What Would You Want From A $50 Handheld Console?

[DrAltaica]

Hello every one.

I'm wondering what you guy/gals think a cheap $50~60 gaming handheld should have.

Do you think that in flat rectangular box form-factor is a must or do you think hand-grips would be a good trade of pocketability for comfort and control?

Lets make OpenPandora's little brother!

 

[CasperN]

It needs tetris, and a screen. why bother? it's not like the pandora is expensive.

 

[Chip]

Any $50-60 device would have to be nearly as good as the Dingoo, since you can get one of them for only $20-30 more. Frankly, I don't see the point.

 

[klikklak]

Dingoo or Ben Nanonote specs, thx.

 

[gaterooze]

A GP32 BLU.

 

[DrAltaica]

It needs tetris, and a screen. why bother? it's not like the pandora is expensive.

The Pandora is $330 last time I checked.
that means you could 6.6 for the price of one Pandora.

The killer app for my handheld idea has a Network Effect.


and their is that small thing in that they have no plans for selling any more Pandora's for the foreseeable future.

 

[craigix]

It would be a load of cheap shit is what it would be. Less isn't more unless you are some company with billions of dollars to waste.

I wish these cheap Chinese PMPs would die because they put across the illusion that it is possible to make something cheap which with, surely, just a few tweaks, could also be good, but you are actually just clipping your own wings thinking like that.

What I would want from the $50 handheld is for them to spend another $100 and make it good.

 

[Nova]

and their is that small thing in that they have no plans for selling any more Pandora's for the foreseeable future.

I'm surprised Craig didn't address this, but I will.

The OP team will be taking preorders for the second batch of Pandoras shortly after the first batch ship.

 

[Jourdy288]

and their is that small thing in that they have no plans for selling any more Pandora's for the foreseeable future.

I'm surprised Craig didn't address this, but I will.

The OP team will be taking preorders for the second batch of Pandoras shortly after the first batch ship.

Yeah there's going to be a second batch later this year. I'm hoping I can afford one by then...
Regarding a $50 console, I would expect something in between a GBA and NDS.

 

[kuru]

I wouldn't want it since it'd most likely upset me in multiple ways.

A decent mp3 player like the i-beat organix costs 50 €. You want a multitalent with tft screen that's even cheaper.

What's wrong with the Dingoo?

 

[Sphinxter]

For $50 I wouldn't expect it to do more than keep the coffee table from wobbling.

 

[Firefox]

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.23834
Includes free 20c piece*!

*Not literally.

 

[x86Daddy]

I'd want the features of the Zipit Z2... which retails at $50. That said, it is *not* optimized or intended for gaming, but after putting on a recent Debian image for it, and using its acceptable d-pad, you can play GB/GBC, NES, Doom, ScummVM, and more pretty well. I've seen screenshots of SNES9x running as well, but I haven't seen it for speed / quality.

Machine specs:
320x240 2.8" backlit screen
300MHz ARM chip
MiniSD slot
802.11b/g
backlit querty keypad
Mono speaker and 3.5mm stereo jack
Can flash alternative Linux kernels to it without any hardware hacking

Here's a couple recent posts I've made about it with more info and links.

If someone built a device for $100 more, with $100 more worth of improvements, as Craigix suggested, it might be a serious competitor to the Pandora for budget-minded folks... as it stands, the Zipit serves me as a stop-gap until Pandora... upon receipt of which, I won't consider anything less for my personal carry computer.

 

[Username]

I'd want the features of the Zipit Z2... which retails at $50. That said, it is *not* optimized or intended for gaming, but after putting on a recent Debian image for it, and using its acceptable d-pad, you can play GB/GBC, NES, Doom, ScummVM, and more pretty well. I've seen screenshots of SNES9x running as well, but I haven't seen it for speed / quality.

I'm buying one of those as soon as possible.

 

[DrAltaica]

Yeah there's going to be a second batch later this year. I'm hoping I can afford one by then...

So they will ship The Second batch Pandora's 3Q 2012?


P.S. Is there some strange bug that is cutting

Do you think that in flat rectangular box form-factor is a must or do you think hand-grips would be a good trade of pocketability for comfort and control?

from my post for everyone else. Or was I being to subtle?

 

[aaronson911]

Any $50-60 device would have to be nearly as good as the Dingoo, since you can get one of them for only $20-30 more. Frankly, I don't see the point.

um.. where can you get a dingoo for that cheap? I assume you mean used. But still I can't find one on eBay for less then $50. If you could reply with the links that would be appreciated.

 

[DrAltaica]

I wouldn't want it since it'd most likely upset me in multiple ways.

A decent mp3 player like the i-beat organix costs 50 €. You want a multitalent with tft screen that's even cheaper.

What does a $82 MP3 have to do with a 37€ portable gaming console? and I have no idea what the 'multitalent' is. didn't find anything with Google shopping or 'multitalent TrekStor'
You want it to have 512MB of storage and play music files?

What's wrong with the Dingoo?

besides that fact that they didn't completely hook-up the LCD so it has tearing issues and that it can't reliably write to the miniSD card?

It needs tetris, and a screen. why bother? it's not like the pandora is expensive.

My biggest problem with the Dingoo and Pandora is their terrible ergonomics. Ok I haven't used a Pandora myself yet. but how it it going to be more comfortable typing on a Pandora than typing on my Zipit? the analog nubs look uncomfortable to use but maybe that aren't...
How are they overcoming the control problems that the Zodiac and PSP have with their analog sticks?

I'm thinking something along the lines of a GP32 BLU in an N64 controller.

 

[aaronson911]

Hey Dr.Altaica
I think if you are trying to go cheap it makes sense to for 2D. So I would stick with a d-pad and forget about any analog nub. I think the d-pad, 4 buttons and 2 shoulder buttons is a pretty tried and true configuration. It would work with a lot of current games and emulators. The Dingoo is pretty cheap already but if I were to try and make it cheaper this is what I would do. I would not include the headphones and TV out accessories. I would take out the 4 gigs of nand and have the firmware and os reside in some removal able storage like an sd or micro sd card. I would remove the lithium ion battery and have removable batteries(AA,AAA,or 9 Volt) I would also remove and 3D acceleration hardware. I would also switch from using a mips SOC to an ARM SOC. It might be cheaper, it would have better battery life(important if you have removable batteries)and you could leverage more of the software made for the gp2x, wiz, and Pandora. Still bringing any product to market is incredible hard. And competing on price makes it even harder. You would have lower profit margins so you would have to sell a crap load to cover your design expenses let alone make any money. I think it would be easier to offer features that no other product has.

 

[lulzfish]

The problem with standard batteries like AA, AAA, is that they don't have the same power output as lithium-ion. Nickel-metal-hydride is the best you'll get, but it's still a few steps beneath lithium-ion for power output and energy density, so you'll either have a short battery life or a huge battery compartment (Well, you'll have that anyway because AAAs are cylindrical, not flat prismatic)

I would like it to have some 2D acceleration, but no 3D. Something above the SNES or GBA, so you can display a bunch of rotating and scaling objects at once, not just a few.

Internet access is probably not necessary.
TV out is not necessary, I only use external screens when I have to.
Headphone output is, though. But not headset mic input.

No analog nub, but if touchscreens are super-cheap these days, that would be an easy pointing device for the mouse.

I imagine it would be like a GameBoy Advance that sucked less.

 

[DrAltaica]

I would also remove and 3D acceleration hardware.

to my knowledge. the Dingoo and GP32 don't have any 3D acceleration hardware.

think it would be easier to offer features that no other product has.

I got that one covered.