We have decided as a community to keep the wealth of spam/goodness we have accumulated over the last 5 years into a general forums for all things handheld gadget wise. Ok there will be a few omissions from the immediate list you are all calculating in your heads, but we want to keep the Gizmondo information alive and free on the internet and at the same time move onto newer gadgets we have all drooled over since Gizmondo closed it’s doors.

Gizmondoforums will now be known as Gizmoforums.com!

Please welcome Gizmoforums.com into your hearts and please give us ideas on how you want the site to look and feel. also what sort of topics you wish talk about. there’s already a poll to sink your teeth into on the forums would be great if you can lend a hand and help us decide. Click here for more information.

Just a nag but if you have any spare cash lying around and you wish to help keep the website and forums alive and kicking please donate via PayPal admin (at) gizmondoforums.com.

Thanks to everyone, our great moderators over the years, friends family and Gizmondo and not forgetting our loyal members for all your support.

Cheers.

Trevor aka Trevsweb

As you can see fans of spiderman may think of venom on first look as Rich explains
“Center shape is an orb that changes and mutates as it spins…when each button is pressed, the assembly stretches, extends and rebuilds itself.. ENJOY!!!”

Granted a first look all be it a tad late as Gizmondo do but somewhat dissapointing “Sneek peek” as it doesnt show much detail just of their art style. No information is availible of who is producing the website or what is on there but i’m sure we will fill you in on the next update.

Will this be the art style Gizmondo chooses for their new shell/OS? looks good but we shall see in the future.

ENJOY!!!

Update: view larger screenshots in our forums Click Here

New features

There are bag loads of new features coming from editorials to forum software here’s a little more information on the changes. Visit the Forums now and find out for yourself

New Design

Well well well 4 years of Gizmondo forums we just couldn’t leave the site design for another year and with the Invision board upgrade we had no choice but to upgrade to a new design. I really hope you like it. There’s more colour and spiffiness. Not just the forum but the whole site has changed! We now have a proper front page in the form of our new blog where we will post choice selections of news and site updates.

At the moment we will be keeping the old skin but it shall be phased out soon.

Update: Added two new articles. Check out the articles section above.

Reviews

Well we upgraded the forum thinking all was well, but it seams like the forum software has taken out the stress of the upgrade on the template we used for the reviews. So we had to re-create the reviews and incorporate them in our new look. Not only an upgrade of our old reviews. We are planning on filling the gaps of the Gizmondo games we missed. To add to that we plan on writing reviews of movies and other gadgets that comes our way.

Lastly we want to know more from our community members. We hope you will chip in with your own reviews and keep up the good work in informing us on what to buy. Also good reviews will be featured on Gizmondo Forums.

Downloads

Still in early development but we want the essential files and apps for your Gizmondo. For now we will be linking to our friends at GizFiles.com

Articles

As well as reviews we will be writing various articles in and around the Gizmondo world. In-depth looks at features, tips and tricks and tutorials all will play a part in the article section. We hope you will suggest some articles for us to blab about and waste both our times. Good stuff.

I have started with a new article on the Android system rumoured to be heading to the Gizmondo (click here) to find out more.

Software Upgrade

The forums software was upgraded over two weeks ago. Now we have everything underway you might have missed some of the features we’ve found out recently.

New forum features

As said above there’s a new look not just the skin but things have changed slightly structurally here too.

As we reported this week the new social networking style profile has been uncovered. More features you may want to update your profile with. Every member has a friends list, a rating system and a comment box so get going.

Rant of the month, well this one is a little odd but we hope to start off some community interaction. Basically we’re looking for small articles on a certain topic posted within the forums and we want your rants and thoughts on that topic, in a decent little argument. Best ones will be awarded the rant of the month and posted here.

Speaking of awards we are currently in the process of kicking the awards ceremony back to life so stay tuned and we will keep you posted.

Just a note to all members those avatars over 100×100 pixels will need to be re-uploaded to meet the new rules and regulations of the board. I shall give you a month from today to update them before removing them. (Click here) to got straight to your control panel

Just one last pointer to new members our rules of the site can be found (here)

Comment on anything posted here in our forums here.

An Android article Written by Trevsweb

Android description brief

Based on Linux, Android is an exciting venture for Google,  it has pushed out of the safe and comfy arena of search engines and maps to bring a new mobile operating system that might make even the Apple Iphone fans prick up their ears.

Heralding an era in open source software, Android plans to turn the market on its head. Having a freely available software development kit and a lot of resources backing it up, Google hopes to make a significant impact when it is released.

Android features

You cannot have a new mobile operating system without boasting about what it can do and Google has gone to a lot of trouble to push the software out into the market, even before it has even been commercially available. Late last year a contest was announced to create a storm with developers around the world. Entries have already been judged and winners announced, although a lot of map and internet reliant software shows that Google is looking for something remarkable for its software.

Progressively changing user interface has gone from a very simple design to an almighty beast, maybe enough to get a double take from passing Apple users. What is good in the eyes of Gizmondo users is that Android can function without a touch- screen, which is very good news to some of you touch-screen haters out there and our directional-padded Gizmondos.

Google promises all the support for the functions of what is expected of a mobile device these days: WIFI, Bluetooth, touch-screen, GPRS and 3G, the list goes on. You can read that list via the Google Android website. Google being Google wants to plug every single section of their business. It looks like updated versions of Google maps with street view and their ever-popular search engine will, without a doubt, make an appearance. One thing unresolved is the browser. The current browser is based on the open source programme, WebKit, although we may wonder whether Google will be giving us their interpretation of WebKit with their Chrome browser ? I’m sure they’re keeping a few secrets for shock value when the full version is available.

Gizmondo relation

Well what does this mean for our little Gizmondo? Rumours close to the top have surfaced saying development for an android version of the Gizmondo may already be in the works. Android’s flexibility and future development make Gizmondo’s choice to develop an Android Gizmondo a very clever move to return to the public eye.

“We are excited about the potential of Android and have been working on an Android version of the Giz…Android would be a TERRIFIC addition to the Gizmondo and enable a TON of open source development.“ - Rich Jenkins CEO Media Power Inc.

The first commercial Android Smartphone will be available by the end of the year. The HTC Dream under the T-mobile brand is highly anticipated but if Gizmondo can ride the wave of other hardware manufacturers then its reliability and power could attract a lot of attention. Gizmondo might even achieve notoriety for being the first gaming Android device in the world, which could give back some credit to a broken brand.

The likelihood of the Gizmondo commercial success just relying on Window’s Mobile or Window’s CE is very improbable as the development community is probably not as focused as that found on portable devices, like the Iphone or even the PSP and DS, which create interesting home-brew applications. Gizmondo needs this gimmick to show it’s still innovative in the market.

The upgrade of older Gizmondos is a tricky predicament. We have the availability of all the possible future developments on the Android platform, but this means we will lose our back catalogue of games. Destroying a semi-decent game library would be counter-productive for Gizmondo and also likely to annoy early adopters from the first Gizmondo? Gizmondo sadly don’t have the resources to get content on their device let alone exclusive titles anymore, Porting old titles would be an option, but not this early on.

Gizmondo hopes to push its open source commitments and Google’s Android can help it there. Let’s hope this is more than a pipe dream and aspirations can be soon realised.

Check out the following sites for more information on Android

http://code.google.com/android/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Android
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=google+android&search_type=&aq=f
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/
http://code.google.com/android/adc.html

The following are our questions and as usual Carl’s answers are quoted below.

Do you plan to harness or upgrade the GPS in current Gizmondo’s or new Gizmondo’s i.e.: Will you approach ALK again with CoPilot, look at other companies?

Yes, we want to upgrade the GPS in the new release. We are currently looking for a GPS partner.

Will we be seeing an improved GPS chip such as the SIRF 3 found in modern GPS units?

A new GPS chip will be included into the new version of the Giz

Will the Gizmondo Servers be back? Such as the Location based, where am I, or where is my nearest, services?

We are currently building out a worldwide server farm to minimize load times for users regardless of where they are located.

What is going to happen to SmartAds? Will we see it returning to the Gizmondo?

No

Will there be additional support for audio and video files on the Gizmondo such as the widely used Divx and Xvid?

We are discussing support for Xvid but currently the audio/video formats we are planning are the ones built in to the Windows Moble Media Player which include MP3 & WMA for audio and WMV and MPEG for video. Thus far, we have not discussed support for Divx.

Will the updated Gizmondo have WIFI or 3g capabilities?

The updated Gizmondo will have WIFI. We’ve looked at 3g but the 3g boards are really expensive to add and would put the Giz outside the pricepoint we are trying to stay within. We are looking at a external USB device that could be plugged into the Giz to provide 3g capabilities.

With the change in user interface will you be using the astonishing tribe http://www.tat.se again?

Yes, we are upgrading the UI and are handling the entire redesign in house. We took a TON of feedback from Gizmondo users.

What support will you be giving to operating systems such as driver support? Last time we were stuck with using windows 98-XP will there be Mac, Linux and Windows Vista support?

The new Giz will be on Windows mobile, so there will be Vista support. Not sure yet on Mac or Linux versions yet. We are also looking at an Android version as well.

Will Gizmondo be producing its own software for purchase? Can you divulge any ideas or projects you have going?

Yes, we will be producing non-game titles. We will be happy to provide you with detail on any of our applications as they get closer to launch.

From our development community

Can you elaborate on what support you will be providing for developers and programs you will be initiating to draw them in before releasing to the public? The development guys really need specific details on this as soon as possible.

We will provide a very comprehensive SDK, free access to a new device for registered developers for testing. There will be a revenue share program for new titles as well as for Gizmondo peripherals. We are also going to launch a small venture fund for promising technologies/applications developed for the Gizmondo. We have been approached by several educational institutions who want to use the Giz for lifestyle testing, as a universal remote etc. As we said before, we are committed to developing the Giz as a platform and we want to encourage these creative ideas.

The last Gizmondo lacked any extra incentives for developers, thus its homebrew community was also diminished. Are there any extra incentives or programs for developers this time round?

There will be a chance for revenue share on any application built for the Gizmondo and sold/distributed through the website. We also have other marketing partners that have indicated they will want to partner with members in the development community.

Will developers be able to buy the Gizmondo 2.0 before the public release (Dev Unit), so that they can produce content for the community in time for the actual launch?

Yes. We will have dev units and the SDK available early in 3rd quarter.

Will there be any difference in a Developer Unit & a Normal Unit (or any other units for that matter)?

No, there won’t be a difference between the units. All units will come unlocked.

Will there be any other specific resources to help developers get started developing with the Gizmondo 2.0 (e.g. SDK, Documentation, Forums/Developer Network…)?

Yes, we will offer all of these…SDK, Documentation, Forums/Developer Network.

Prospects of Android sound interesting though it would defiantly push the Gizmondo into a future market with the boom on that platform imminent a lot of money is being invested into android and Gizmondo backing it would mean we could get our hands on a first gaming android device.

With the rumors of the Gizmondo 1.5 swimming round the aspect of battery life is still a key objection. this however in an unsuspecting move has been addressed with this comment from Carl Freer.
We know the Gizmondo’s standard battery was no good hence the need for the premium battery but please read on.

“We understand that there was an issue with the batteries in the original Gizmondo units. Frankly, they never worked very well. Part of this was due to the physical battery used, the other was the power management module in the OS.

We now have a MUCH enhanced solution for the battery issue (including a new model battery) that we will be offering in the new Gizmondo units. Additionally, we will to offer a new battery to current Gizmondo owners as part of the upgrade process. This program will be available FREE OF CHARGE and will be a part of the relaunch.

As I mentioned, we are committed to current owners and want to help enhance their experience along with draw new users to Gizmondo.”

Now to read that on first impression would be wow! Indeed great commitment to the early adopters and possibly very risky financially but if we read into this, there might be some form of exchange old batteries for new? What lies on the horizon for the Gizmondo surely must be big as this is merely a spec of what’s to come