Why Isn't Japan Doing This?

[sm1988]

Just a weird thought but you think japan would be the one putting out something like the pandora I mean they are the kings of small advanced electronics.without knowing any better you would think that the pandora was developed in and released by china or japan.

 

[Squidge]

I thought they just took a pre-existing device and copied it badly, like iPod/iPhone knock offs?

 

[jbr]

Umm... It's not like the US government made this device. It's just a group of people. They could be of any national origin, it wouldn't change what they do.

 

[plopperz]

I thought they just took a pre-existing device and copied it badly, like iPod/iPhone knock offs?

That's China <_<

If it were from Japan, it would've been released two years ago, be twice as small, twice as expensive, be just as powerful, and have a ton of mediocre games released for it.


@jbr: Asian and Western video games tend to be different. I can't think of any examples, but they just are.
Also it would technically be from the UK not the US

 

[aranson]

China is great at developing cheap knock-off electronics. If you look hard enough, you can find lots of iProds selling for $60 or so. Japan likes the higher end stuff, and charges accordingly. I think that Craigx and crew have got some serious balls trying to get this thing off the ground. I doubt that any Japanese company would touch profit margins like that.


EDIT - Wow, I type slow.

 

[sm1988]

I thought they just took a pre-existing device and copied it badly, like iPod/iPhone knock offs?

:lol: yeah very true and I am not stereotyping it just seems weird that hardware like this isn't coming from there.

 

[jbr]

My point was just that I don't think we can stereotypically associate a device with a given country. The question would have been better if it had been "Why aren't Japanese and Chinese developers making a system like this?"

 

[Chip]

"Why aren't Japanese and Chinese developers making a system like this?"



They are. It's just that in Asia they're called electronic dictionaries, and they never make it to the western world. They're pretty close to the Pandora as far as palmtop computing goes. They lack gaming controls and are not generally "open" systems, but that could be said for most handheld electronics.

An equally good question would be "Why hasn't anybody else anywhere already made a system like the Pandora?"

 

[jbr]

I had no idea. At all. Is this some Internet meme I know nothing about, or are those things really "electronic dictionaries"?

 

[magicman5421]

I had no idea. At all. Is this some Internet meme I know nothing about, or are those things really "electronic dictionaries"?

They are electronic dictionaries, in that they have a dictionary built in, but they have become so much more. There's a decent number of koreans at my school and a few of them have those. Teachers think they're dictionaries...poor clueless teachers.

 

[sm1988]

"Why aren't Japanese and Chinese developers making a system like this?"



They are. It's just that in Asia they're called electronic dictionaries, and they never make it to the western world. They're pretty close to the Pandora as far as palmtop computing goes. They lack gaming controls and are not generally "open" systems, but that could be said for most handheld electronics.

An equally good question would be "Why hasn't anybody else anywhere already made a system like the Pandora?"

Chip you are like a fountain of knowledge man will you do my taxes next year too

 

[Chip]

I had no idea. At all. Is this some Internet meme I know nothing about, or are those things really "electronic dictionaries"?

No, they are very much real. They started out as basic dictionary/translation devices and just kept getting more and more features. In the last few years they've become pretty much complete palmtop computers with office apps, PIM applications, wifi web browsing and full PMP functionality. They occasionally pop up on tech sites like Engadget, but other than that they have no western exposure. Nobody bothers importing them because the software and buttons are in Korean/Japanese. It's just another example of how Japan and Korea keep all the really good toys for themselves.

 

[magicman5421]

those companies could do pretty good business if they sold those "toys" in the states & europe. As shown by the eee, there is a huge market for those kind of mini computers.

 

[sm1988]

those companies could do pretty good business if they sold those "toys" in the states & europe. As shown by the eee, there is a huge market for those kind of mini computers.

well basically if we get blessed with the right hombrew and ports we will soon have something better

 

[magicman5421]

those companies could do pretty good business if they sold those "toys" in the states & europe. As shown by the eee, there is a huge market for those kind of mini computers.

well basically if we get blessed with the right hombrew and ports we will soon have something better

indeed. pray to the gods of gaming that the benevolent developers will grace us with awesome games.

 

[Tom`]

They are. It's just that in Asia they're called electronic dictionaries, and they never make it to the western world. They're pretty close to the Pandora as far as palmtop computing goes. They lack gaming controls and are not generally "open" systems, but that could be said for most handheld electronics.

An equally good question would be "Why hasn't anybody else anywhere already made a system like the Pandora?"



I think this is missing the point somewhat, given that being an open system with gaming controls is exactly what makes the Pandora unique. Well, that and the shiny new OMAP SoC.

 

[Prophet]

The big money is not in homebrew or open dev.

That's why electronics giants don't make the Pandora.

As for Japan - Nintendo's Yamauchi is now THE richest man in Japan (seriously he is , look it up!) - and he got there by selling proprietary hardware and copyrighted games.

Just be glad that small companies and startups exist to fill the niche.

 

[CandidStan]

I would think at least one obvious port that every handheld in the world (including certain calculators) would be Doom. Because even my kitchen sink can play Doom so count on playing Doom on the Pandora.

-CandidStan

 

[chad78]

They are. It's just that in Asia they're called electronic dictionaries, and they never make it to the western world. They're pretty close to the Pandora as far as palmtop computing goes. They lack gaming controls and are not generally "open" systems, but that could be said for most handheld electronics.



lol - from the first article on that link - the name of the tablet-swivel style electronic dictionary is the istation, you dick! - oh, sorry, read that wrong. It's the istation UDIC"... :lol:

 

[Alex.]

Back in 2001, a Korean friend had an electronic dictionary. It was an older generation with a typical Korean<->English dictionary and a hangman game, on a fairly large B&W screen. I remember being puzzled as to why its manufacturers chose to limit what was basically an affordable pocket computer to a single mundane task. It's good to see these things grew