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I voted we'll see when it comes out - and here's my reasoning.
From the hardware side, the Archos 404/604 are what I would consider "state of the art". The industrial design is spot on, the feature set includes a docking connector, plus all the other stuff one would want, and from what I've been able to discern, the price is right.
Only one thing's missing. The software it comes with isn't open source. The hardware specs have to be derived by dissection and reverse engineering. I'm too busy inventing new stuff and and too overworked trying to reverse engineer our own legacy products to have to do that for a "toy". I just want to be able to change the things that annoy me - or add functionality I think should be in there in the first place.
That's why the 442v2 is so intruiging. A device, that at the outset was designed to be hacked / tweaked / modded. A device who's innards are not a mystery - so that one can get right down to business customizing and extending it.
For this to be useful to me, I have to have a high level of functionality at the outset. If I have a device that's way behind the curve, is not really functional, or doesn't support the basics (hw AND sw), then it's too "green" for me. I'm sure I could do a bang-up job of doing the heavy development if so tasked, but with three kids, cub scouts, our school's "dads' project" program, and a boss that demands at least 45-50+ hrs / wk, I just don't have time for that.
I also don't intend on spending $3K+ for a development environment for a $3-400 toy - and I don't have time to figure out how to put one together out of umpteen packages. If you have to do the development on Linux, that's ok, it's just there needs to be a modded Ubuntu/Debian/Distro du Jour that can run from DVD, preferably with a base "project" that can be copied to disk somewhere and updated via SVN or CVS. That's the other piece of the puzzle that has to be in place before I can spend any time advancing the platform. Having everything poised for development is important as every moment spent dinking around getting going is a moment not spent on something truly useful.
The audiophile specs are interesting to me, having worked on high end audio gear, but since I couldn't understand why the people that bought our stuff would spend north of $5K per boxed component for specs they were unlikely to be able to hear, that's a nice to have, but not necessary.
So, that's what I wish for in 442v2 land. Fortunately for Neuros Tech, I'm not in any hurry to replace my stolen N1 - as I use (and love) my Open Source equiped Openfi+Omnifi in the car, and my PDA is doing an sucky but passable job of handling my PMP chores. Otherwise, I'd probably be looking seriously at the aforementioned Archos units. The ideal unit would be a PMP/PDA/Phone, but since I don't trust cellular carriers further than I can throw them, and I dont' see things changing in my lifetime, I'm not holding my breath.
I know that my requirements are not trivial to accomplish - but fortunately, many of them only need to be done once (like the dev env on DVD). I was hoping the 442v2 would be higher up the food chain in priority, but as it turns out, the timing (so far) is good for me - but at the same time, I wonder if it's ok for the market.
So, Neuros Technology, I'm primed and waiting to be a supporter - and, in principle I am already - but if the package is there, I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is.
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