Any military Pandora users?

[kc187]

Hey guys,


My Pandora is on it's way (somewhere in the UK) and I was curious about its users.


Anyone else in the military?


I'm in the US Army and I thought it would be neat to do a review on the system being used in that application.


I think the mobility of it coupled with being able to write notes with a stylus will be quite useful. I'm in a leadership position so I'm always scribbling notes and stuff. I planned on doing a review on it based in this light.


Thoughts?


My thoughts are since I've deployed a few times and hauled a laptop where ever I went, having something like a Pandora would have been a Godsend. A small PC that plays games that fits in your pocket? beats out a 8-10lb laptop any day!

 

[Abanest]

Australian Infantry here. It would have virtually no work applications in my job, so my plans for the Pandora are mostly for boredom killings for when I'm away on operations. There is nothing worse than being away from home and having some downtime, and bored shitless thinking about home.


You can almost say my Pandora will be the key to saving my sanity! Wouldn't that make for a nice tagline?

 

[kc187]

Australian Infantry here. It would have virtually no work applications in my job, so my plans for the Pandora are mostly for boredom killings for when I'm away on operations. There is nothing worse than being away from home and having some downtime, and bored shitless thinking about home.


You can almost say my Pandora will be the key to saving my sanity! Wouldn't that make for a nice tagline?

Hahaha, I'm a US Army infantryman.


Every single day we have to take notes on what we're doing that day and disperse it to our subordinates, among other things.


Us junior NCO's fight more with pencils than rifles now a days.

 

[Abanest]

Hahah tell me about it. I was made up to Lance Corporal early last year and was posted as a section 2IC, and holy shit I have become nothing but an ADMIN bitch. There's a good reason why they say the Army runs on the backs of NCO's - Officers are just there to look good, the useless bastards.


I was previously a Crew Commander for Mechanized Infantry here in 5 RAR. Best job in the world, how I miss thee.

 

[chris_r]

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

 

[Miv]

I used to be an aviation electrician, it would have helped out a lot, just carry my small pandora instead of giant publications and reference manuals.

 

[double7]

I used to be an aviation electrician, it would have helped out a lot, just carry my small pandora instead of giant publications and reference manuals.

You're a lucky one. Ususally aircraft staff loose their job if they don't use approved maintenance data. How do you tranfer the manuals to your pandora?

 

[wardred]

How do you tranfer the manuals to your pandora?

I'm hoping there's a PDF or similar electronic version of the manual.

 

[Link]

Wouldn't something like a Pandora now be considered a security risk? This is no Lady Gaga CD-R, its just my Open Pandora, with 128GB capacity.


Ex 19K2O


US Army 95-98, life was easy under Clinton.

 

[double7]

Yes, it will be. And it is not a good idea copying confidential data onto a privat device. Even if you could set up two SD-Cards which will stay within a secured enviroment. I wouldn't do this without written permission.

 

[aranson]

Canadian Navy here.


I've had my pandora for awhile, and even took it on a 3 month sail to South America.


It kicks ass for quick little games here and there when you have a bit of time. I used it for video almost every day (before racking out), and even fbreader was pretty useful once in a while. I spent a lot of time explaining exactly what it was to the various people who noticed it and asked what it was.


I didn't find it useful for admin at all. As awesome as the keyboard is for typing, its still slow as hell compared to pencil and paper. Plus, part of my (specific) job is going into spaces where electronic devices of any kind are wholly unwelcome, meaning that I couldn't even haul it around with me all day. Of course, the ever present fear that I'd break it somehow in my pocket if the ship took a roll.


It doesn't seem that useful for pubs either. Many of our pubs are not classified, or have a security rating (like how to repair a commercial hydraulic crane). Usually we just print out the reference material to have it on hand (plus it doesn't matter if it get too dirty!). Most of our "paperwork" is done on a military laptop anyways, so there is no real benefit for me at least to cart it around everywhere.


Foreign port visit are completely different! The thing is awesome to carry around in the front pocket of a backpack (Still too bulky to be comfortable in a pocket) in the off chance you wander into a cafe with wireless access.


That's the navy at least, I'm sure the army is a whole new ball of wax.


One last thing. The "low power" mode still draws quite a load from the battery, so I had to have it on the charger every night almost. I couldn't go 48 hours without either powering off completely or using the charger.

 

[wardred]

One last thing. The "low power" mode still draws quite a load from the battery, so I had to have it on the charger every night almost. I couldn't go 48 hours without either powering off completely or using the charger.

Aye, this. I'm debating just shutting if off between uses. I don't always know that I'll be using it within a day or two, and having it out of batteries all together is worse than dealing with a bootup screen - and it does boot fairly quick. Especially given a relatively slow charge rate - or maybe just having so much to charge with the monster battery. Not 2 seconds, but quick enough.

 

[ZXDunny]

Wow, Pandora in the military? Amazing. Pandoras being used to kill folks and stuff? Or just for playing games?


D.

 

[John D.]

US Coast Guard here. I got my Pandora about two weeks ago, and will be taking on deployment. I used to use a Tapwave Zodiac PDA with writing recognition to take notes when I was outside of any no-phones areas. I had thought of doing the same with the Pandora, but the keyboard is just not quite fast enough - plus I would have to leave it anytime going into no-phones.


I have loaded some manuals to read on the train, otherwise, I will just use it for fun / light laptop replacement.