Pandora Console Ready For Pre-Orders

Croakyvoice writes "Finally, months after the official announcement, 3,000 lucky people can now pre-order Pandora, possibly the world's fastest handheld console. It boasts a processor capable of up to 900 MHZ, PowerVR 3D graphics, a large 800x480 LCD touchscreen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, dual SD card slots, TV out, dual analogue and digital controls, a clamshell DS Lite-style shape, and a 43-button mini keyboard. The console already boasts an amazing amount of ready-for-release software such as Ubuntu and many full-speed emulators for systems such as Snes, Amiga, Megadrive, and many more that are not publicly announced yet. The console is as powerful as the original Xbox and on a par with the Nintendo Wii. Those interested should visit OpenPandora.Org. For the full history of Pandora from inception until the present, check out the Pandora Homebrew Site."

Comments

My thumbs hurt just by looking at it.

[interstellar_donkey]

It's neat, but it doesn't seem to be very ergonomically designed.

Compare to the iPhone

[tepples]

This is so like another console from a few years back (Gizmondo?) that looked like an old-skool gamers dream machine with GPS and whatever else thrown in the mix but ultimately it died a death as it really wasn't of interest to the mass market.

Gizmondo had a lockout chip to keep out homebrewers, which wasn't cracked until after the system was discontinued. Pandora, on the other hand, is designed without a lockout chip on purpose.

Also, its flexibility is its downfall - Joe public won't be able to work out what it is for - it's too much of an 'everything plus the kitchen sink' device.

So are the iPod Touch and the model with a built-in phone, but that's selling like hotcakes.

Battery life is awesome, apparently.

[torpor]

Battery life is said to be between 10 to 12 hours of normal usage ..

I ordered one. Can't wait to get it, as its got a lot of power and will make a superlative machine for developing music/synthesis/effects application .. plus the odd game or two, of course, lol ..

For those saying "It will Never Take Off", so? As long as Craig&Co. can make a tidy profit selling it as a niche item, it will be awesome anyway - the hardware itself is superlative, and the development scene for this console is like nothing else - even if they only sell a few thousand, thats at least going to give a few thousand people an awesome system to play with.

Don't forget: its totally open. So it won't "die" as long as there are people willing to get one and code for it, for their own purposes. Gizmondo and all that: dead coz Joe Blow Hacker can't code for it, easily. Pandora: Very, very easy to write code for it, so even if there are no commercial entities getting behind it as a mainstream console, it will still be highly useful to those who bought it ..

Re:Limited audience

[Perky_Goth]

This will appeal to geeks and hackers but 99.9% of the rest of the world will never, ever get this on their radar.

But that is exactly it's market. It's a product for a community that already exists and that is already buying it, so it will be a success. Beating nintendo is not the goal, making a great device with features that a few thousand people want is enough of a success, from my point of view. I'm unsure whether it will make enough money to compensate the amount of time spent designing it, but not everything is about the money. I'm sure they actually love the device themselves, say.

Re:Why would you buy this?

[Perky_Goth]

Can you put it in your pocket? Does it play like a proper gaming controller? No? Then that's why. Personally I'll have this, the Eee and the DS, all for different uses.

Re:What part of this advertisement is news???

[Goaway]

PS1 was only 32-bit but still trumped the faster N64.

"32-bit" is a completely meaningless term in this context, just so you know.