The long-promised Playdate Stereo Dock is formally useless, no less than for now. After many months with the desktop accent caught in improvement limbo, Panic has up to date the product web page so it not says it is “coming quickly,” however as a substitute that it’s been placed on pause indefinitely because of points with the Bluetooth expertise, the manufacturing facility that dealt with it and the rising prices of resolving all of it. The Stereo Dock, first introduced in 2021, was meant to be a charging dock that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker (and pen holder), together with being a cute option to show your Playdate when it’s not in use. However, issues didn’t fairly work out as deliberate.
The Playdate group mentioned it hit some surprising hurdles in attempting to convey the thought to life, and located that “making the Stereo Dock was virtually tougher than making the Playdate itself.” The assertion explains:
What occurred? Effectively, our first remorse was assuming that our manufacturing facility at the moment — a manufacturing facility that made numerous Bluetooth audio system — may simply design the electronics for us, saving us numerous money and time. That went fairly effectively at first. However they, in flip, outsourced the Bluetooth software program and chipset to a different firm abroad.
Consequently, the Stereo Dock would crash typically — quickly adjusting the quantity would do it. The Bluetooth pairing/unpairing expertise was tough. And after we performed music, it simply didn’t sound excellent. The back-and-forth between three firms attempting to repair bugs turned an enormous problem. And worst of all: the price of the Stereo Dock saved getting increased and better.
It goes on to say that the group labored to enhance the expertise, even shopping for the Bluetooth chipset supply code in hopes to repair the problems, to no avail. Whereas there are “plenty of stunning completed prototypes,” Panic says “they weren’t excellent to make use of.” The official replace was foreshadowed in a social media trade shared on Reddit earlier this month during which Panic’s Cabel Sasser, replying to a query concerning the Stereo Dock’s standing, mentioned it “turned out to be extremely onerous for many extremely dumb causes” and was placed on pause.
The group says it’s now turning its focus wholly again to the persevering with manufacturing of the Playdate. There should be an opportunity that we see the Stereo Dock in some unspecified time in the future down the road, however don’t maintain your breath. “Will it arrive sometime? We nonetheless hope so,” Panic mentioned. “Will it arrive anytime quickly? Unlikely.”
