After all that time... I'm done

[devhace]

So I got my Pandora about a week ago. Opening the package was the culmination of 2 years wait and $330 US dollars, I was excited as I think I ever have been before in my life. I ordered this guy when I was still in high school, now I'm in college and so much time has past. After about a week of tinkering around with it... I'm not really too impressed. I figure I should be fair and justify my claim. I guess the state of the software just kind of is lacking for me at the moment. the N64 emulator isn't fullspeed with a lot of games and there's terrible sound, the best GBA emulator we have isn't even for the Pandora... I have yet to find a satisfactory audio player with all of the features I like... I love Amarok but there's no Pandora version. In addition the lack of suspend to RAM sleep is silly and I have yet to have a satisfactory experience browsing the web. Also I seem to remember there being promise of a DSP only media player with a ridiculous battery life, it seems ~10 hours of battery for a music player is kind of low.


I realize these things are like this because there aren't too many out there ATM, and most of my opinions are a result of a lack of units out there and stuff, and I'm not bashing the Pandora I'm just explaining why personally I'm not really into this thing right now, I just felt I had to explain myself after saying "I didn't like it"... and even then it's not that I don't like it, it's that the software for me is lacking. For me. I might come back in a year or two to see if things are looking up, but until then for a device that is (for me) 2+ years in the making, it doesn't quite meet my standards.


Before going out on a sour note though, the hardware is really something else. It looks and feels fantastic, and yes I agree with the fact that it's the best D pad I've ever used.


Anyways, the point of it all is that after seeing this whole thing through, deciding I'd rather have some cash in my pocket than something I don't really want, I was wondering what you guys think the best way of going about selling it is? Ebay seems like a good place to start but I didn't know if anyone in the community wanted to sidestep ebays fees and just buy it, or even if that's a legit thing to do. Advice?


/weird review and shameless "selling my Pandora" plug

 

[vadsamoht]

Sorry it didn't live up to your expectations. Units are still fetching reasonable prices on eBay, so I'd start there, unless you get an offer from this thread.

 

[Gerix]

We should have traded queue positions. Sounds like it would have been win-win. Oh well.

 

[vadsamoht]

We should have traded queue positions. Sounds like it would have been win-win. Oh well.

You could always buy his unit and sell your queue position?

 

[hakmanplayer]

I'd go ebay.

 

[Gerix]

We should have traded queue positions. Sounds like it would have been win-win. Oh well.

You could always buy his unit and sell your queue position?

Yeah, I probably could. But that sounds like such a hassle. I'm content to wait at the moment.

 

[devhace]

Well here we go! It's been fun, kinda.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280664609602#ht_500wt_1156

 

[vadsamoht]

Well here we go! It's been fun, kinda.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280664609602#ht_500wt_1156

I'm not going to be bidding, but you might want to change the background on that specs section - I can't read it at all.

 

[ahahah]

Well here we go! It's been fun, kinda.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280664609602#ht_500wt_1156

I'm not going to be bidding, but you might want to change the background on that specs section - I can't read it at all.

select it with the mouse

 

[Wootson]

Well here we go! It's been fun, kinda.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280664609602#ht_500wt_1156

I'm not going to be bidding, but you might want to change the background on that specs section - I can't read it at all.

select it with the mouse

Thumbs up for this awesome solution!

 

[craigix]

It sounds like you didn't even spend any time tweaking settings or experimenting with various software versions which is a shame.


Plenty of people want a Pandora so I'm sure it will sell for at least as much as you paid for it.

 

[Nintendo]

Good luck.

 

[devhace]

It sounds like you didn't even spend any time tweaking settings or experimenting with various software versions which is a shame.


Plenty of people want a Pandora so I'm sure it will sell for at least as much as you paid for it.

That's mostly it, when I ordered it I was in high school and all the time in the world for tweaking and tinkering and whatever, but I'm in college now and I hardly have time for... well anything. While I used to install different linux distros just for the hell of it on my computers at home it seems at the present time that I need something that "just works" as the phrasing goes. I hope I phrased myself properly, I think it's important to understand as a business why a product doesn't appeal to some people and why. Just trying to be helpful

 

[timothee]

Good luck selling your pandora!


I gotta say I agree with the negative points in your feedback. In particular, I too am eagerly waiting for the low-cpu-speed, everything-not-needed-disabled, dsp-based, 100+ hours media player :/ (or was it just a dream anyway?). Until then, GMU is my player of choice.


That being said, for me the pandora is more than worth it. Partly because the gaming experience I want it to emulate is older and works perfectly (CPC6128, NES, SMS, MegaDrive, SNES). I don't care much about the N64. Also, as a portable computer it "just works" well enough for me (angstrom repo + the pnd system are both great).

 

[Giepi]

That's mostly it, when I ordered it I was in high school and all the time in the world for tweaking and tinkering and whatever, but I'm in college now and I hardly have time for... well anything. While I used to install different linux distros just for the hell of it on my computers at home it seems at the present time that I need something that "just works" as the phrasing goes. I hope I phrased myself properly, I think it's important to understand as a business why a product doesn't appeal to some people and why. Just trying to be helpful

I think you have a point, but remember that the whole Pandora experience is community based, and while the core devs made a hard and wonderful job making a tight fit vest for the Pandora, it will be up to the community expanding it, like mostly happen with most linux distros where other people makes tools, games, ports and so on.


So it's true that Pandora HW had 2+ y of development, but just come back checking after 2+ y that the Pandora has gone into the wild, maybe you'll be amazed.


I know it would be 4 years after you gave you money to this project, but I hope you knew you weren't actually buying a DS.


In short, I think your critics are just and really important to be heard by a product maker, but a little timely unfair. I think you'll notice HUGE improvements in just a few months.

 

[mrcranky]

I just got to say that I disagree... with the battery life, movie watching, game playing, music listening, web browsing, word processing, keyboard using this thing is amazing.


I think that besides the day when I first got it, I was most impressed when I had a long airplane trip. Didn't even bother bringing my netbook for the trip.


But everyone has his/her own opinion...

 

[trix]

I am also in college and always pressed for time, furthermore, when I upgraded my 1st batch to Premium that killed any chance of buying any other gadget I might have wanted.


That said, stock Pandora turned out quite nice for me. I can't really listen to music during class, so the battery lasts way more then I need it to during my daily classes, and the couple hours here couple hours there time I've had for minimal tweakage has turned out to pleasantly flesh out the more creative uses of my Pandora. I like it much better then had I gotten a laptop. The screen is smaller, sure, but having it in my pocket vs needing to carry a bag around has more then made up for the screen size.


I've already posted many praising posts here so I'll skip all the details I love, but suffice it to say, stock Pandora, busting out Abiword and Gnumeric and some good ol' retro gaming with real controls, has made this thing way more then worth what I paid for it, even with Premium cost.


But, as usual, your mileage may vary.


- trix