This is Panic's first foray into hardware and it really shows; while the device itself is very handsome and feels great, they really underestimated demand and have had a tough time getting the supply logistics under control. I ordered mine in February and got it 7 months later.
I think they're (finally) catching up on orders, but I wouldn't take their word for it on ship dates
They conceived, built and delivered production units, all the while pyra has been "almost there" so I think they did OK. For a super niche product I think they did great.
LCDs are very inexpensive commodities; the Playdate has a Memory-in-Pixel display that I would guess costs a little more than an equivalently sized LCD.
So I think it's partly the battery life thing, and partly an intentional aesthetic choice -- this little thing is meant to evoke nostalgia for the days where the compute and display limitations defined a genre of games (see early Game Boy).
Would definitely suggest looking at videos showing the display at various angles before purchasing one. In the right light it is incredibly bright, crisp, and readable, and like any reflective tech it gets better, not worse, in sunlight. However, it really needs light coming from overhead to do its best -- if you are in dim or diffuse indoor light, the screen can be nigh unreadable, especially since it's so tiny!
Comments
Estimated ship date for Playdate is end of 2023 (per website). Have there been any updates from the company on this?
This is Panic's first foray into hardware and it really shows; while the device itself is very handsome and feels great, they really underestimated demand and have had a tough time getting the supply logistics under control. I ordered mine in February and got it 7 months later.
I think they're (finally) catching up on orders, but I wouldn't take their word for it on ship dates
They conceived, built and delivered production units, all the while pyra has been "almost there" so I think they did OK. For a super niche product I think they did great.
They ship in batches. I got mine 3 weeks ago in Batch 5 that I ordered in March 2023.
Are you happy with the device - looks pretty cool minus the grayscale screen. Curious if that was chosen for battery life or cost?
LCDs are very inexpensive commodities; the Playdate has a Memory-in-Pixel display that I would guess costs a little more than an equivalently sized LCD.
So I think it's partly the battery life thing, and partly an intentional aesthetic choice -- this little thing is meant to evoke nostalgia for the days where the compute and display limitations defined a genre of games (see early Game Boy).
Would definitely suggest looking at videos showing the display at various angles before purchasing one. In the right light it is incredibly bright, crisp, and readable, and like any reflective tech it gets better, not worse, in sunlight. However, it really needs light coming from overhead to do its best -- if you are in dim or diffuse indoor light, the screen can be nigh unreadable, especially since it's so tiny!