A Weekend Away, Featuring The Pandora

[MarkoeZ]

Ok, i have not written a review yet, since i wanted to try it properly first. Here a short story featuring the pandora in a weekend at sea with my girl

Friday:
Nice and early departure (well 11.30 am, its vacation after all ; ) , and a 3 hour journy by train. Both talking enthousiastically ofcourse, but after an hour in a train, it was time for the pandora, and she on her ds. Cavestory on Ginge was the game of choice (excellent game, everyone should try, at least till the village, then i was hooked)
on arrival, emptying bags, and setting up pandora corner. took about as long as finding a properly placed wall mains basic setup, usb hub, mouse, mobile usb tethered, and some small portable speakers. So first of all some music on.
Since we had train tickets for free travel the whole day, we decided to go to amsterdam for dinner, and pandora nicely told us when the train was leaving and how late we needed to get back. I did not think it would be smartt for a tourist to take a nice gadget to Amsterdam, so she had to miss that.
On return, quick mail and msn check with pidgin

Saturday:
daytime: Beach, and evildragons pictue was still burned on my eyes, no way im taking it there.
Evening, quickly checked out nice restaurants, and some info on the next day
Late in the evening i was thinking about a game i used to play as a child on the atari st, figured out the name and downloaded it, Chainreaction. Very simple, but up to 6 human or cpu players turn based, and very addicting( And its the chainreaction from 1991 with the atom like gameplay, there seem to be 2 games named that way)Fired up Hatari ST and turned out playing it with/against my girl for over an hour on

Sunday:
But first to the races (DTM) never been at the circuit, was awesome. Checked the weather forecasts before we went to see what to pack, and viewed the movies and photos i made with my mobile afterwards, simple microsd to sd adapter and tadaa, easy viewing.
Now, late, im typing this review and uploaded a pictue of the setup i used. Only thing missing from the picture is my mobile on the loose cable on the bottom right since i needed that to take the picture (old but faithful HTC kaiser running windows mobile 6 with wmwifirouter, but built in option works as well). Map is there because the tabletop is of the shiny white type optical mouses do not like.

Tomorrow: home again, and some more cavestory in the train

Conclusion:
I have a very early Pandora, screenbezel was growing in the beginning, but currently steady (i just oh so slightly loosened the bottom right screw since it seemed to release the tension on the stuff inside), my left nub was iffy but died completely yesterday, wont return to center so had to disable it. BUT it is still the dream device i imagined. It really just does everything once you got the hang of it, and the setup might look messy on the photo, but it hardly takes any luggage space.
Yes im one of those guys waiting to return it because its just too damn fun!!

Cheers!
MarkoeZ

 

[b1ueskycomp1ex]

A very cool example of some of the things you can use your pandora for. It really shows that the device can be used both as a portable and as a mobile computer. Have you had any luck with typing on the keypad like a normal keyboard? Maybe not touch-typing, but with 2 or 4 fingers?

 

[Prometheus]

Such a great write-up! Sounds like a fun trip.

I love the photograph, too - I think the map makes the shot all the more interesting. Also, it's kind of surreal how huge the Pandora makes the mouse look.

 

[MarkoeZ]

A very cool example of some of the things you can use your pandora for. It really shows that the device can be used both as a portable and as a mobile computer. Have you had any luck with typing on the keypad like a normal keyboard? Maybe not touch-typing, but with 2 or 4 fingers?

it was actually written using a mix of both if it's on the table i automatically start typing normally. But it is slightly more easy to thumb type. My experience anyway

 

[MarkoeZ]

Such a great write-up! Sounds like a fun trip.

I love the photograph, too - I think the map makes the shot all the more interesting. Also, it's kind of surreal how huge the Pandora makes the mouse look.

Yup, having loads of fun, and thanks

did not notice the size comparison yet, but it really is a normal mouse

 

[skeezix]

yay for Atari ST props

Mostly -- awesome that you got away on a trip; I need to get my wife and baby girl out for a vacation, but not going to happen ... but if I did, I tell you, I'd leave the pandora behind and melt into the sand al ittle bit instead

Aside: I'm currently (eternally?) playing Zork 1, Guild of Thieves, and Time Bandits (ST). (And Starcraft 2, but retro only chatter here.) Just not enough ST nutjobs around these parts lately

jeff

 

[PokeParadox]

Doh... I miss my Pandywandy... it's been sent away to get the LCD cable fixed...hope it comes back before the 8th Sept.
EDIT: Sorry I meant to say good post... but yeah got the missing of my Pand in my head after this post reminding me why it's a top gadget!

EDIT: Apparently it will back with me tomorrow!

 

[gruso]

Great post MarkoeZ. Glad you've got yours.

 

[MarkoeZ]

yay for Atari ST props

Mostly -- awesome that you got away on a trip; I need to get my wife and baby girl out for a vacation, but not going to happen ... but if I did, I tell you, I'd leave the pandora behind and melt into the sand al ittle bit instead

Aside: I'm currently (eternally?) playing Zork 1, Guild of Thieves, and Time Bandits (ST). (And Starcraft 2, but retro only chatter here.) Just not enough ST nutjobs around these parts lately

jeff

hmmm guild of thieves and time bandits, both ring very familiar bells but can´t really remember them. Had them both (well probably illegal copies anyway but still) but my mother threw away all the disks we had since the computer was not working anymore (only a year ago or so, and over 300 of them, aaarrrrrggggg)

 

[second exodous]

Great post, sounds like the Pandora is the perfect travel companion. Mine missed my trip to Brazil but hopefully I get it before any more big trips.

 

[Loon]

The thing I love about taking the Pandora away for a weekend is that you don't have to worry about the battery running out. I'm incredibly glad that the OPT didn't try and make the Pandora slimmer and smaller at the expense of battery size.

@ MarkoeZ :

I couldn't face sending back my machine when the nub broke, finally had to when the purple screen of death struck. The good news is that the return was handled promptly by OPT and communication and customer service were first rate.

 

[gruso]

[edit] Thread cleaned up.

DaMummy: Further piracy talk = warn, ban, public flogging etc.

 

[MarkoeZ]

thanks gruso, dunno how that suddenly happened ; )

The thing I love about taking the Pandora away for a weekend is that you don't have to worry about the battery running out. I'm incredibly glad that the OPT didn't try and make the Pandora slimmer and smaller at the expense of battery size.

Errmmmm, yah, it lasts a long time, but you can wear it out a couple of times in a weekend as well
really, i did not spend that much time actually controlling the pandora, but it has been playing music for quite some time, sometimes with screen open, then some internet and stuff. Pretty damn good, but if you go abroad, even for a weekend, you should think about a proper adapter if necessary.