Cost. Ouch


a: I've no interest in a more powerful yet far less featured device. Well, maybe I have, but it would only be in addition to the Pandora, not instead of.

b: Those previous devices only do half the stuff Pandora can, even without factoring in the power difference. Perhaps what you're really saying is those devices met your personal requirements, which is fine. Pandora is obviously overkill for you. This is not the case for me. For example, I don't think you can develop C++ applications on a GP2X. In fact, 80% of the time I would have taken my laptop around with me, I've been able to take the Pandora instead.

I upgraded my order to the 1GHz unit when the offer was originally made. Yeah, it was expensive. I haven't regretted it for a second.
 
I've traveled the length (San Francisco to New York) and nearly the breadth (Dallas to Sitka) of North America with my Pandora as my sole 'computer'.

It's brilliant.  It is small enough to qualify as a handheld game console or PDA so it never has to come out of my carry on at airport security.  It's powerful enough to edit images/upload/download/games/sound/etc from a hotel bar stool and still have room on the bar for a beverage and a bowl of nuts.

If your comparison items are phones and simple consoles then you're missing the point.

I also have a Galaxy Note II.  I use it too, but quite often there are things I need to do that are just plain awkward to do on a phone - or impossible to do under the restrictive Android apps environment.  I regularly find myself using my phone as a mobile hot spot to link my Pandora through.  The unique capabilities of the Pandora are more varied than the unique capabilities of the GNII phone.  

They're different devices - apples and oranges.
 
Remember paying over $500 just for 1 computer/system (c64,amiga,pc,neogeo etc) . and now having all this plus a walkman(remember those) video player, tvout, great battery life, internet in your pocket! Actually any of these devices (pandora, Dingoo, Gp2x, even Android and iphone are so worth the asking price to me.

Anyway if you really have to ask yourself if the Pandora is too much money than its probly not for you.
 
I paid $1200 USD just for the Pentium II 400mhz processor when it came out. 128MBs of system ram was around $400-$500 dollars too. I used to spend a lot more money on computer junk a decade or two ago.
 
Truth be told the Pandora IS expensive but like the neo geo aes ( Someday when I am a rich old man I will buy 2 boxed ntsc ones : one to open and play the other to put on a shelf next to my pandora , my virtual boy , and my twin famicom ) there is a reason for it . This reason cannot be explained either you understand or you don't . Either way more power to you in finding your dream device .
 
thefunkygibbon said:
Kumaki said:
thefunkygibbon said:
Hi,  I know this has been asked before, i have just finished looking at a thread talking about it which was a couple of years old.  The argument for the cost of the device was that Phones cost similar sort of price.  

Which, yes, at the time I guess they were.  But now you can get nexus devices and suchlike for 300 and thats for a device with a phone .. other devices without the phone capability are usually a lot cheaper. (ie tablets)

I had been following this project for some time up until probably shortly before its release where real-life took over and forgotten about it until now, where I was looking at buying one. 

Can Pandora really justify the cost of these any more?  

when 

a) a much more powerful device costs less

B) other devices such as the gp2x range which I have previously owned all did similar things (apart from the higher end console emulation/pc emulation/android) and cost a LOT less, even at the time.

I fully expect that people will reply to this moaning about this that and the other but I really just wanted to understand quite why it is so expensive... you can get a lot with £500 these days.
Click to expand...
This is a niche device, it is not mass produced cheaply by child slave labor.

You need any other reasons?
Click to expand...
Its not put together using child labour, but the parts may well have been so that kind of negates your reasoning.

thanks for all the replies.  yes i know its niche,  i love linux and love retrogaming.  but i'm struggling to justify such an expensive purchase.  I've had ubuntu running on my phone and tablet, had all number of emulators running on it.  I've ordered a bluetooth controller which clips onto the phone which hopefully will make gaming on my mobile much more agreeable. (touch screen is crap for non-touch designed games,  as we all know)
Click to expand...
Pandora has no control over how the components used are manufactured.

But, where Pandora DOES have control...child slave labor is not used.

Can you say that for Apple or Sony?  Didn't think so.

Oh, and can you come up with a comparable device with TEN HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE?

Didn't think so.

And I routinely get more than 10 hours, because I'm not always active with it, though it is always powered on.

the battery life is ten hours of ACTIVE USE.

As 2bit said...either you get it or you don't.  It can't be explained.

If the Pandy is for you then it is for you, and welcome abord.

If not, good luck finding the right device for you.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
thefunkygibbon said:
...  but i'm struggling to justify such an expensive purchase.  I've had ubuntu running on my phone and tablet, had all number of emulators running on it.  I've ordered a bluetooth controller which clips onto the phone which hopefully will make gaming on my mobile much more agreeable. (touch screen is crap for non-touch designed games,  as we all know)
Click to expand...
 
I was actually in the same boat as you gibbon, I had followed the project for a while since the original pre-orders ($330?) but decided to wait until the console was released and then it just fell off my radar (due to the multitude of other gadgets that we've seen since). Anyway, when I looked at it again recently the price for the new units was a bit too high for my budget, so ended up finding a reasonable deal for a first batch 600mhz unit and just went with that (~$250 with official case, extra battery & SD cards).

So depending on your needs, might be worth looking at a used first batch unit.
 
Well, in my case, because I own my own business, and because this has business application, I can pay for one out of company funds.  I'm thinking about getting myself a 1GHZ, and giving "ownership" of the ReBirth to my company (meaning it's still mine, since I own the company) and using about $400 of company funds towards the purchase of a 1GHZ unit.  The $400 would be what I sell the used ReBirth to my company for.  So now, my 1GHz unit costs me less than 400 bucks.

It is awesome to be in business for yourself, lol

The additional benefit is that the $400 from my company can be taken as a business expense off the profits of my business, thus it is tax-free money.

I can't BELIEVE I never knew about this stuff, and worked for other people for twenty five years...NEVER AGAIN!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So Kumaki , does that mean you could buy ps vitas with company funds under the excuse it keeps your customer's children occupied - even if your buisness does not dirictly deal with people face to face ?
 
If you're struggling to justify then it's likely you won't feel satisfied with the purchase. If you know the strengths which together uniquely identify her in the wild, then you have all the persuasion there is to buy her.

Is the price still justified? Yes. That the hardware is behind the times is entirely irrelevant in the majority of use cases. Browsing the web, chatting online, portable emulation, office productivity, and so on don't require more resources than the Pandora has to offer. Some things like HD video playback and graphically demanding games won't perform adequately, that much I will concede. But the system is largely open sourced, and the software is both free and still growing.

For me the controls and open sourcery form the perfect storm of personal empowerment. Nothing frustrates or angers me more than putting up with restrictions or behaviors imposed by popular preference or designer opinion. I am a satisfied customer, hoping that one day soon all the customers have their order shipped.
 
It might be petty egotism, but owning such an exclusive and rare device feels good as well.
 
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