A Full Review?
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Prometheus
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I would say that SomeGuy99 and paddy's reviews (both located on the first page of this thread) are quite in-depth, myself. 
If these aren't what you would classify as that, could you at least clarify what you mean by "full" and "in depth", please?
If these aren't what you would classify as that, could you at least clarify what you mean by "full" and "in depth", please?
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MDave
ZEQ2 Lite Developer
I wouldn't mind seeing some in-depth reviews of certain software!
Like the N64 emulator, or Quake 3 These are brand new (ish ...) experiences on a handheld! I want to know how well the nubs work in particular games, like Starfox 64 too!
Like the N64 emulator, or Quake 3
These are brand new (ish ...) experiences on a handheld! I want to know how well the nubs work in particular games, like Starfox 64 too!
gruso
thunderbox
In other words you want one packed with filler & bullshit. I understand why you want it, but I just don't think the type of review you want is going to appear any time soon. There are so many user reviews and videos around now, all of them very honest warts-and-all accounts. If these aren't good enough, I suspect nothing will be. A review from a major media outlet is likely to miss the point anyway (you know what some of these places are like - they'll be comparing it to iPads and Snapdragons and calling it outdated. Is that really going to help you?).
I understand why you want it, but I just don't think the type of review you want is going to appear any time soon. There are so many user reviews and videos around now, all of them very honest warts-and-all accounts. If these aren't good enough, I suspect nothing will be. A review from a major media outlet is likely to miss the point anyway (you know what some of these places are like - they'll be comparing it to iPads and Snapdragons and calling it outdated. Is that really going to help you?).
bzar
A Commando
^ Is Chip still going to Engadget with one? Maybe he can make them 'get it' and write a review from the correct viewpoint.
Gruso said:In other words you want one packed with filler & bullshit.
Perhaps commercial review sites like cnet cannot review the Pandora since the key purpose is to emulate game consoles and they might worry about using roms as a legal issue
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danielliu88888
i'm kind of hungry.
i don't think so.
Nintendo
Nintendo Switch
As soon as I get mine, I'm going to be making a "no frills" and no bs, fair dinkum Aussie review.
EDIT: Chip has disappeared.
EDIT: Chip has disappeared.
x68000
Mega GP Mania
Maybe we should send one out for the Chad w Smith YouTube video review treatment?
If I were OP I'd seriously consider it, this guy knows how to review
If I were OP I'd seriously consider it, this guy knows how to review
paddy
Active Member
Ask me anything and i will tell you the way it is ,simple as that.
I don't however want to pick away at emulators as there is not a perfect emulator anywhere for any system and the pandora has very unoptimized emulation at present ,some of the pandora games like quake 3 are really nice but the controls do not work perfectly yet ,like nub calibration for mouse look.
The OS is very nice and more or less does what you need ,all we need for the OS is more software and a few quick bug fixes ,the bugs it has right now are very minor.
The hardware is near perfect ,if you get a pandora that doesn't have any issues that a small few have then you have in my eyes a perfect system becase the hardware design is tops and i am very impressed overall with just about every aspect of the hardware ,the only thing i do not like is the power switch and possibly the lcd hinge as i would prefer it to be tighter/stiff so it doesn't move to the locked possition so easy ,this being said there is nothing wrong with it.
the overall finish is quite nice ,not perfect in my eyes as it can easy scratch and is a magnet for greesy smudges but i have now cleaned my pandora with a baby wipe ,lightly damp and it cleaned up as treat so i can see the paintwork stays put ,it's just that i think the finish could have been coated in something but hey this is a first model ,the finish is nice.
the actual use of the pandora ,like playing games and browsing the net ,typing up a document ,is a breeze and you couldn't ask for more ,but it does take a little time to get used to everything the pandora can do becase it can do alot.
so to me the pandora is a win all round ,it does what it is supposed to do ,it also looks the part and rather powerfull as well ,there are minor issues but these can be overlooked ,any major issue and OPT will fix/replace asap.
ps ,if you want to know what to expect from emulation in the future then i can say i would not be at all suprised to see fullspeed n64 in a few months ,psx should not be a problem as well ,and well all those other systems like snes and megadrive are nearly already there ,they just need to be polished up and optimised for the pandora ,apps wise you will see 100000s of apps so long as we all stick together and make the pandora happen.
I don't however want to pick away at emulators as there is not a perfect emulator anywhere for any system and the pandora has very unoptimized emulation at present ,some of the pandora games like quake 3 are really nice but the controls do not work perfectly yet ,like nub calibration for mouse look.
The OS is very nice and more or less does what you need ,all we need for the OS is more software and a few quick bug fixes ,the bugs it has right now are very minor.
The hardware is near perfect ,if you get a pandora that doesn't have any issues that a small few have then you have in my eyes a perfect system becase the hardware design is tops and i am very impressed overall with just about every aspect of the hardware ,the only thing i do not like is the power switch and possibly the lcd hinge as i would prefer it to be tighter/stiff so it doesn't move to the locked possition so easy ,this being said there is nothing wrong with it.
the overall finish is quite nice ,not perfect in my eyes as it can easy scratch and is a magnet for greesy smudges but i have now cleaned my pandora with a baby wipe ,lightly damp and it cleaned up as treat so i can see the paintwork stays put ,it's just that i think the finish could have been coated in something but hey this is a first model ,the finish is nice.
the actual use of the pandora ,like playing games and browsing the net ,typing up a document ,is a breeze and you couldn't ask for more ,but it does take a little time to get used to everything the pandora can do becase it can do alot.
so to me the pandora is a win all round ,it does what it is supposed to do ,it also looks the part and rather powerfull as well ,there are minor issues but these can be overlooked ,any major issue and OPT will fix/replace asap.
ps ,if you want to know what to expect from emulation in the future then i can say i would not be at all suprised to see fullspeed n64 in a few months ,psx should not be a problem as well ,and well all those other systems like snes and megadrive are nearly already there ,they just need to be polished up and optimised for the pandora ,apps wise you will see 100000s of apps so long as we all stick together and make the pandora happen.
WizardStan
Mega GP Mania
- Joined
- May 24, 2008
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- 16,731
*sigh* not this again.TylerAW said:
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Extremely brief version of my review:
Very odd and weird to use at first, but you get used to it.
Hinge angle is too low but you get used to that.
The nubs are extremely sensitive, I had to learn to touch them very gently. If you push down on them too hard they can start moving slowly.
The D-Pad is brilliant.
The buttons are probably too small, but they're nice.
The shoulder buttons aren't amazing, especially as I have a screwed up one (gonna get it swapped hopefully). They're very hard-click as opposedto mushy (my preference).
It's incredibly light and weighs almost nothing without the battery. With battery it can be on the heavy side sometimes.
I've had some weird problems with the system and software, but everything is in Alpha at the moment. No worries.
Running a full desktop OS on a handheld is crazy, surreal and cool.
Using the nubs as a mouse is second nature after a while, and works well.
The battery life does seem to be amazing. My freshly charged Pandora says it has 14+ hours left (is running MP3s out the speakers, on lowest brightness which is actually quite visible).
Even though the Pandora is weird at first, it totally grows on you. It already feels natural to me.
Very odd and weird to use at first, but you get used to it.
Hinge angle is too low but you get used to that.
The nubs are extremely sensitive, I had to learn to touch them very gently. If you push down on them too hard they can start moving slowly.
The D-Pad is brilliant.
The buttons are probably too small, but they're nice.
The shoulder buttons aren't amazing, especially as I have a screwed up one (gonna get it swapped hopefully). They're very hard-click as opposedto mushy (my preference).
It's incredibly light and weighs almost nothing without the battery. With battery it can be on the heavy side sometimes.
I've had some weird problems with the system and software, but everything is in Alpha at the moment. No worries.
Running a full desktop OS on a handheld is crazy, surreal and cool.
Using the nubs as a mouse is second nature after a while, and works well.
The battery life does seem to be amazing. My freshly charged Pandora says it has 14+ hours left (is running MP3s out the speakers, on lowest brightness which is actually quite visible).
Even though the Pandora is weird at first, it totally grows on you. It already feels natural to me.
Face it. A lot of people, me included are interested, mainly due to the options of emulation. Now, since the design went clamshell, i haven't been interested, but I'm still hovering about, hoping for a table top version.WizardStan said:
Is it the only thing you could do with a Panda? Of course not. But very few Pandas will never have had a emulator run on them, where as in comparison not every Panda will have been used for taking notes during lectures, travel planning, or geo-tagging. So, in a sense, emulation is a key purpose.
B!
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Based on one day of use, I'd say you really have to love Pandora for both it's modes.
If you only love the Desktop Application Mode or the Retro Gaming Machine mode you might find it hard warming to it. It's really obvious in use how much of a combination it is between say, a Nintendo DS and a Netbook. It makes the Pandora quite quirky but very unique. Think of it like a weird but talented friend - you have to accept everything about them or you can't have a real relationship.
For example, do you realise that the D-Pad and buttons are quite small? They could have been bigger... oh except for the keyboard. And vice versa, the keyboard could have had more keys if it weren't for those game buttons.
The Pandora is a cool mutant, love it as a whole.
If you only love the Desktop Application Mode or the Retro Gaming Machine mode you might find it hard warming to it. It's really obvious in use how much of a combination it is between say, a Nintendo DS and a Netbook. It makes the Pandora quite quirky but very unique. Think of it like a weird but talented friend - you have to accept everything about them or you can't have a real relationship.
For example, do you realise that the D-Pad and buttons are quite small? They could have been bigger... oh except for the keyboard. And vice versa, the keyboard could have had more keys if it weren't for those game buttons.
The Pandora is a cool mutant, love it as a whole.
WizardStan
Mega GP Mania
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Oh, absolutely. But emulation being a major selling point is not the same as emulation being the main selling point, and that's the point. If you were to take away the emulation, you would still have a very capable machine.Mr B said:
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paddy
Active Member
I really can't get over how some people think the dpad and the buttons are small ? twice as big as any portable nintendo product so i jyst don't get this ? if the gaming controls were any bigger it just wouldn't look right ,i think the size is totaly perfect for the form factor and if i were designing a device like the pandora i would do the controls exactly the same.
The pandora for games in the future once there are optimised emulators will be the best thing since sliced bread ,the nubs need to be sorted out tho ,the deadzone needs to be fixed as they are too sensitive ,this is such an easy software fix that i didn't think it was worth mentioning ,they still work perfectly as a mouse but for games this needs to be fixed.
The pandora as a small linux device is awsome and way better than the more powerfull viliv s5 i had running windows xp/vista/7 ,becase it has a much better screen ,much better touch sensitivity and acuracy - the sound quality is way better and battery life is 1000 times better than that of an x86 cpu ,linux OS is actuly better suited to such a small device than windows is ,the software possibilities will be truly great with all the free software that you could eventuly get on the pandora ,the keymat is really great and at 700mhz you can do anything you want within the os at a very fast speed ,i never use the os at 500 default clock but at 500 it si fine ,i just think well i may as well run it as snappy as i can get as i am still getting a days worth use before charging the battery.
Thiks like power saving/standby need to be fixed and we need some proper control over the battery charge functions also needed is a usb driver/inf so the pandora can be seen in windows when you conect to usb ,i am really quite sick of taking my sd out and into another device just to transfer files ,my card will break in about two weeks at this rate so something needs to be done ,and some users simply download directly on to their pandora but i find the wifi quite slow on the pandora so this also needs to be fixed.
overall the pandora is amazing in both worlds os and games ,mabe not yet but come on ,it's totaly brand new ,and remember the amount of people working on things like the os ,this will change when more people have a pandora ,really a great job done so far ,but some things need to be addressed and fixed asap.
ps ,seeing mario64 and zelda on the pandora will make most gamers wet and this is fact becase it si sooo good looking ! everything else is a bonus ,n64 emulation is mega popular and when more vids of the panda doing n64 are on the internet much more buyers will come before buyers to os use and features ,but to be honest i wouldn't have bought the pandora if it was only emulation ,the os linux usabilty on the pandora is my buying point and i love it for it.
The pandora for games in the future once there are optimised emulators will be the best thing since sliced bread ,the nubs need to be sorted out tho ,the deadzone needs to be fixed as they are too sensitive ,this is such an easy software fix that i didn't think it was worth mentioning ,they still work perfectly as a mouse but for games this needs to be fixed.
The pandora as a small linux device is awsome and way better than the more powerfull viliv s5 i had running windows xp/vista/7 ,becase it has a much better screen ,much better touch sensitivity and acuracy - the sound quality is way better and battery life is 1000 times better than that of an x86 cpu ,linux OS is actuly better suited to such a small device than windows is ,the software possibilities will be truly great with all the free software that you could eventuly get on the pandora ,the keymat is really great and at 700mhz you can do anything you want within the os at a very fast speed ,i never use the os at 500 default clock but at 500 it si fine ,i just think well i may as well run it as snappy as i can get as i am still getting a days worth use before charging the battery.
Thiks like power saving/standby need to be fixed and we need some proper control over the battery charge functions also needed is a usb driver/inf so the pandora can be seen in windows when you conect to usb ,i am really quite sick of taking my sd out and into another device just to transfer files ,my card will break in about two weeks at this rate so something needs to be done ,and some users simply download directly on to their pandora but i find the wifi quite slow on the pandora so this also needs to be fixed.
overall the pandora is amazing in both worlds os and games ,mabe not yet but come on ,it's totaly brand new ,and remember the amount of people working on things like the os ,this will change when more people have a pandora ,really a great job done so far ,but some things need to be addressed and fixed asap.
ps ,seeing mario64 and zelda on the pandora will make most gamers wet and this is fact becase it si sooo good looking ! everything else is a bonus ,n64 emulation is mega popular and when more vids of the panda doing n64 are on the internet much more buyers will come before buyers to os use and features ,but to be honest i wouldn't have bought the pandora if it was only emulation ,the os linux usabilty on the pandora is my buying point and i love it for it.
paddy said:
Ok well, I think it's just perception. You're right in that they're bigger than on my Nintendo handhelds, but they're smaller than on a PSP... and the Pandora is more PSP sized (so your brain expects bigger buttons, and the buttons you get feel small).
Anyway, it's nice that you guys have both myself and paddy to review for you. I guess somewhere between what we're both saying - our two different viewpoints, is a sort of general truth.
Think of me as the Eric Morcambe of the two.
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TitanUranus
Active Member
I have small hands like a girl, which is great cause even small things feel really big in them.
Nation.A.List
Member
Here, hold this!TitanUranus said:
p.s. would be even better if you were a girl.
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