Will You Buy It Now?

[Marcel]

Not quite what I imagined, but the longer I look at the pictures the more I like it. Specs are very cool. Still, waiting to read reviews of the real thing. Most likely to buy it, need to save some money.....

 

[Null]

I'll definitely be buying one, the design did look a bit odd to start off with but it's grown on me and there's still time to tweak the design before the release date. (probably)

 

[Parkydr]

I'd like one - an impressive design for which I'd like to develop, but I can't justify the money at the moment.

 

[declaration]

I will buy one.

But only if it is less than £200.

 

[Yuglooc]

I will buy one.

But only if it is less than £200.

It's £199 so I guess your in luck :lol:

 

[Patch]

Not sure at the minute. I was all for selling my DS up until I saw the pics and realised that FPS controls didn't transpire. (The DS has superb FPS controls which is why quake 3 arena is being ported)
I realise we have 2 analogs for FPS, but I was hoping for mouse/touchscreen style playing.

How about some kind of tiny handheld trackball device or even a small unit which clips on over the keyboard on the left hand side?

Very sorry to see that the ideas on the huge thread for FPS /touchscreen have been ignored.

 

[zaffercharles]

I've changed from a "uh, It might be the hype getting to me" before the info to a "oh my god pandora I love you" when I heared the name then to a "UGH WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE DESIGN" with a sudden 20min turn to "OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST DESIGN EVER I LOVE IT" so my current state is "WHERE DO I PREORDER"

WORD


WORD UP but 4 shoulDers plz [/viral begging - ... now ]

That would sort FPS wouldn't it? AND PSX

 

[Amon_Re]

I hate to say it, but without DreamCast emulation, Saturn emulation is a maybe, and a PDA-like design that doesn't really suit me. Plus Quake 3 and a handful of other more modern FPS that could be played, and the price on top of that... I'm probably not going to buy it. Now, I'm going to pick up the F200.

My reasoning is that: I prefer older games more, full speed Playstation emulation may happen at some point, the price, and the fact that IvanX is working on a driver a wifi SD Card that should be happening soon.

I'll buy it if it's being sold in Belgium or the Netherlands, and if i can use the unit properly (it's gotta feel right in my hand ), the price isn't much of a problem, it's more expensive then an EEEpc, but the market is alot smaller, aswell as the company behind it, so i'm willing to accept that, besides, it's not like there's a whole lot of alternatives now are there

 

[Ravnos]

Not sure at the minute. I was all for selling my DS up until I saw the pics and realised that FPS controls didn't transpire. (The DS has superb FPS controls which is why quake 3 arena is being ported)
I realise we have 2 analogs for FPS, but I was hoping for mouse/touchscreen style playing.

QUOTE

John Carmack announced the game and said that touch screen controls would not be implemented as much as in Metroid Prime Hunters, for example. He stated that he would like for all shooting in the game to be controlled with the D-pad instead of the Touch Screen.



So basically the DS's superb FPS controls will not be used. I'm sure whatever alternative they come up with will be implementable on this machine, and at any rate, this thing will still have a touchscreen.

 

[Yrx]

It might be worth mentioning that I have never pre-ordered anything in my life (with the slight exception of pre-ordering Wind Waker for the OoT Master Quest disc, but I didn't even buy WW after that). And I will most certainly be pre-ordering this.

 

[Magnulus]

At the current sight of things, yes.

I was unsure to begin with because I saw a lot of people talking about slide-out keyboards, etc. I personally strongly believe that the clamshell design is the best way to go about these kinds of 'tronics. My mobile phone's screen is scratch-free because it's never in contact with keys or anything else like that. Sure, a flip-book kind of thing would be interesting, but not viable in the Pandora as a first-gen handheld by an independent developer.

On paper, the Pandora is equipped to become a sleeper hit in the handheld market. I'm definitely curious to see where this is going, but I will need to see some reviews as my limited funds don't allow me to jump on any new piece of kit that comes along.

What I would like to see in a second generation or a 1.5 generation is a cheap, monochrome screen on the back of it just for displaying relevant information in the case of using it for audio playback. Maybe even e-ink, as it would consume very little battery.

 

[zaffercharles]

That's a really nice idea Magnulus, and I'd like that too, but lol, I suppose there isn't room in there for it without enlarging the case and that doesn't seem the way to go for a 1.5/2nd gen version

Also, you'd only have two controls available while the unit's closed - I guess maybe one for skipping and one for playing? I daren't mention the remedy any more

 

[prairiefire]

Hell yes I am going to buy it. This is the coolest thing to ever happen to handheld gaming. A truly open system designed by people that actually care about hobby developers AND users? And runs Linux? And is the most powerful handheld to date?

And has a keyboard for easy use of DOS and Amiga emulation? If you don't see how awesome it is, I wouldn't say you're crazy, but I can't see your point of view, that's for sure.

perf
ectly put. im definitely getting one.

 

[sixxie]

Almost certainly. Battery life would be the clincher (so long as it's good with the (low) performance I'd need out of it, that's fine). I kinda drifted over to the NDS when the clamshell design proved so damn useful, so a properly open device with that advantage and a keyboard (ish) would definitely get my attention.

 

[Karel Jansens]

If it holds up to the specs published now,
if we can get "full Linux" on it, not tied to one user interface,
if the price doesn't balloon away, like the Eee,

then: Yeah, baby! I've long been looking for a game system/media player/portable computer hybrid and the Nokia Internet Tablet series has left me somewhat disappointed (plenty hardware but largely left untapped, lame user interface, backed -- half-heartedly -- by a company that doesn't appear to know what it's doing), but this Pandora seems like a big leap forward for mankind.

I'm already saving up...

 

[_VWV_]

/me wont buy a nokia n800. /me will save some money for pandora.

 

[euro48k]

3 months later ..

pandora: will you buy me now?
euro48k: yes my dear
pandora: thankyou old man

 

[Squidge]

"full linux" ?

 

[gaterooze]

I'd like one - an impressive design for which I'd like to develop, but I can't justify the money at the moment.

Parkydr, you deserve at least a heavily discounted one!

 

[Karel Jansens]

"full linux" ?

Yeah, sorry about that. What I meant was that I'd very very much like to see at least the possibility of installing as much as possible of "normal" Linux applications. Don't get me wrong, I understand that x86 binaries will not work, but ARM debs most likely will, and should. I should be able to choose my user interface to be any window manager I want, change the input method (HWR, different keyboard layouts) and generally do the things I can do on a "generic" Linux install. Heck, if ever ARM Ubuntu comes to be, I should be able to install it as well.

What I would not like at all is a Nokia Internet Tablet/Pepper Pad situation, where a proprietary user interface sits on top of the kernel/distro and the user is limited by what applications that UI tolerates, often up to the point that critical system services (battery, input methods, file management) are locked up by that UI, so outside applications cannot access/display/change them.

In short: More Eee, less Pepper Keeper/Maemo.

BTW: I don't like Maemo much, so open or not, don't put it on the Pandora, please.