34 replies to this topic

[Zertilus]

Does this Pandora device already have a microphone? If not, it might be a good idea, since a lot of other devices have one. That, and a camera. That has also been a popular hardware in a lot of things (DSi).

[Xian Long]

i believe it will have a microphone. in my personal opinion, a camera is quite useless. if you want to take a picture, use a camera. also, the design right now is probably the final one and won''t have any major changes.

[Gruso]

It has a built in mic. It doesn''t have a camera. It''s waaay too late for design suggestions.

[Zertilus]

Too bad. Maybe in an update sometime in the future. Good it has a mic though.

[cbox]

I don''t understand why people want to put crappy cameras in everything. You don''t really need one, and if you REALLY want one, there are tons of crappy cheap usb ones you can clip on that you can probably get for 5 bucks on ebay.

[lulzfish]

"Too bad. Maybe in an update sometime in the future. Good it has a mic though."

no it''''s not, I really hate cameras. They''''re useless for asocial people like me, and integrated ones don''''t really have the quality to justify their existence.

Maybe in an update, or maybe you can plug a USB camera in.

>_>
I mean, that might work.

Or a designated "Works with Pandora" USB stick-shaped camera. I mean, we have the most well-connected handheld in existence here, why not use a USB port and make the camera optional?
That way you can keep using the original hardware AND have a camera.

Yeah, I like the microphone. If the battery life is 8 hours at a high CPU load, it shouldn''''t be too hard to record audio for 8 or 9 or 10 hours at a time, with other stuff disabled and a good buffering scheme, to avoid frequent flash writes.

edit: Now I''m excited again because there''s so many things the Pandora can do, AND it has a USB port for extensions like a mouse, keyboard, joystick, camera, 3G radio, AM/FM radio, mass storage....

I can''t wait.

Edited by lulzfish, 24 March 2009 - 11:24 PM.

[Butterman]

Yeah, this obsession with putting cameras on everything pisses me off. It all burns down to, trying to find a laptop that dosen''t have a crappy cheap camera staring at me 24/7. It took me quite a while to actually find one.

[Squidge]

Too bad. Maybe in an update sometime in the future.

This isn''t a Gizmondo

If you want a camera, you can add it yourself easily enough. There''s a USB port and SDIO available for that. You can then spend however much you want rather than a crappy "lowest cost" camera permanently attached.

[lulzfish]

Yeah, this obsession with putting cameras on everything pisses me off. It all burns down to, trying to find a laptop that dosen''''t have a crappy cheap camera staring at me 24/7. It took me quite a while to actually find one.

What bothers me slightly more is the wedge-shaped trend and the Macbook-style hinge trend.
Wedges don''t fit into anything well, and they look stupid. I like boxes.
And putting the hinge on the back makes it look weird.

That''s also why I love the Pandora: It looks like my laptop, but smaller.

[Crunchwrap]

Keep in mind the DSi has a suck camera. My phone''s camera outranks it by so much. Also, you could just transfer pictures from a camera/phone as easily as you could onto any other computer.

[Xian Long]

macbook-style hinge = fail

[Tripmonkey_uk]

Keep in mind the DSi has a suck camera. My phone''''s camera outranks it by so much. Also, you could just transfer pictures from a camera/phone as easily as you could onto any other computer.

That''s one thing that I was wondering about actually..

Is it possible to view a mobile phones camera via bluetooth?

I know that none can do it yet (or none that I know of anyway), but wouldn''t it be possible via software/firmware update if a company decided it would be useful?

[Korlithiel]

I think a better option then USB is just a camera that uses SD cards, that way you have a good dedicated device that you can just pop the card out of to use the content on the pandora.

Still, I''m glad for both the MIC and the lack of built-in camera.

[valhalla]

That''''s one thing that I was wondering about actually..

Is it possible to view a mobile phones camera via bluetooth?

I know that none can do it yet (or none that I know of anyway), but wouldn''''t it be possible via software/firmware update if a company decided it would be useful?

I don''t think that bluetooth has enough bandwidth to stream real time video at any useful resolution, so it can''t probably be useful as a webcam.

Of course you can take still pictures with the phone and copy them on pandora via BT.

If you have wifi on the phone you may have a chance, but of course it will use more power and the phone may be locked to prevent the installation of the required software.

[MarkoeZ]

there was a topic a couple of months ago, someone did get video from his mobile phone camera to a device over bluetooth. Can''t seem to find the thread though.

But i think when the Pandora is out, someone will try it and post about it