages and the bank never gave him trouble, he could hardly expect them to suddenly get allergic to money...its counter-intuitive to what you expect from a bank, I should bet he`s as annoyed as you are, he`s going flat out trying to get Pandora out on time and theres always some stray idiot keeps screwing things up for him.

be fair

did HE refuse your cash? .....

did HE insist he couldn`t clear it?......

and he`s trying to make things right by adding value, trying to make amends for something that is NOT his fault, bad publicity could hurt the Pandora, it isn`t his fault his bank is staffed by (imo) anally retentive jerks.

I`m betting he uses my bank come to that, they helped someone steal 370 quid from me over 7 months, refused to cancel a debit on a service that was in breach of contract, made a mistake and sent me a letter about being 2320 pounds overdrawn when I was 2320 in the black, then had the cheek to try to insist I had to pay 20 quid for the bloody letter that told me I was overdrawn (their reply..... "we always charge when you become overdrawn" arrrrrgh!)

then they had the sheer stupidity to try and charge me interest on my "overdrawn" money, then they sent a letter threatening me with court if i didn`t pay the "balance", I had to camp in the bank (full day off work with no pay) just to FINALLY get the manager to admit they had made a mistake (I guess they don`t work with the actual balance field value, but add tags for overdrawn, debt etc), I swear the only reason they send typed letters is that the ones written in coloured crayons where un-nerving the customers

yes banks are arses, every things fine as long as they don`t screw up, then it all goes to hell in a handcart so fast you wouldn`t believe it, and it normaly ends up costing YOU, not them, oh! and it WILL be YOUR fault, every time.

Hobbyman

 

[cb88]

our bank sent a VERY large sum of money to us internationally AND DIDN'T SAY WHO'S IT WAS... they just wired it to the bank with no more info.... thankfully we got that straightened out

 

[Michoko]

I'm sure my biggest fear would be to have an ugly red pixel stuck somewhere on the screen!

 

[gaterooze]

For those worried about currency conversion losses etc., my understanding is that because WE (yes me included having paid with an Australian VISA card) have paid by credit cards the sum of 199 pounds that it doesnt matter what our respective dollar is worth. i.e. craigix will refund the 199 pounds that will convert to a dollar amount (actually higher than originally paid - so you will make a small profit) then as soon as possible, re-order the unit for 199 pounds so you are not out of pocket (appart from any fees that you credit card/bank may charge) The credit card percentage for both transactions will be charged to Craigix via their merchant services.

Please someone correct me if I am wrong above.

I hope you are correct, although I'm not certain. It may depend if the charge is reversed by the bank, or if an actual refund is sent separately.

 

[imec]

My greatest fear is that something horrible will happen (such as one of the many hardware manufacturers going under or a banking problem) and put the project to a halt. I am so anxious even though I'm going to buy from the second batch. I want the Pandora to succeed so badly.

 

[Chip]

An onslaught of threads from confused, panicky, demanding users who don't understand the device they purchased and lack the sense to figure it out based on the resources provided. This is not so much a "fear" as a "dread of an unpleasant certainty". "Foreboding" comes close. Other more eloquent languages probably have a better word for this.

Today was basically a trailer for the cavalcade of inanity and entitlement that this forum will be for the first several weeks after the Pandora ships.

 

[emip]

I hope you don't have a specific unpleasant 'certainty' in mind there chip