Can You See Yourself Using Thr Pandora For A Long Time?

[t22r91s]

I can see myself not using the Pandora for a long time.

I'll use it, until it's dead or until I find something better.

I'll use it cause i want to live forever... which reminds me, i'm going to need the starship troopers series ripped from the DVD...

 

[Capn_Fish]

Some do. Specifically, anything with an optical drive, hard drive, or fan. These parts eventually do wear out, but the Pandora has none of these to break.

Flash memory wears out, but that should be easily preventable by using SD cards (of course, you could say that the Xbox's HDD and DVD drive are replaceable as well, as they're standard parts, but that's pushing it a bit).

As for me using it, I will until the next iteration comes out or something MUCH better (highly unlikely), or until it dies I suppose (I still might just get another one in that case).

 

[Schprlock]

I think it's not how long the Pandora will last for, it's how long it'ss gonna take for something better to come up. I would still be using the GP32 if the GP2X hadn't been launched. And I would keep using the GP2X for a long time (i still do, a lot) if there wasn't gonna be a Pandora. Actually, I would have bought the wiz if the Pandora hadn't been announced. And if the Pandora would be launched next year (I don't mean january next year, I mean August, for example) and there wasn't a delay on the wiz also, I would have bought the wiz and THEN the Pandora.

So basically, if the Pandora II (or anything better, flashier, more advanced than the Pandora) is launched in 2010, I will use my Pandora until then. If i's launched in 2015, my Pandora will last for 7 years.

If by 2015 nothing had been launched after the GP32, I would be using the GP32 by then.

So, the Pandora has the potencial to last for a long time (it's not like we're getting it to play Playstation 3 games... are we ?). What will make a difference is what the future holds for us.

 

[likwidoxigen]

it's not like we're getting it to play Playstation 3 games...

The PS3 Has games!?!?!?! (I kid, I kid)

 

[VRAndy]

The Playstation 9 looks pretty portable. So once that comes out I'll probably retire my Pandora.

 

[noisome]

The Playstation 9 looks pretty portable. So once that comes out I'll probably retire my Pandora.



I can see myself using it for a very long time, as long as I can use a USB to serial port converter and USB to Ethernet converter. I sold my IBM Thinkpad X40 and attempting the sell my GP2X because the Pandora is going to be my work laptop as well as my gaming handheld, so I don't need them anymore.

I just hope the Pandora is all I'm hoping its going to be, which I know it will be because the devs are the best. Thanks for a great product when it is released, and thanks for your efforts!

Noisome

 

[Kyo]

it can surf the web, it can play movies, it can emulate various system

this will have a special spot in my grave

 

[MiniSinisterMinister]

I am going to use it as long as another handheld (Pandora 2?) comes out which can emulate even more systems. I don't think that PS1 is enough, Saturn and N64 are also important systems for emulation because the 3D Games people play today have their origins on these two as well. From the DC/PS2 generation onwards the games became just more polished and it is best to play the latest version, so they are not essential for me.

By the way UMTS isn't that expensive anymore. I have seen an offer the other day that includes a USB-modem-stick for €99 and €2.50 per day interent flatrate. Maybe I will get this when I have my Pandora (although the stick is a little expensive). There are probably similar offers in other countries.

 

[jakshep2]

I am going to use it as long as another handheld (Pandora 2?)

pandora 2 will be hax in a box.

 

[Gilrad]

I think the Pandora is going to sit around alone in it's market spot for quite some time. I mentioned this quite a while ago, but we probably won't see anything fill the P's shoes until some considerable milestones have been hit.

It's a homebrew machine, and while this is subject to change because we're broaching new territory here, I think its safe to assume that there won't be a whole lot of homebrew devs frustrated with the lack of power the P possesses. I will be very interested to see the scope of a homebrew project that claims that there is nothing that can be scaled down or optimized to fit on the P, that would demand a more powerful piece of hardware.

While there is always the possibility (and hope) that commercial games can start popping up on the Pandora, I doubt they will become an important enough part of the system to influence the speed at which a new Pandora system comes around. Even so, you don't see small commercial game companies even making full use of the Nintendo DS most of the time anyway, much less trying to push Nintendo to make more powerful hardware. So I don't think they will affect things much either.

As a hand-held PC, I think it hits just about every single feature you could ask for, save for digital video output. With that aside (plenty of other people have mentioned it), just about the only thing I think better hardware could improve here is possibly full-feature web browsing performance, as that's the only thing that I can think of that tends to get sluggish with slower systems that can't be optimized into a nonissue.

So that really just leaves emulation. It can do PSX emulation with very little issue (full speed software rendering and all), and while it can't do Dreamcast emulation, I don't think that is enough of a milestone to merit more powerful hardware. Maybe PSP emulation would be enough, but I still think it's not nearly decisive enough. You can quote me on this, but I think the next generation of this breed of handheld will need to be able to run PS2 emulation within the same form factor and price range in order to contend as a truely worthy next-gen system.

In other words, I think the Pandora will see use for a loooooong time before something better gets my money. There just isn't many more technical hurdles to overcome.

 

[mazza558]

just about the only thing I think better hardware could improve here is possibly full-feature web browsing performance, as that's the only thing that I can think of that tends to get sluggish with slower systems that can't be optimized into a nonissue.

I'm pretty sure browsing on the Pandora will be plenty fast enough for everyone. I can imagine it being more than slightly slower than on a normal laptop/desktop.

We've already seen how fast you can expect to be using the web - look here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=I47F87FeLV8

The Cortex A8 is a beast.

 

[ultm8]

I plan on using my Pandora for a very long time, since it can possibly emulate n64 and use the Web. If it can emulate Dreamcast (My favorite console) It will hold a special place in my collection...

 

[mechanizeddeath]

That's a common problem, but luckily, it's easily fixable.
Get one of these, there are instructions on how to replace it online, and even a video.



Nice! I'd taken it apart and cleaned the connector before, a temporary solution at best, but never thought about finding a replacement. Even with the Pandoa for emulation, I still do play my old systems for the authenticity of it all. Gonna pick one of those up to play some real NES until my Pandora arrives. :lol: