First Pandora Console Reaches Customer 271
neogramps writes "It's been a long time coming, but the first Pandora consoles are finally rolling off of the production line. (Well, this one actually walked out the door to a customer who lived near the 'factory.') Initial estimates had put production and development at taking two months, but Murphy had other ideas. Banking issues, design problems, problems communicating with the Chinese moulding company, escalating assembly costs, and even a volcano all managed to get in the way, but the small and dedicated team soldiered on, and just over a year and a half later, the wait is coming to an end for the 4,000 pre-orderers."
Poor pandorapress... (Score:5, Informative)
Looks like Gruso's blog got slashdotted pretty quickly.
Here's some more links to keep people occupied:
Official Site: http://www.open-pandora.org/ [open-pandora.org]
Wikipedia Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_(console) [wikipedia.org]
Pandora forums on GP32X: http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?/forum/61-pandora/ [gp32x.com]
Craig Rothwell's Twitter feed (all kids of pics there): http://twitter.com/craigix [twitter.com]
Re:That's nice... (Score:4, Informative)
"but where are the games?"
http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/pandora.cgi [openhandhelds.org]
It's an "open source" handheld with an eager development community, and games and other apps will come quickly once the hardware is released to the wild. By the time the pre-orders are complete and anyone not in the queue will be able to purchase one (and that will take a few months at this rate), there will be dozens of games available. Give it some time.
Dead link fix (Score:2, Informative)
Lovely accessed denied... just a snapshot of site:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Oa6IgGHvHHUJ:pandorapress.net/+site:pandorapress.net+pandorapress.net&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us [googleusercontent.com]
That is Google cache version, not really helpful imo.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/20/gp2x-community-system-dubbed-pandora/ [engadget.com]
There is your engadget version, they always have nice pretty pictures there.
Re:Already seems obsolete.... (Score:3, Informative)
> Except for the analog controls, I don't see where the N900 does not beat it in any way...
Keyboard and price, also.
Re:Already seems obsolete.... (Score:5, Informative)
My PSP does that & plays all my old PSX games. I got it for $100 used.
But can your PSP play N64 games? Can it browse the web, or use 3G sticks? Nope?
Will it have tons of homebrew games? (you might think so, but gp32x's community pumps out way more homebrew stuff than the PSP community does. Source: The devs coming over from the PSP community)
Does your PSP have awesome controls, a great screen, a 14 hour battery life? Nope?
Does it run hackable linux, with off-the-shelf compatibility with your favourite tools? Nope?
There's many features that make a Pandora desirable. If you want enough of them, its value shoots up far above other handhelds.
Re:Already seems obsolete.... (Score:3, Informative)
But can your PSP play N64 games?
Uh, yes? I'm sure it's slow, but there you go.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/daedalus-n64/ [sourceforge.net]
Can it browse the web
Yes again, PSP have been able to get online via WiFi from day one.
or use 3G sticks
Don't you already own a cell phone?
Does your PSP have awesome controls
I don't think they are too bad.
a great screen
4.3" is the same size as the Pandora, albeit @ 1/2 rez.
a 14 hour battery life?
No, but it does have a 10 hour battery life. And the batteries are cheap.
http://www.circuitcentral.com.au/sony-psp-high-capacity-battery-3650mah-aftermarket.html [circuitcentral.com.au]
Does it run hackable linux, with off-the-shelf compatibility with your favourite tools?
Uh, yes again.
http://www.linux-mips.org/wiki/PSP [linux-mips.org]
There's many features that make a Pandora desirable.
Did you miss the part where I said I wanted it to succeed?
If you want enough of them, its value shoots up far above other handhelds.
Yes & right now there is a $200 difference. No where near enough value for the cost compared to a cracked PSP Slim if all you want to do with it is play games.
Re:So... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Already seems obsolete.... (Score:4, Informative)
But can your PSP play N64 games?
Uh, yes? I'm sure it's slow, but there you go.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/daedalus-n64/ [sourceforge.net] [sourceforge.net]
...
This doesn't even deserve a response. I'm talking about a playable framerate. Not 5fps.
Yes again, PSP have been able to get online via WiFi from day one.
Browsing the web wouldn't be fun with such a horribly low resolution.
or use 3G sticks
Don't you already own a cell phone?
How is this a response? Most cellphones can't tether, so how does that help?
Does your PSP have awesome controls
I don't think they are too bad.
Then you've never tried a Pandora.
a great screen
4.3" is the same size as the Pandora, albeit @ 1/2 rez.
PSP screens used to have HORRIBLE ghosting, and an awful colour gamut. It's still bad, and the resolution is low, but it is better than before.
You can't argue this one. The Pandora's screen is far superior to the PSP's, in every way. (including power consumption, excluding price)
No, but it does have a 10 hour battery life. And the batteries are cheap.
http://www.circuitcentral.com.au/sony-psp-high-capacity-battery-3650mah-aftermarket.html [circuitcentral.com.au] [circuitcentral.com.au]
Pandora batteries cost half as much. Mine was $19.99 shipped, 4250mah.
These batteries get 14-16 hours in real-world tests with WiFi off - so it's not like a netbook where "14 hours" actually only gives 6 if you're running the CPU 100%. This is an actual 14-16 hours. I assume those batteries you linked do indeed give the PSP 10 hours of actual play time?... if you don't mind paying twice as much, each.
Does it run hackable linux, with off-the-shelf compatibility with your favourite tools?
Uh, yes again.
That would be a "No". Thanks for the link though.
Let me make this clear - the Pandora will almost be suitable as a desktop replacement. (form factor ignored) At launch it'll run software like OpenOffice, Firefox, Chromium, etc. - you could load it up with pen testing tools, use VNC/SSH... basically, you've got a fully featured desktop environment preinstalled on it, ready for linux apps to be loaded.
If you want enough of them, its value shoots up far above other handhelds.
Yes & right now there is a $200 difference. No where near enough value for the cost compared to a cracked PSP Slim if all you want to do with it is play games.
If all you want to do is play $50 commercial games, buy a PSP or NDS or some other big-name console and play it. This is a device for developers first, users second. Not the other way around.
I think you've just proven you're a user.
dangit slashdot. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Already seems obsolete.... (Score:3, Informative)
Others have replied to your other points, but I just had to reply to this one...
Seriously? Have you ever tried surfing with the PSP's browser? It is painful. It's a horrid implementation of the Gecko engine on top of a poor Wi-Fi stack. It takes over thirty seconds to download a ~5MB file from another machine on the network, and yet it's somehow still faster to view webpages through a web-based proxy running on another computer on the network than it is to go to a page directly. It can take upwards of a minute to load and render a few-dozen-kilobyte-long page of text. The PSP can “get online” in the most rudimentary sense of the word, but you cannot sanely give it any more credit than that.
Re:Already seems obsolete.... (Score:4, Informative)
The Pandora serves three niches:
- Emulator and handheld homebrew lovers
- People who want a UMPC with a physical keyboard
- People who want a very small HTPC and are content with S-Video (yes, some of those have popped up in the forums)
Yes, these days netbooks offer more bang for the buck specs-wise but then again so did desktops even when the team started. It's obvious that desktops serve a different niche than notebooks and netbooks. However, so does the Pandora.
Remember, this is explicitly a niche device. The first batch was originally planned to encompass a grand total of 3,000 units, later expanded to 4,000. There will be a second batch but nobody knows if there will ever be more than 10,000 units in total. There is no intention to directly compete against Nintendo, Sony and netbook manufacturers. The main competition consists of the Gamepark Wiz and the Dingoo A320 (for the homebrew lovers) or is mostly nonexistent (for the UMPC lovers).