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evilwallpaper

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des

des

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Posted

Regarding the re-ordering, I'd rather pay their charges incurred from my credit card than reorder by bank transfer. I'm sure it's just lack of organisation rather than anything sinister but £6 isn't much for peace of mind given the circumstances.

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Strawp

Strawp

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Yeah, it's all a bit messy but this is a complete garden shed product we're buying into and the first run limited batch at that, not a multinational games hardware manufacturer.

I'm going to wait until my refund has gone through before "reordering" or whatever it is they want me to do, and I'm going to use a proper credit card, not my debit card this time :lol:

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ngchol

ngchol

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Why on earth would we have to re-order? Seems really odd to me. The RAM upgrade and how we paid surely don't correlate?

well this is the problem with the general vagueness and lack of transparency, isn't it? How would the credit card company have any knowledge about a minor change to the hardware spec, and why would it cause a problem?

I don't get it, do I absolutely have to pay by bank transfer?

This whole operation is getting wobblier by the day.

You can ring them up to pay by credit card, I think.

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sentient

sentient

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According to people on the GP32X forum it's a problem with the bank. Apparently they can't talk about it... for legal reasons? Chip over there basically said 'You don't need to know specifics'.

I feel sorry for these guys - they're probably trying really hard and have the best intentions but every move they make simply reeks of scam. They're making it very hard for anyone to trust them.

:D

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ngchol

ngchol

Posted
Posted
According to people on the GP32X forum it's a problem with the bank. Apparently they can't talk about it... for legal reasons? Chip over there basically said 'You don't need to know specifics'.

I feel sorry for these guys - they're probably trying really hard and have the best intentions but every move they make simply reeks of scam. They're making it very hard for anyone to trust them.

:lol:

This guy has nailed it in this post, I reckon. I'm glad I'm able to cancel, the Wibrain I1 looks like it's the perfect device for me.

http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?s=&am...st&p=666324

I've been thinking about this, and am now slightly concerned about the funding of Pandora. Here's my supposition, making the assumption that pre-ordering was to fund the manufacturing process because it couldn't be funded in other ways:

- Money has come in from the preorders paid on credit/debit cards

- Parts have been ordered on the basis money is in

- Bank is saying that they will not release money from cards because of high risk of chargebacks

- manufacturers needs paying or demand payment up front due to unknown credit rating of Pandora/...

- specs change. Now risk of chargeback is large as people may receive goods "signficantly different" from as advertised and therefore will drop immediately on the merchant's head. Bank could end up carrying can - see below.

- Bank will not release funds

- refunds are being sent from the "held" pool of money because bank will not release funds.

- manufacturer still needs paying...

I can't blame the bank for being awkward whatsoever.

Worst case scenario is that Pandora can't deliver the product it promised, people claim the money back off their credit card issuer, credit card issuer claims money back from merchant acquirer (Craig's bank). Bank tries to get money back off Craig, to find that it's all gone paying manufacturer.

Bank is left exposed to the tune of £800,000 (4000x200) only secured on incomplete pandoras or parts from manufacturers. This assumes no funds are available from the devs or other businesses they are involved in, which might be utterly wrong!

In the current scenario of the world's state of financial institutions, do you think they're going to take a punt on a relatively unknown player, or do you think they're going to dig their heels in a bit?

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Strawp

Strawp

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This guy has nailed it in this post, I reckon. I'm glad I'm able to cancel, the Wibrain I1 looks like it's the perfect device for me.

http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?s=&am...st&p=666324

A good deal more pricey though.

So gingerling and ngchol are out. Who's left? I reckon my goodwill can stretch until the new year TBH. It's only £200. It's not the cash it's the impatience I have for getting to play with this thing :lol:

I expect Android will be ported for this by the time I take delivery...

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The Liberal Elite

The Liberal Elite

Posted
Posted
A good deal more pricey though.

So gingerling and ngchol are out. Who's left? I reckon my goodwill can stretch until the new year TBH. It's only £200. It's not the cash it's the impatience I have for getting to play with this thing :lol:

I expect Android will be ported for this by the time I take delivery...

Yeah! Team Naive ARE GO!

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ngchol

ngchol

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Just googled that Wibrain device.

wibrain-umpc-i1-thumb.jpg

You have got to be kidding me - is that abomination a real device?

Shocking

Yeah it's not pretty but I wasn't planning on impressing people with its looks! I want a device that will act as a multi-emulator handheld with a keyboard - bear in mind that it's the same sort of size as a PSP. And, it actually exists!

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ngchol

ngchol

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Yeah, but I can't imagine emulation would be very good with those buttons. And it looks really wide, like an Atari Lynx or something.

Shhh, you'll make it self-conscious. It should be fine, shouldn't it? e.g. for MAME, the extra buttons below the half of the keyboard on the left can be mapped to up/down/left/right, and then the keyboard buttons on the right as button 1/2/3 etc.

Wibrain - 192(W) x 82(H) x 28(D) mm - weight 526g.

PSP v1 - 170(W) x 74(H) x 23(D) mm - weight 260g

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des

des

Posted
Posted
A good deal more pricey though.

So gingerling and ngchol are out. Who's left? I reckon my goodwill can stretch until the new year TBH. It's only £200. It's not the cash it's the impatience I have for getting to play with this thing :(

I expect Android will be ported for this by the time I take delivery...

I'm still in. Haven't had an email about re-ordering it yet though. Are they only being sent out if you paid by Paypal?

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ngchol

ngchol

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Posted
A good deal more pricey though.

So gingerling and ngchol are out. Who's left? I reckon my goodwill can stretch until the new year TBH. It's only £200. It's not the cash it's the impatience I have for getting to play with this thing :)

I expect Android will be ported for this by the time I take delivery...

I still haven't decided. I've given them an example of how a community project should communicate with its pre-order funders - the empeg car project from 1999 - and if they can come up with the goods then I'm still in.

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Strawp

Strawp

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I'm still in. Haven't had an email about re-ordering it yet though. Are they only being sent out if you paid by Paypal?

Nope, I paid by debit card. If you went through a third party site then you might not get one. I don't know if the third party will simply just re-order for you or what in that situation.

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ngchol

ngchol

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Posted
Hey that's quite impressive for a UMPC! How much are they then?

Do you reckon the battery would last that long for games though?

I haven't seen a price but if it's anything like the previous iteration, £400-ish. I guess battery life would be affected by 3D gaming but I'd only be using at as a MAME/Speccy/Amiga handheld, to be honest.

I'm getting a rough ride over at gp32x for asking impertinent questions :)

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minstrels

minstrels

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Posted

I can actually see myself buying one of these in the future, but after the absolute farce that is the forum, and the total lack of communication, I really don't want to give these twats my money.

And what sort of testing will these things be getting on such a tight schedule? I can smell another rrod.

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