A bit of honesty please!


PFan

Still Fresh
Joined
May 15, 2012
Messages
5
Hi,


I have been a serial lurker to the Pandora forums ever since the initial concept occurred...


I have watched the delays etc etc and am now in a position to actually order one...


However time has gone on, and other devices have appeared such as the JXD 7100 etc... and basically I am wondering just how good a Pandora actually is (Especially for £300!)...


I had a Caanoo up until recently and liked it a lot, but I am looking to play N64 and PSX games ideally...


The hardware seems to be getting there, but obviously it has aged significantly since the start of the project, as well as this there does not seem to be an amazing amount of work being performed on the software side (In particular emulation) and as that is my prime reason for getting one, should I be concerned that really the software side of this has died before it has begun, and I should simply hold out for some kind of Android based device?
 
It depends on what you want.


PSX is best being played on the Pandora, in my opinion.


The emulator is VERY optimized, running most games perfectly with 600MHz and the controls are great.


N64 is not yet as good as it could be, but I'm not sure if it's much better on Android devices (never tried it there)


N64 has always been an issue, not just because of the emulation speed but also because of the unique controller it had back then.


As a bonus, the Pandora has a complete Mini Linux PC built-in including a keyboard... if you don't care about that, it's no bonus for you though.


AFAIK, there are a lot more emulators on the Pandora though. It seems Android so far only got the common systems.


Aditionally, having a keyboard for Atari ST, C64 and Amiga emulation is awesome :)


Battery life could be another factor. You have a suspend time of about 170 - 200 hours on the Pandora as well as an actual usage time (when gaming) of about 10 - 13 hourse (depending on game and brightness).


That's something I haven't seen on any other Android device so far.


So whether the Pandora is good for you or not depends on your usage case.


We're also offering partly broken units (i.e. non-working USB-Port or non-working Wifi) for a cheaper price every now and then, so if you're not interested in using these features but just want to play games, you could grab one of those as well.
 
Hi,


Many thanks for the honest reply... it is things like that that actually encourage me to get one, as obviously I know you are biased heavily towards the Pandora, yet you give it an open and honest assessment!


I think i will see what a few others respond with hopefully and probably just get one lol!
 
What ED says is allright.


N64 emulation and compatibility is not quite there. PSX is just perfect for most games. It is really nice to have a full keyboard, where you can map buttons to, like the second shoulderbutton etc. Thats something you can't really do on Caanoo and sets the Pandora apart from any other emulation device.


The keyboard is really nice and you can type notes etc. with ease on it without the need to get out your notebook.


Everything below PSX emulation is rather perfect and as ED said, a full keyboard is a huge plus for the emulation of older computers.


Also there is so much nice and free homebrew like Super geometry Dust, VVVVV, Quake1-3, etc. and even commercial games start showing up.


I think you should get one, if you like open consoles.
 
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I'm also probably not as biased as I should be ;)


I'm pretty untypical regarding that, but it's part of my philosophie:


I always try to be as honest and unbiased as possible. That's probably the reason I have a VERY low return rate for items bought in my shop:


I don't try to force anyone into buying my stuff - as this might result into a lot of unhappy customers.


I am getting quite a few emails of people asking me whether they should buy the Pandora or Caanoo, and depending on what they told me they are interested in, I suggested that they buy a Caanoo.


In my opinion, being biased is not a good thing. Every device has its usage cases and not every device is for everyone.


While I personally dislike the Android OS (I've tried it, but I just don't like the UI), I can totally understand that there are people who would rather get Android than a desktop OS.


That's probably also the reason I've been supporting GPH and the Caanoo. It's no competitor for me, it's a less expensive and less poweful and handheld than the Pandora, but if the interested person has no need for the additional features of the Pandora, why should I talk him into one?
 
with the N64 buttons, i remap the C buttons to pandora keyboard buttons which is really handy. not got it with me right now but i think i used IJKM and it feels pretty natural and sits in a similar position to the C joystick on the gamecube controllers so games like zelda feel pretty similar to that.


i definitely wouldn't worry about the software dying. as more units get into the hands of more people, there seems to be a greater drive to push out more software, with the kernel improvements and superzaxxon the pandora is taking a pretty good leap in its functionality and i think that since it is still both open in its software and offers features that its competitors do not, it still pulls in the development attention. where devices are proving to have more powerful processors, they tend to be bogged down in the limitations of their operating systems thus not providing the greatest performance boost, and though linux can be intimidating in some ways, it is actually much less difficult to control what is happening on the pandora than it would be doing the same thing on an android only device.
 
If you look at the Pandora as a laptop the price is fair. More so if you compare it to handheld mini PCs like Wibrain etc, those are really expensive and have the X86 downsides like heat and low battery life. Still more so if looking for a mini computer with gaming controls: There is no other but the Pandora.
 
Not to forget, you can browse theInternet pretty comfortably on the Pandora. A good bunch of mobile browsers are available and you even can use the well known Firefox in the standard PC version. I don't even need the touchscreen, I use the analog Mouse control over the nubs and the Pandora Keyboard for the rest. No annoying touchscreen browser controls or virtual onscreen keyboard crap. :D


For such a small device, the browsing is pretty good, only downside so far is the slow Speed (page loading, lag when loading and scrolling at the same time...) But this is mainly because I use the Firefox which is actualy a stright port of the PC version, no mobile version. Midori Browser is a little bit faster, aktivating a swap file also helps alot.
 
Also there is so much nice and free homebrew like Super geometry Dust, VVVVV, Quake1-3, etc. and even commercial games start showing up.

If we're being honest here, you should point out that only Quake 1 is playable - Quake 2 crashes at inopportune and random moments, and Quake 3 has serious control issues.


D.
 
I bought one around this time last year. It was a refurb and I returned it after a month or so as I got a crack near the lcd screen and due to moving country decided to just get a refund and perhaps pick one up lateror get the PS Vita which would rinse the Pandora.


It's a year later and I bought an Acer A100(android 4.0 tablet - well it's not 4.0 it's 3.2 but I rooted and installed 4.0 :p ) http://www.fatwallet.com/static/attachments/116615_acer_a100.jpg


I loaded up FF8 on the big screen and despite looking very nice the touch screen controls sucked, the sound didn't work properly and the cutscenes didnt work.


I also bought a Ps vita and whatcan I say? My Ps Vita gets almost no use because I was hoping it would've been hacked by now - my first PS Vita died with next to no playing within the first month due to a common fault. The guy at best buy said a ton of them had been returned and I would've gotten a refund except i was outside the month limit :(


Ps vita sucks so bad. 4gb memory card cost me $20, Unchartered doesn't seem much better than most PSP games, the graphics actually don't even look that good on Ps Vita and due to the memory card and battery (battery sucks bawls) limitations means that it just collects dust now (this thread is a reminder to craigslist that piece of crap).


So I'm back and I'll be ordering a new Pandora soon because the only bad part of the pandora is that web browsing sucks. Everything else is pretty amazing. Just remember you'll be forgoing ease of use for versatility. But in my non pandora day.


To sum up


My Acer a100 tablet became a glorified web browser


My PS Vita gets no play time due to the expense of games and the terrible battery life and extortionate memory card prices(4gb costing $20 in this day and age, really)


Pandora

  • Web browsing sucks
  • ScummVM point and clicks are fantastic
  • Can get an email client
  • Having a full music player whilst playing PSX or Snesis pretty damn sick
  • Memory card slots allow for a decent amount of storage (let's be honest, going on holiday with 16gb in your PS Vita sucks for 2012)
  • Creating games on your pandora is pretty easy with no hacking or wrapping in disgusting java
  • Mappable keyboard means you can truly do what you want with emulators


Another thing that sucks about the pandora is you can't put it in Sleep (standby or whatever)mode. PSP did a really nice implementation of sleep.


I think the Pandora is really overpriced yet unfortunately there is not much else like it. I wish it would get a better cpu however.
 
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was waiting myself to buy a pandora for years, so i got the caanoo helped me take my mind off the op for ayear, till i saw the video of the rebirth of op and couldn't wait any longer. have had my op for a little over a month and love it. psx works great nothing like playing ff7 on the go the new mame emu is great also. can surf the web and even dl via torrents, music and vids play fine. only thing i hate is having to make your own tv out cable and n64 needs alot of work to get near the psx emu but there are aton of great people working on the n64 emu and lots of other great things for the OP
 
Another thing that sucks about the pandora is you can't put it in Sleep (standby or whatever)mode. PSP did a really nice implementation of sleep.

mine goes to sleep after like 5 or 10 mins turns off the screen also with a flick of the power switch goes into stanby. guessing old os didn't have this worked in yet
 
If you're buying a Pandora exclusively for emulation you're paying too much, honestly. There are systems out there that I think do a good enough job for the money and getting a Pandora for 2-3 times the cost is not worth the minimal boost you get. The keyboard, the USB host, the full desktop experience that comes with it, these extra things beyond gaming are the reasons I can justify a Pandora over something else. If these things aren't of major interest to you, you may be more inclined to something cheaper that does just the job you want.
 
Another thing that sucks about the pandora is you can't put it in Sleep (standby or whatever)mode. PSP did a really nice implementation of sleep.
Sucks no more. A flip of the switch and it goes to sleep. 8 days later you flip it again and it comes right back on instantly. The battery is nearly dead by that point and most likely will shut down on you shortly thereafter, but after a few days shouldn't be a problem.
 
  • Web browsing sucks
Wh- what? I have never had a handheld which did it better! Would you please elaborate on that statement?

Let me remind you that browsing experience is highly dependent on the used browser. I can see you hating firefox because it's effin' bloated and inefficient. Try jumanji, get used to it's controls and fall in love.
 
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the only bad part of the pandora is that web browsing sucks.

I'm guessing you're referring to older versions of Firefox (which was slow previously), Midori (which I take it rendered pages incorrectly), and Arora (which I take it crashed a lot), but Firefox and Midori have come a long way, and Arora is no longer used. The browsing experience is pretty damn good now.
 
Also there is so much nice and free homebrew like Super geometry Dust, VVVVV, Quake1-3, etc. and even commercial games start showing up.

If we're being honest here, you should point out that only Quake 1 is playable - Quake 2 crashes at inopportune and random moments, and Quake 3 has serious control issues.


D.

Have you tried yamagi quake2?
 
@onpon and kuru


yes i would've been using old software but also referrin to the fact web browsing will never be as fluid as ios or android due to resistive touch screen and stylus.


typing on the internet is way better on the Pandora however as you can see by my farcical post which i cant correct however.


i am extremely pleased sleep is working as that and web browsing were Pandoras only downfall. however with the sheer number of things Pandora does very well it's a small pay pff.
 
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