Why I Will Not Be Getting A Pandora Now...

[Alpha2]

let him whine, just wave and tell him not to let the door hit him in the ass on the way out. He dosent want one? fine, just means more fo the people that do and arnt whining about the delays which were expected from the begining.

 

[MDave]

If this was Nintendo or Sony or Microsoft, then I agree with the complaint.

Not fair on a small start up business trying to do produce a product on the same level as them if not more, no?

They don't have huge finance blocks or legal offices, as far as I know. Just Craig, and his two lady's handle the administrative side of things.

 

[Frank Grimes]

All I wanted it for was to mess around with GL es 2.0 before any other devices had that capability... Well I've got news for you, there's at least 3 devices coming out soon with GL es 2.0 specs... SO I think I'll buy one of those instead!

I'm not going to be a fanboi here, because I'm also very concerned about the Pandora becoming a reality due to the financial mess the world is in and the way banks are (not) handling it. But I would like to ask the following, just to be clear:

Which 3 (or more) devices are you talking about? I would be very interested in finding out, especially if the are nearer to completion or made by a large manufacturer, and contain the same featureset (aside from the OpenGL ES 2.0, that means at least touchscreen, gaming controls and a real keyboard in a useable form factor, WiFi and Bluetooth and USB Host - without those I'd find any such device rather uninteresting unless it had something substantially newer like a multicore Cortex-A9...)

Not trying to dismiss any options here, just trying to find out what else is out there that might be interesting...

EDIT: Oh, the Palm Pre... no gaming controls, no keyboard, and an exposed screen and no USB Host. No thanks, I'll pass. I already have a phone, and am looking for something to replace my GP2X and my laptop (so USB Host is a must-have).

The Palm Pre does have a (physical) keyboard, although it doesn't have gaming controls or (micro)SD slots of any sort... and the screen's smaller.

I want a Pandora, but I need a cellphone atm and I definitely don't have money for both... so I'll probably be getting a Pre.

 

[(naw)mcx]

All I wanted it for was to mess around with GL es 2.0 before any other devices had that capability... Well I've got news for you, there's at least 3 devices coming out soon with GL es 2.0 specs... SO I think I'll buy one of those instead!

I'm not going to be a fanboi here, because I'm also very concerned about the Pandora becoming a reality due to the financial mess the world is in and the way banks are (not) handling it. But I would like to ask the following, just to be clear:

Which 3 (or more) devices are you talking about? I would be very interested in finding out, especially if the are nearer to completion or made by a large manufacturer, and contain the same featureset (aside from the OpenGL ES 2.0, that means at least touchscreen, gaming controls and a real keyboard in a useable form factor, WiFi and Bluetooth and USB Host - without those I'd find any such device rather uninteresting unless it had something substantially newer like a multicore Cortex-A9...)

Not trying to dismiss any options here, just trying to find out what else is out there that might be interesting...

EDIT: Oh, the Palm Pre... no gaming controls, no keyboard, and an exposed screen and no USB Host. No thanks, I'll pass. I already have a phone, and am looking for something to replace my GP2X and my laptop (so USB Host is a must-have).

The Palm Pre does have a (physical) keyboard, although it doesn't have gaming controls or (micro)SD slots of any sort... and the screen's smaller.

I want a Pandora, but I need a cellphone atm and I definitely don't have money for both... so I'll probably be getting a Pre.

Pandora+Cheapest phone you can find, IE Free with a top up.

 

[mazza558]

EDIT: Oh, the Palm Pre... no gaming controls, no keyboard, and an exposed screen and no USB Host. No thanks, I'll pass. I already have a phone, and am looking for something to replace my GP2X and my laptop (so USB Host is a must-have).

It has a slide-out keyboard and support USB mass-storage/host. However, yes, it has no gaming controls and an exposed screen. Then again, the Pre has a far more functional interface than the Pandora will have, unless matchbox is improved drastically.

 

[lulzfish]

Well, if you just want to mess with OGLES, and if you think you can do that on a Palm or something, that's fine.
Do it.
I, however, want the Pandora for other things, and I will wait until I can either order the Pandora or until somebody else builds something better, which doesn't seem to be happening.

 

[Bosbeetle]

I will get a pandora because I paid for it and I really like these type of mentalities behind a manufacturer. i.e. openness. I am a total tech nitwit but I think having a community backing a product helps. Seems like a lot of people are sticking around no matter what and those will be the ones that can be of help later on.

In other words I hope I still cherish my pandora in 4 - 5 years

 

[kaprikawn]

If this was Nintendo or Sony or Microsoft, then I agree with the complaint.

Not fair on a small start up business trying to do produce a product on the same level as them if not more, no?

They don't have huge finance blocks or legal offices, as far as I know. Just Craig, and his two lady's handle the administrative side of things.

+1

Things haven't exactly gone according to plan but without doing it this way would the Pandora ever have happened? Probably not I would think.

It's been a rough ride but I think we knew what we were signing up for when we handed over our cash. This isn't your standard pay x amount of money and receive product y situation. The devs needed the money to finance the production and we still paid up. I for one don't regret doing so for one minute and still have the faith.

 

[atomicthumbs]

So I guess I will not be buying it now. I think the people involved with the Pandora project have been very unprofessional - never take money off people to finance production runs...

they didn't they had to

and the device that was promised is still vapor ware.

it's not

 

[darkblu]

Please name those 3 devices?

Regards

André

Palm Pre.
And two pre-production units that my work have in possession.


good luck with doing es2 on the pre.
also, a bit more awareness next time before jumping onto something like the open pandora, but i believe that may go without saying now.

 

[mazza558]

Please name those 3 devices?

Regards

André

Palm Pre.
And two pre-production units that my work have in possession.


good luck with doing es2 on the pre.



It'll probably be quite easy given the developer tools based on Java, seems pretty open so far.

 

[Sphinxter]

I understand your point and while it is indeed valid you did know the odds when you signed on, from the sound of your post even more so than a lot of us. If a little vapor and $35 is all it takes to discourage you then I think you've made the right decision.

 

[TaG]

So I guess I will not be buying it now. I think the people involved with the Pandora project have been very unprofessional - never take money off people to finance production runs...
they didn't
Come off it - if the money they are trying to raise weren't needed for finalising production they would just produce the things and then sell them by credit card through their normal distribution companies. I am not criticing this though - that was what I assumed the pre-orders were for, ie we pay, they make.

Thing is, there is still nothing like it.

edit:fixed quote

 

[darkblu]

Please name those 3 devices?

Regards

André

Palm Pre.
And two pre-production units that my work have in possession.


good luck with doing es2 on the pre.



It'll probably be quite easy given the developer tools based on Java, seems pretty open so far.


* there are no java bindings for es2 as of now.
* do you have any hard references to the pre sdk? my information is that as of now there's very little access to the hw capabilities exposed in the sdk.

 

[Eniko]

This thread smells funny.

Anyway it's one thing to participate in a thread started by Craig looking for solutions and saying bad stuff, it's another to create your own thread spewing your gal and then when the community inevitably trips up on your negativity (and let's not forget just plain falsehoods like "I would have lost even more money due to currency conversions when reordering") be all shocked that the community would defend their console on its own forum.

Seriously, if you don't wanna buy it, then don't buy it. Don't come on here loudly proclaiming so and complaining and then expect to be well received. That just makes no sense.

 

[iplay4now]

(and let's not forget just plain falsehoods like "I would have lost even more money due to currency conversions when reordering") ...

Well, this point is confusing to me. I live in Australia, but used my US credit card to order. The order went through in Pounds, converted to a higher US$ amount than quoted, and then I got slugged by my bank for currency conversion. On the way back, the US$ had risen against the pound, so my refund was less in US$ than my payment. Haven't looked to see if I got slugged again by my bank, but I assume that I did. In total I spent US$50, and all I have is a place in the line/queue. The response I got to my email was I would be charged for re-ordering again in Pounds, so I think I am going to loose money here somewhere, and spend more than I was quoted for the product. I lost money on exchange rates, and other transaction costs. I have seen nothing official about "just send what appeared in your bank as a refund." And, even if I did, I wouldn't really expect the Pandora team to cover my bank charges.

Still waiting for the promised email on how to do it all again.

Am I bitter? No. But, it is fair to say the experience so far has cost me, and I expect to pay more than I thought I was going to in total to get the product. However, the biggest winner seems to be Wells Fargo (my US bank), not the Pandora team.

 

[stustaff]

(and let's not forget just plain falsehoods like "I would have lost even more money due to currency conversions when reordering")

Thats not totally fair Eniko some banks make charges on top of the exchange rate so it could be costing more money!

e.g

Paid $380 to give Pandora £200 (3% exchange fee on that)
Pandora send £200 back = $320
(now if at this point a person can not make anything other than CC they have in effect lost $67)
They send $320 to pandora as agreed (3% exchange fee on that)
So even if they buy again they are out some extra money.

Not fair to say hes lying.

 

[Zeno Arrow]

Am I bitter? No. But, it is fair to say the experience so far has cost me, and I expect to pay more than I thought I was going to in total to get the product. However, the biggest winner seems to be Wells Fargo (my US bank), not the Pandora team.

AAAARRRRRRFGGGGHHHHHHFHFGHGHHH!!! How many times does this need to be explained, it is NOT fair to say the experience has cost you because the team is only expecting you to pay the amount you were refunded, no more, no less. Just paint whatever money you received as 'Pandora money' and you'll see as long as you re-order everything is fine.

I know you were being reasonable about it but it feels frustrating when people still aren't picking up on the fact that you haven't lost any money if you actually re-order.

 

[stustaff]

Am I bitter? No. But, it is fair to say the experience so far has cost me, and I expect to pay more than I thought I was going to in total to get the product. However, the biggest winner seems to be Wells Fargo (my US bank), not the Pandora team.

AAAARRRRRRFGGGGHHHHHHFHFGHGHHH!!! How many times does this need to be explained, it is NOT fair to say the experience has cost you because the team is only expecting you to pay the amount you were refunded, no more, no less. Just paint whatever money you received as 'Pandora money' and you'll see as long as you re-order everything is fine.

I know you were being reasonable about it but it feels frustrating when people still aren't picking up on the fact that you haven't lost any money if you actually re-order.


Almost as annoying as people not realising their could be associated fees on top(see theread 2 up) which ARE costing people money!

 

[Zeno Arrow]

Am I bitter? No. But, it is fair to say the experience so far has cost me, and I expect to pay more than I thought I was going to in total to get the product. However, the biggest winner seems to be Wells Fargo (my US bank), not the Pandora team.

AAAARRRRRRFGGGGHHHHHHFHFGHGHHH!!! How many times does this need to be explained, it is NOT fair to say the experience has cost you because the team is only expecting you to pay the amount you were refunded, no more, no less. Just paint whatever money you received as 'Pandora money' and you'll see as long as you re-order everything is fine.

I know you were being reasonable about it but it feels frustrating when people still aren't picking up on the fact that you haven't lost any money if you actually re-order.


Almost as annoying as people not realising their could be associated fees on top(see theread 2 up) which ARE costing people money!


...and frustrating that you see people trying to poke holes in statements where there were none to find. If the OpenPandora team isn't expecting people to pay extra when re-ordering then this means THEY cover the exchange rate fees. FFS!!!