Pandigital, one of the more visible smaller tablet makers that sprang up following the launch of the iPad, filed for bankruptcy shut down earlier this year.
Rather than file for bankruptcy, their assets were signed over to a liquidator to be sold off, with the proceeds going to pay creditors.
In the past few days an email has been going out to past customers. All existing warranties are cancelled, and if you wish to try to make a warranty claim you will need to file it with the liquidator.
The company formally went kaput in July 2012, and I have to say that it comes as no surprise.
Pandigital was pretty good at coming up with gadgets sold at a price slightly cheaper than name brand devices, and once they got past the initial quality issues with the first Novel Android tablet, their hardware wasn’t half bad.The tablets which they released in 2010 and 2011 had decent specs and price for the time, though they of course are underpowered, overpriced, and antiquated by today’s standard.
But their service department sucked, and if they ran the rest of the business as poorly as the service dept then the only surprise today is that the bankruptcy didn’t happen sooner. My first and last encounter with Pandigital’s service dept happened at the beginning of 2011, and based on the readers who kept showing up over the past 2 years I would say that the service dept maintained their usual standards of abysmal customer satisfaction.
Pandigital is leaving behind quite a few different gadgets, including a 6″ ereader, a couple 9″ Android tablets, an 8″ Android tablet, and a half dozen different 7″ Android tablets. And given that Pandigital was also involved in selling other consumer electronics before they jumped into tablets, you might also encounter their internet radios, digital cameras, digital picture frames, and portable scanners.
There is a surprising number of their tablets still available in retail channels; you would not believe how many views my old posts still get on hacking the various Pandigital devices. I expect to have new readers show up with these old tablets for some years to come.
P.S. Thanks, Joe, for posting that email.
image by fiomaha
I guess one less crap tablet we need to hear about.
Budget tablet maker Pandigital goes out of business - Liliputing // Nov 19, 2012 at 11:47 am
[...] budget tablets at even lower-than-usual prices. Pandigital declared bankrupty this summer, and The Digital Reader reports the company’s inventory is being sold off by liquidators trying to get a fraction of the [...]
Actually, Pandigital didn’t exactly spring-up after the iPad.
They were a pre-existing vendor of (rather nice) Digital Fotoframes who shifted their focus to marketting android tablets.
The surprise isn’t so much where they ended but that they actually had a bit of extended success before reality set in. They were relevant for about a year, no?
More blood-letting to come.
The Android tablet space is going to be shedding a lot of brands by spring…
They certainly didn’t have as high of a profile back before they got into tablets.
Nope.
But they have a lot lower one after chasing off after the tablet pot of gold, aren’t they?
“This has happened before. It will happen again.”
They never learn…
bolshy yarbles for all
Ereadermaker Pandigital failliet - Ereader NL // Nov 19, 2012 at 6:01 pm
[...] (Via The Digital Reader) [...]
Mr. Nate, I own the Black Novel from QVC. It is 4GB and purple color. I got a case, included stylus, AC adapter and USB connector. I also got the 9″ from Big Lots last Black Friday. Both work great. I bought a Nextbook 3 from HSN and had to get a replacement. It turns on and then, most of the time it forecloses. I have not tried to use it in about 4 months. Nextbook needs to go out of business, at least Pandigitals work. Before all the yakking starts from the peanut gallery, I mean that my Pandigitals both work doing what they are supposed to do. My Nextbook 3 is useless.
Hey Mizzbee
I have an android pandigital that i ordered 3 months ago. i got for a christmes present for my 4 year old daughter. i started trying to set it up using my hotspot and i cant get it to connect let alone anything else.
Thanks for your help
Who is next in the craptab bankruptcy game? Cony? Velocity Micro (Cruz)? Archos?
*COBY. Damn post-Publish typos…
Velocity Micro is certainly a possibility. They are a lot like Pandigital in that they are a device maker who branched into tablets, only in the case of VM they came from custom built PCs.
On the other hand there is a lot of money in custom PCs, so if they were careful they might pull through.
As far as I can see, no one has picked up their fake iPad Mini, the T508. Not Best Buy, not J&R. If no one will sell their shit, it’s curtains right there.
Pandigital closing up shop, currently being liquidated and not honoring any (previously) existing warranties | GadgeTell // Nov 20, 2012 at 7:28 am
[...] situation. To clarify, sad for any former customers having issues, not as much for Pandigital.Via [The Digital Reader]Follow @GadgeTell on Twitter.TAGS: android, android tablet, cheap tablet, pandigital, tablet 0 [...]
Pandigital Officially Out Of Business, Does Not Plan On Honoring Existing Warranties In The Process | TalkAndroid.com // Nov 20, 2012 at 7:38 pm
[...] source: The Digital Reader [...]
bad, bad, bad……..out of business and no where to turn. The Sunglow company who now has control says to me “we are not servicing any Pandigital tablets, just scanners.