T
Trevsweb
Guest
A Pandora review
Introduction
Yep here goes another rambling review of a Pandora you’re all dying to hear about. Sorry for the guys that are still waiting for your Pandora but these kinds of reviews help you make you mind up if you’re man enough to stay on the boat and wait or jump overboard and cancel like the slimy scurvy dogs those guys are.
So is it worth the wait? Or have you spent the last 2 (maybe more) fending off vapourware twats for no reason?
Hardware
Packaging
As like the few that have reported back and those who have experience of collecting the Pandora from the deliveryman, the seer joy of rushing to the kitchen to open the packaging only to find a massive dent in the box…
“oh crap”
I thought UPS/Royal mail had dragged the box behind the van.
All was fine, thanks to the bubble wrapped Pandora, though the user guide must’ve taken the impact with a lovely crease mark down the middle.
Its in the bin now (actually now in the recycling depot as its over 2 weeks ago)
User guide
To be honest I have done what every red blooded male does with every instruction manual and put it on the old reading pile. However the initial boot up time let me skim over the details. Nothing really I really didn’t already know about the Pandora but might be useful for new Pandora owners. I certainly already know not to use a battery acid leaking Pandora… however it has been written in a very human (most of it) and simple way.
Battery case
As my Pandora came with the battery already inserted it puzzled me why this was needed, probably the biggest waste of plastic with the included boxed items. Its also a bugger to open.
Battery
The battery is fine and performs as stated, though obviously overclocking the CPU for faster performance reduces stated battery times. I initially had issues with the battery not sitting 100% in the right place making the case point in an angle but it was just the battery sticker that was slightly misaligned. A quick fiddle smoothing the sticker sorted this problem.
Wall charger
I can see why they did what they did with the wall chargers, but I found it really disconcerting that the Pandora’s wall charger had to come with a UK adapter for the US power socket used. After figuring out which way round it went in the actual adapter I was set to power the Pandora on, yet it still hangs out my wall socket looking like a fire hazard lets hope that’s never the case.
Hopefully a specific UK style plug can be provided later with production of the second batch.
The Pandora
Now on to the Pandora itself.
The case of the Pandora hits you immediately its tiny! Just smaller than a Nintendo DS XL slightly weightier but very solidly built. I’ve seen photos of other guys cases but this one must be one of the better cases out there. No plastic blemishes no real problems with the case at all.
Saying that there were a few points with my Pandora I found out later, as said earlier the battery caused the battery cover to be raised… now sorted.
An odd sort of warp on the left side of the case where the screen meets the keyboard.
Lastly looking at the screen later I found there was a space at the bottom of where the screen meets the screen surrounding on the case, obviously its just a missing section of hot glue that wasn’t used but this causes a bit of a gap. These problems don’t spoil the Pandora at all both the touch screen works brilliantly and the case closes normally.
Its remarkable how the Open Pandora team have really gotten the best out of the Chinese company. We’ve waited a long time for these cases, they were well worth the wait. However there’s plenty of room for improvement with this. But for a first batcher this is absolutely the best result the team could get and really it shows, there’s a lot of love for the small size and great quality.
The Screen
Speaking to Craigix earlier before the Pandora’s release he commented on how the screen was one of the classiest components in whole Pandora. I 100% agree with him. Its pixel perfect for a LCD screen. Colours and contrast are sharp and vibrant. Its very hard to fault it indoors. Outdoors is another matter. However this has always been an issue with LCD screens were really only just seeing higher end companies fix this issue with such things as Super AMOLED.
Moving onto the touch screen, I found it useable but very cumbersome double clicking was a nightmare but with some software tweaks in the mouse settings I was fine in XFCE otherwise the touch screen performs well with either stylus or chubby finger. Speaking of which I didn’t get on with the built in stylus every time I used it, it felt like I was dragging a knife down a kids face. I quickly swapped to a spare DS stylus. Much happier now.
Controls
Controls are what make this thing unique, not only a full keyboard but great D-pad shoulder buttons and amazingly accurate dual analogue sticks.
The d-pad and button configuration works very well, right amount of spring to the controls to help pull off the moves I never accomplish but it’s a feature I’m glad is there, even if I suck at most games.
Shoulder buttons have no real sense of movement minus a clicking noise when you hit the sweet-spot, I’m hoping for a better mod than cramming half a used tampon or bog roll into my Pandora to rectify this uneasiness I currently have with them. I need to test them further with games that need to use them in rapid succession, various N64 titles proved very playable though.
The analogue sticks first become useful after first boot, taking the form of the mouse controls, after trail and error I quickly managed to get my heard around the left click and right clicking methods. But boy this thing is precise, love the way the cursor glides around the screen, in games it doesn’t shine so well at the time of writing but this can be solved by adjusting in-emulator. This is definitely one of the killer features of the Pandora to keep and eye on.
Keyboard
After hearing bitching from the forums about the keyboard layout I really dreaded using this but once again I was joyfully surprised with the results. Yep the space is in a weird position but get your head around that and your set. The first night I was chatting via pidgin at my usual rate, it was amazing.
Using this keyboard is a pain in laptop mode really. This keyboard was made for your thumbs it just does it flawlessly.
Sound
I found most the emulators has odd crackles but music from Mplayer played fine. I’m not a sound expert and wont pretend to be. It does its job. Software will catch up soon enough.
Misc features
Power switch
Bit of a bugger to use without nails but turns the device on pretty easily but turning the device off after breaking something normally ends up with removing the battery rather than waiting for something to happen with the switch.
Volume wheel
Worked fine no issues with this
Headphone jack
Same again works fine, I noticed in the hacker manual it supports 4 pin. So a hands free microphone could be used.
USB socket
Haven’t needed to use this yet, hoping webcams and USB gadgets will be supported soon.
SD Cards
I used a single 16gb Kingston class 4 SD card and had no issues loading or removing items software issue I got annoyed at was the process in getting to the drive… via media then remembering which mmc34234234ewrwr number it was. A little tedious but I hope for a fix for this soon.
At this time I’m feeling the second SD card slot might be overkill, however if more emulators and games come out a second 16gb card may be joining the fun.
Software
This is where it will all eventually happen. A lot of homebrew is bubbling beneath the surface and what I’ve seen already from what the Pandora can do, the finalised products will be amazing down the line.
As with all open source and new platforms time is needed before everything is at a good level. This is not a big name company, commercial games wont happen straight away. But they will happen someday and they will rock your socks off.
Software
XFCE Linux operating system
Admittedly I am really a Linux newbie, I’ve grown up with windows and been perfectly happy with it. I’ve dabbled with Ubuntu several times but nothing serious due to software restraints.
XFCE works perfectly well, all be it very tiny on first start up. I know its making the most of the screen size but I quickly changed the UI to suit my needs and aid with day to day use of my Pandora. Gladly there are tonnes of appearance options to choose from.
The built in browser at the time of writing sucked, luckily more came out very soon after now I straddle between Fennic and Chrome both are brilliantly different browsers.
Pidgin works great and does everything you will want to do from your Pandora IM wise.
The Pandora’sSD card explorer PND auto discovery is great. Showing and refreshing everything in your SD card and whacking it on your desktop or start menu its truly astounding and a brilliant idea for the problem of removable storage.
Mini Menu
The first publically released mini menu works great and does everything you need in a finger friendly environment. If it wasn’t for the lure of the full desktop, I would be perfectly happy using this all day.
Conclusion
A biased opinion? Maybe. But it pushes portable gaming forward, without sacrificing necessary controls, power, connectivity and openness.
No one has done anything like this. It truly is a masterful gaming platform.
I really hope developers give it a chance to push this device into its much deserved limelight.
Minor case problems are overshadowed when you’ve seen this device grow. The development process has been tough on everyone, even those waiting and still waiting. But its very much worth every penny and every two month promise we’ve had.
Congratulations to everyone involved with the Pandora project, not naming any names as I’m guaranteed to miss people out. You know who you are and can reap the benefits of this grand accomplishment.
Well done.
Introduction
Yep here goes another rambling review of a Pandora you’re all dying to hear about. Sorry for the guys that are still waiting for your Pandora but these kinds of reviews help you make you mind up if you’re man enough to stay on the boat and wait or jump overboard and cancel like the slimy scurvy dogs those guys are.
So is it worth the wait? Or have you spent the last 2 (maybe more) fending off vapourware twats for no reason?
Hardware
Packaging
As like the few that have reported back and those who have experience of collecting the Pandora from the deliveryman, the seer joy of rushing to the kitchen to open the packaging only to find a massive dent in the box…
“oh crap”
I thought UPS/Royal mail had dragged the box behind the van.
All was fine, thanks to the bubble wrapped Pandora, though the user guide must’ve taken the impact with a lovely crease mark down the middle.
Its in the bin now (actually now in the recycling depot as its over 2 weeks ago)
User guide
To be honest I have done what every red blooded male does with every instruction manual and put it on the old reading pile. However the initial boot up time let me skim over the details. Nothing really I really didn’t already know about the Pandora but might be useful for new Pandora owners. I certainly already know not to use a battery acid leaking Pandora… however it has been written in a very human (most of it) and simple way.
Battery case
As my Pandora came with the battery already inserted it puzzled me why this was needed, probably the biggest waste of plastic with the included boxed items. Its also a bugger to open.
Battery
The battery is fine and performs as stated, though obviously overclocking the CPU for faster performance reduces stated battery times. I initially had issues with the battery not sitting 100% in the right place making the case point in an angle but it was just the battery sticker that was slightly misaligned. A quick fiddle smoothing the sticker sorted this problem.
Wall charger
I can see why they did what they did with the wall chargers, but I found it really disconcerting that the Pandora’s wall charger had to come with a UK adapter for the US power socket used. After figuring out which way round it went in the actual adapter I was set to power the Pandora on, yet it still hangs out my wall socket looking like a fire hazard lets hope that’s never the case.
Hopefully a specific UK style plug can be provided later with production of the second batch.
The Pandora
Now on to the Pandora itself.
The case of the Pandora hits you immediately its tiny! Just smaller than a Nintendo DS XL slightly weightier but very solidly built. I’ve seen photos of other guys cases but this one must be one of the better cases out there. No plastic blemishes no real problems with the case at all.
Saying that there were a few points with my Pandora I found out later, as said earlier the battery caused the battery cover to be raised… now sorted.
An odd sort of warp on the left side of the case where the screen meets the keyboard.
Lastly looking at the screen later I found there was a space at the bottom of where the screen meets the screen surrounding on the case, obviously its just a missing section of hot glue that wasn’t used but this causes a bit of a gap. These problems don’t spoil the Pandora at all both the touch screen works brilliantly and the case closes normally.
Its remarkable how the Open Pandora team have really gotten the best out of the Chinese company. We’ve waited a long time for these cases, they were well worth the wait. However there’s plenty of room for improvement with this. But for a first batcher this is absolutely the best result the team could get and really it shows, there’s a lot of love for the small size and great quality.
The Screen
Speaking to Craigix earlier before the Pandora’s release he commented on how the screen was one of the classiest components in whole Pandora. I 100% agree with him. Its pixel perfect for a LCD screen. Colours and contrast are sharp and vibrant. Its very hard to fault it indoors. Outdoors is another matter. However this has always been an issue with LCD screens were really only just seeing higher end companies fix this issue with such things as Super AMOLED.
Moving onto the touch screen, I found it useable but very cumbersome double clicking was a nightmare but with some software tweaks in the mouse settings I was fine in XFCE otherwise the touch screen performs well with either stylus or chubby finger. Speaking of which I didn’t get on with the built in stylus every time I used it, it felt like I was dragging a knife down a kids face. I quickly swapped to a spare DS stylus. Much happier now.
Controls
Controls are what make this thing unique, not only a full keyboard but great D-pad shoulder buttons and amazingly accurate dual analogue sticks.
The d-pad and button configuration works very well, right amount of spring to the controls to help pull off the moves I never accomplish but it’s a feature I’m glad is there, even if I suck at most games.
Shoulder buttons have no real sense of movement minus a clicking noise when you hit the sweet-spot, I’m hoping for a better mod than cramming half a used tampon or bog roll into my Pandora to rectify this uneasiness I currently have with them. I need to test them further with games that need to use them in rapid succession, various N64 titles proved very playable though.
The analogue sticks first become useful after first boot, taking the form of the mouse controls, after trail and error I quickly managed to get my heard around the left click and right clicking methods. But boy this thing is precise, love the way the cursor glides around the screen, in games it doesn’t shine so well at the time of writing but this can be solved by adjusting in-emulator. This is definitely one of the killer features of the Pandora to keep and eye on.
Keyboard
After hearing bitching from the forums about the keyboard layout I really dreaded using this but once again I was joyfully surprised with the results. Yep the space is in a weird position but get your head around that and your set. The first night I was chatting via pidgin at my usual rate, it was amazing.
Using this keyboard is a pain in laptop mode really. This keyboard was made for your thumbs it just does it flawlessly.
Sound
I found most the emulators has odd crackles but music from Mplayer played fine. I’m not a sound expert and wont pretend to be. It does its job. Software will catch up soon enough.
Misc features
Power switch
Bit of a bugger to use without nails but turns the device on pretty easily but turning the device off after breaking something normally ends up with removing the battery rather than waiting for something to happen with the switch.
Volume wheel
Worked fine no issues with this
Headphone jack
Same again works fine, I noticed in the hacker manual it supports 4 pin. So a hands free microphone could be used.
USB socket
Haven’t needed to use this yet, hoping webcams and USB gadgets will be supported soon.
SD Cards
I used a single 16gb Kingston class 4 SD card and had no issues loading or removing items software issue I got annoyed at was the process in getting to the drive… via media then remembering which mmc34234234ewrwr number it was. A little tedious but I hope for a fix for this soon.
At this time I’m feeling the second SD card slot might be overkill, however if more emulators and games come out a second 16gb card may be joining the fun.
Software
This is where it will all eventually happen. A lot of homebrew is bubbling beneath the surface and what I’ve seen already from what the Pandora can do, the finalised products will be amazing down the line.
As with all open source and new platforms time is needed before everything is at a good level. This is not a big name company, commercial games wont happen straight away. But they will happen someday and they will rock your socks off.
Software
XFCE Linux operating system
Admittedly I am really a Linux newbie, I’ve grown up with windows and been perfectly happy with it. I’ve dabbled with Ubuntu several times but nothing serious due to software restraints.
XFCE works perfectly well, all be it very tiny on first start up. I know its making the most of the screen size but I quickly changed the UI to suit my needs and aid with day to day use of my Pandora. Gladly there are tonnes of appearance options to choose from.
The built in browser at the time of writing sucked, luckily more came out very soon after now I straddle between Fennic and Chrome both are brilliantly different browsers.
Pidgin works great and does everything you will want to do from your Pandora IM wise.
The Pandora’s
Mini Menu
The first publically released mini menu works great and does everything you need in a finger friendly environment. If it wasn’t for the lure of the full desktop, I would be perfectly happy using this all day.
Conclusion
A biased opinion? Maybe. But it pushes portable gaming forward, without sacrificing necessary controls, power, connectivity and openness.
No one has done anything like this. It truly is a masterful gaming platform.
I really hope developers give it a chance to push this device into its much deserved limelight.
Minor case problems are overshadowed when you’ve seen this device grow. The development process has been tough on everyone, even those waiting and still waiting. But its very much worth every penny and every two month promise we’ve had.
Congratulations to everyone involved with the Pandora project, not naming any names as I’m guaranteed to miss people out. You know who you are and can reap the benefits of this grand accomplishment.
Well done.
