Pandora News - We're part of a story... | OpenSource Handheld News

Pandora News - We're part of a story...

January 21st, 2009, 23:25 Posted By: wraggster

News from Evil Dragon:

Hi there everyone,
I've seen some guys being angry about all the delays and keep asking "what's going on"... and yes, I can understand them.

If it were for us, we'd have the Pandora released already, believe me. I can't sleep well since a few weeks since these delays really make up a bad mood, and I don't think it's much different for the rest of the guys in the dev team.

So I thought I'd tell you a story... because, yes, back in September 2008, we really thought we could release the Pandora until the end of the year!

However, there was one bad thing that happened... which caused all the mess and nearly did kill everything: In the beginning of October, right after the preorders had been paid, craigs bank froze his account (as you might know).
However, not only the money from craigs preorders was on that account, but also the money from the rest of us which was meant to develop the Pandora boards, etc.

Everything had been set: We had the complete circuits (I posted videos before September), we had the nigh complete case (we did post pictures of the FDM case) and we had fixed appointments with the company in mid October to do the first mass production testing of the boards.
However, we couldn't access the money anymore for actually STARTING the mass production - that's why it didn't happen.
Also, we couldn't pay the hinge, the prototype battery, the LCDs, the prototype of the flat ribbon cable for the LCD... and without all that, we couldn't continue to work on the case.
And without any prototype boards, the devs couldn't work on the software.

It was scary. Everything we had setup so far didn't work out - simply because of a frozen account. And this was the beginning of all those delays...

It took craig about one month to unfreeze the account - and yet, not all reorderings of CC orders haven't taken place. At least, we had access to some money and could continue to develop that thing - about mid-November.
Luckily, mass production test run did go pretty fast, so by the end of November, most devs got their boards.
It didn't work so well with the LCDs though - ours had been reserved but sold elsewhere as we didn't have the money at that time. We had to wait until January to get them all (and yes, we have them, as well as all major other parts needed!).

The company that does the battery also started to work as we paid them - and right in December, they told us they couldn't fit that high capacity within the space they had planned for. So they needed to make it a bit bigger - and we needed to change the case.

That was what happened until January.

Now that it's mid-January, we're basically back on track - just a bit late.
We got the parts, the design of the case has been finished according to our deadline on January 15th, it's currently being FDMed and right after that (if everything is okay, which really should), the case will be being CNCed.
The keypad is also ready for mass production as well as the boards.

The first prototype will be used to do FCC and CE testing, so don't worry about that.

Then mass production will finally begin - yes, we know it's a few months late, but believe us: We didn't want that. Still, we're just right before the finish lane, so we won't give up.

Thank you all for your patience - and again, sorry for the delay!
Maybe now you can understand a bit more what has been happening!

For more information and downloads, click here!

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