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Comment by ilaksh | Hacker News Reader

What is fantastic about it? It looks cheap and has a low resolution black & white display. Sure, the screen is reflective, but so what?

As far as I can tell, what this project has going for it is just slick marketing. But for me the marketing video is over-produced, form-over-substance, and I can't stand the voiceover or overall tone. It's saccharine.

I see some Cortex-M7 SBCs on AliExpress for $5. Add the rest of it and it's probably like $20 worth of hardware/enclosure and $5 for assembly labor.

They are selling it for $200. So it's like a 700% markup.

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> What is fantastic about it?

    * The screen is crisp and clear and especially playable in bright light
    * The crank is nifty and enables a lot of player interactions that you don't see anywhere else
    * The device itself is a design delight. It doesn't feel premium, so much as just the right amount of quality and playfullness. It's cute and fun.
    * Panic created an IDE that makes developing games for the Playdate super easy and fun. I've built a few (terrible) games and it was a blast
    * Panic is throwing a lot of weight behind game development for this. You get a ton of great games for free with the device, plus access to a storefront that's filled with so many other games of all genres
    * I think games are being priced sustainably. They aren't expensive, but they also aren't so cheap that the designers need to rely on ads or donations. I don't know if it'll last, but they're certainly heading in a good direction.

>The screen is crisp and clear

Most reviews I see do not like the displays because they are not clear due to their not being a back light or even a front light. The screen holds the device back needlessly.

The display is fine assuming that you have a decent external light source. It is pretty crisp.

I like the PlayDate but the display is horrible.

The most notable feature is the crank, which enables some games that are quite unique, but it really takes some hands-on experience to appreciate how smooth it is.

I also like the "new games every Monday for 12 weeks" experience, which is a great way to keep the console feeling fresh. I have been trying to make games for it while waiting for new games to arrive, and that has been a rewarding experience as well.

I wonder how well the crank works for left handed people.

There is an option to flip the screen upside down. I currently have a tendinitis on my right wrists so I use it a lot depending on the game and it work well.

Part of the cost is that it comes with about 24 game season where 2 of them are released each week. These are original games and not pirated games from either Nintendo or Sony consoles

The build quality is also better than the random junk that you’ll find on eBay, ali express,or Amazon. Plenty of people have cracked cheap screens on their ambernic portables

It’s a delightful product with attention to detail you don’t tend to see other places. You don’t get that by buying the parts from AliExpress.

> But for me the marketing video is over-produced, form-over-substance, and I can't stand the voiceover or overall tone. It's saccharine.

Wow I just watched it and it's hilariously outdated. I feel like it would be a satirical one in the TV show Silicon Valley or something. Very early 2010s

That video was created by Sandwich[0]; Adam was hugely influential in early 2010 startup advertisements[1], so your comment makes sense.

Personally, I love his style. It's fun.

0: https://sandwich.co

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Lisagor

I believe the screen is relatively expensive, and the crank and many other parts are custom.

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