Back in August 2017, I had a (secret!?) meeting with PtitSeb who brought his Pyra prototype for me to check it out. Since I had not relaunched GiantPockets at the time, this article was a little delayed. As the Pyra is still not out in March 2018, it may still be worth sharing what I thought about it then. Why should you care? Well, I have used the Pandora(s) extensively for many years (from 2012 with the Rebirth and afterwards with the 1Ghz Model) so that makes me well aware of what worked and did not work with the Pandora, to evaluate the Pyra prototype on.
Category: DragonBox Pyra
Pyra Vs Pandora: A Much Improved Design
Hey – it’s been a while I did not post any news. There are several reasons for that, but also the lack of motivation in the first place because there was not so much happening that was worth talking about on the Pandora side of things, and a lot of little posts about the Pyra that I did not feel it was necessary to “summarize”. Today, however, we have a new video, and it’s pretty well done and definitely worth sharing.
Pyra Pre-Orders Have Started
Last week I met with PtitSeb as I started my holiday back home – during our conversation I was casually asking him what’s been happening with the Pandora lately since I did not really have any time to check news. “Oh, the Pyra pre-orders started”. Wow, already ? It’s now been more than a week, and here’s a quick update on the whole situation.
A Working Pyra Prototype!
It took a long time to get to this point, but ED and his team has finally achieved it! A fully working Pyra prototype! Looks like you won’t have to wait too long now to get your hands on something tangible (hopefully within 2016) to replace your existing Pandora, or to jump on the ship if you did not have any Pyra-like handheld until now.
Pyra: Finally, A Nice and Clean Keymat
For many Pandora users out there, the keymat has always been somewhat of a problem. Some users love it, but many of us find it flawed in different ways: the keys are too hard to press, they reflect too much light, it’s tiring to use over extended period of times… fortunately, the upcoming Pyra is featuring a much improved keymat that should take care of most of the issues that we have faced so far.
You Can Now Pre-Order a Pyra
I have been a little busy recently, and I am a little late to report a certain number of news – but the great news that came over during the weekend was that the Dragonbox Pyra pre-orders have now started! Of course, as usual, the actual time to delivery is unknown at this stage, but the hardware is sufficiently close to readiness that ED has enough confidence to kick things off.
Pyra: Full Prototypes Soon!
As we are soon jumping in the 4th quarter of 2015, things are getting progressively in place for the Dragonbox Pyra, with full prototypes to be assembled within November. The remaining elements are now being produced: the keymat, following its layout finalization, is now in production and samples of the real thing will be available by Mid-October. Once received we will see how it works hands-on, and if keys are lighted up as expected via the backlights.
Gamescom 2015 Welcomes the Pyra
As you may have heard, the Pyra‘s prototype CPU board could not be completed on time for the Gamescom, but there’s still the devboard available at the show as well as the case and the other hardware that is already finalized. Evil Dragon too this opportunity to prepare a little video for those who could not be at the show.
Pyra and 3DS Emulation
Guys, calm down. This is not an announcement. Actually what I’d like to share with you is what Exophase mentioned at the end of March 2015 about the possibility of 3DS emulation on the Pyra. At this stage, nobody is working on it, so there is no point in getting excited – this is simply a reflection of whether or not it’s even possible.
What the Pyra Should Look Like : Renders
As Evil Dragon (the leader of the Pyra handheld project) mentioned before, the case is more or less finished, and last week there was a final poll as well to decide the layout of the keyboard. While the layout will be tweaked further, those renders are pretty close to what the Pyra is supposed to look like later this year. [ Note, this article was updated again on July 30th with new content. ]