[roebeet]

Link: Velocity Micro to Ship Android Tablet in September | Tablet NewsOf note: "The Cruz Reader will do 720p video". Holy moley - if that's true, AND it does everything else that the PDN does AND it has a mic, I think this will be a PDN killer. We still don't know the hardware in this thing, but yes i'm hoping it's similar to the white PDN so we could utilize the hardware acceleration.

 

[gortyargen]

Even if they release it next week they may be too late. In the last few days it seems like every man and his dog has shown a new tablet and with the big German electronics show due to open on Friday I'll bet there are a gazillion new tablets on show. Samsung, Archios, Toshiba etc. The Viewsonic 7 inch has 2.2, capacitance screen, front and back camera and apparently even works as a phone. Gonna be a bunch more money than a Cruz reader but tablets are now coming out that have all the things we want and do not have to be hacked or have us crawling on our knees to don't give a fuck companies like Pandigital begging for source code. We all know how that panned out. The PDN was great at 120 bucks. It was a learning tool for many of us but I think the day of the PDN and Cruz reader is gone.7" capacitance screen, HMDI, front and back cameras, GPS, 1Ghz cpu; they are all out there in some form. Someone will roll all the bits together and sell an all singing and dancing tablet for a decent price and people will be all over it. The PDN and Cruz reader are already dinosaurs. A fun ride but the bus left and they weren't on it.

 

[lawman]

I agree, but they are a bus of sorts, and a lot of us are still on it. We need to keep feet on the gas. We were there when...

 

[Mark Adams]

Not to throw icewater one your delight at declaring the death of the PDN, mine is going to going to give me years of use. When the battery dies for good, I'll consider replacing the batter or upgrading the device, but while all the new toys sort themselves out and a winner is declared some years from now, I'll read about it on this toy on an app provided by the company that takes over Engaget. I hacked this thing on a 6 year old laptop that cannot run the software necessary to hack it. I haven't thrown away my CRT style G3 iMacs either ... which make fine file/music servers.PDN: The best $120 I've spent on myself in years.

 

[nvrpayretail]

I'm with u Mark. I'll be using this toy for some time to come - although I think it will be months not years before a new king will be crowned. The PDN does everything I need it to do. I'll probably get a new toy if the price is right, but the PDN will continue to be used until it dies.Sent from my sec_smdk6410

 

[lawman]

or crumbles to dust from the cracking... Mark just said what I said with more words. I agree with his more words too though.The wheels on the bus go round and round... round and round...

 

[roebeet]

I don't plan on getting rid of my PDN just yet - my only hope is that the video playback can be improved, and the WiFi. At $107, it's almost disposable.

 

[Mark Adams]

More words, heh. I've been away from Twitter too long playin' with this thing.

 

[lawman]

I abhor twitter. Usually I use too many words though.

 

[AJP]

People on this forum tend to forget the purpose of this product and its intended audience. It is meant as a reader first with some added capabilities. Based on where it is sold, the intended audience is the shopping mommy.All the new slates, tablets and gizmogadgets on the horizon have varying purposes from full computer replacement to multimedia tool. None of which is the Novel's intended purpose.

 

[zsmomma]

[quote name='AJP;49521]Based on where it is sold' date=' the intended audience is the shopping mommy.[/QUOTE']Hey! I resemble that remark! I shop. I am a mom. I have been know to shop at BB&B and Kohls (I also shop at Home Depot among others--hmmm...) Anyway, I would never have purchased it as is. I already have a Kindle. If I wanted another reader, I would have bought another reader. I wanted something more. And the PDN, although not the best or greatest, is a very reasonably priced tablet/toy/reader.

 

[clockworx]

I abhor twitter. Usually I use too many words though.

Woofer | Macroblogging

 

[dman762000]

very [/I]reasonably priced tablet/toy/reader.

Ehh, heh, heh, Hacker mom, Cool!Besides that. The PDN might have been meant for little more than reading ebooks but the hardware can do so much more, why not make it do everything it can?

 

[roebeet]

If the hardware was crippled (like the Black reader), I wouldn't be so bent out of shape about the device. But I suspect that there's hidden hardware acceleration capabilities that haven't been tapped, yet.

 

[dman762000]

Probably so, the whole thing has been crippled from the git-go. Look at the base firmware they put it out with, it was only running the thing at a portion of its possible CPU speed. It seems like a hardware change on the black though and it may not be soft-crippled, those just may be its limits. They probably did that because of what you all are doing to the white. I am looking at digging into the hardware mod aspect of it as soon as mine comes in.

 

[AJP]

very [/I]reasonably priced tablet/toy/reader.

I meant no malice aforethought in my comment. Mommy shoppers are very vital component of the economy and many of us men would go hungry and clothesless without them.I much agree with your later statement about the PDN. The main purchase considerations for me were the color screen (I struggled to read E-Ink with my very poor vision) and the price.My computer experience predates the IBM-PC. So, I am quite familiar with hacking, modding and upgrading machines. Was not looking for that when purchasing the PDN but the hackability is certainly a plus.

 

[gortyargen]

I don't think we ever will see the source code. I emailed Pandigital last week. Go the standard auto generated response. Emailed back saying I was disappointed at the treatment. Got a real response from Jane who flimflammed me with support working on it BS. I then wasted my time writing a page and a half ... here's where the action is in tablets and time and what could be done for Ppandigital...... never got a response to that one. As we would say at home... they are a bunch of tossers.Unfortunately the coders we have here that can actually work wonders is a very small band and if they leave we are going to stagnate. I just flashed the 2.2 alpha. Booted up OK the first time but stuck at the blue pandigital screen the second time. USB connect sees it and adb reboot starts it up again but still stuck. My reset don't work so off with the back and disconnect the battery......again From what I saw of it the 2.2 alpha was working ok.

 

[lawman]

I'm debating giving you guys the information for the contacts I have there... How do you think the PR reps would like a flood of "WTF" emails?

 

[clockworx]

I honestly don't think it is worth bothering anymore. It would have mattered months ago, but now? Stuff is hitting the market, and people here will probably move on to other tablets in the near future. We might get a bump "borrowing" from Cruz, if possible, and again if we can get stuff actually compiled for 2.1/2.2, but the point will come where people no longer want to bother with resistive screens and older CPU's.Mine will stick around as a toy, and possibly get passed along to someone who would appreciate it, but PD's time is about to pass. It's actually a shame, as they could have gotten an even bigger rep as THE tablet to get, to the point where people would have eagerly anticipated anything they had coming out, but they decided to keep it small time and keep their product as an eReader that has lower production costs rather than going after the tablet community.

 

[roebeet]

Giving that they've been been giving you the runaround' date=' would it really matter at this point?

I honestly don't think it is worth bothering anymore. It would have mattered months ago, but now? Stuff is hitting the market, and people here will probably move on to other tablets in the near future. We might get a bump "borrowing" from Cruz, if possible, and again if we can get stuff actually compiled for 2.1/2.2, but the point will come where people no longer want to bother with resistive screens and older CPU's.Mine will stick around as a toy, and possibly get passed along to someone who would appreciate it, but PD's time is about to pass. It's actually a shame, as they could have gotten an even bigger rep as THE tablet to get, to the point where people would have eagerly anticipated anything they had coming out, but they decided to keep it small time and keep their product as an eReader that has lower production costs rather than going after the tablet community.

x2. I mentioned this a few weeks back as well. By this time next month I suspect that this PDN will be old news. I hope that the brains here can at least get a superior 2.1 build working, but I'm so fed up with this company that I don't even want to bother. Yeah, I'm pretty annoyed at them - I guess they want to stick with making digital frames instead of making a game changer.