IMHO this Harmut Gieselmann isn't completely wrong about what he says in the video (I didn't watch or read anything else yet regarding this topic). The biggest problem about his video is the fact that he compares it to a fully touch-screen given smartphone or tablet.
- He moans about "guessing about the keys in a games" and i must say that's the point where i mostly agree with him. There are many quickly done game-ports on the Pandora where the keys are poorly configured or even if they are they naturally differ a lot from the (none-existant) "standards" of other game-ports, also because the Pandora has quite some keys to choose from. That's an issue due to many different porters, who either do not know better, don't care much or have a different 'taste' than others. I will not judge this, because they are all doing it for free and so i thank them for their efforts. Still this is an issue.
- Compared to other devices the build-quality IS different to other devices and in some points not equal good. I assume he is comparing it to devices from companies like Samsung, Apple, Lenovo, Sony Playstation Vita or so and they IMHO do have a better build-quality, yes (though I don't like the apple-aluminium-style). BUT ... I don't think the build-quality is bad or even that the keys seem to be cheap. For me the issues are mostly related to visual impressions. Also i think he is influenced by the design, which many people I listened to found somewhat outdated (one guy I met compared it to a "pre-war-machine"). I myself still prefer the Pandora's design to e.g. Apple's design, but the majority doesn't.
- Controls: He didn't take the time to try out mini-menu, the nubs or other keys to control the system as he seems to be mostly used to solely touch-controlled devices. Again this is both - a plus and minus - of the Pandora. On - let's say - a touch-phone there is only ONE single way to control the system. So all programs and applications use this way. When using the Pandora you have to rethink a little, which he obviously didn't (want to). The common-desktops like XFCE have not been designed for touch-control, so yes - this is is a bit more clumsy than controlling a tablet. But it's not as bad as it sounds in the video. And there still are advantages to this, like being able to use existing desktop-solutions.
Altogether I do agree with him in some few points, think that he pointed out others too negatively and - which is the biggest problem - he didn't point out any of the advantages of the Pandora, didn't say that it's not made for the mainstream-people, who just want to browse the web and read emails while doing as less configuration/installation as needed. He didn't see that this is the work born from a small community with a new companies first product at all. And didn't see the philosophy behind the product, which - at least to me - is an important part. Yet, I don't recommend everyone out there i meet to buy a Pandora, because for a lot of them it wouldn't be the best option. But for some people it is.
- He moans about "guessing about the keys in a games" and i must say that's the point where i mostly agree with him. There are many quickly done game-ports on the Pandora where the keys are poorly configured or even if they are they naturally differ a lot from the (none-existant) "standards" of other game-ports, also because the Pandora has quite some keys to choose from. That's an issue due to many different porters, who either do not know better, don't care much or have a different 'taste' than others. I will not judge this, because they are all doing it for free and so i thank them for their efforts. Still this is an issue.
- Compared to other devices the build-quality IS different to other devices and in some points not equal good. I assume he is comparing it to devices from companies like Samsung, Apple, Lenovo, Sony Playstation Vita or so and they IMHO do have a better build-quality, yes (though I don't like the apple-aluminium-style). BUT ... I don't think the build-quality is bad or even that the keys seem to be cheap. For me the issues are mostly related to visual impressions. Also i think he is influenced by the design, which many people I listened to found somewhat outdated (one guy I met compared it to a "pre-war-machine"). I myself still prefer the Pandora's design to e.g. Apple's design, but the majority doesn't.
- Controls: He didn't take the time to try out mini-menu, the nubs or other keys to control the system as he seems to be mostly used to solely touch-controlled devices. Again this is both - a plus and minus - of the Pandora. On - let's say - a touch-phone there is only ONE single way to control the system. So all programs and applications use this way. When using the Pandora you have to rethink a little, which he obviously didn't (want to). The common-desktops like XFCE have not been designed for touch-control, so yes - this is is a bit more clumsy than controlling a tablet. But it's not as bad as it sounds in the video. And there still are advantages to this, like being able to use existing desktop-solutions.
Altogether I do agree with him in some few points, think that he pointed out others too negatively and - which is the biggest problem - he didn't point out any of the advantages of the Pandora, didn't say that it's not made for the mainstream-people, who just want to browse the web and read emails while doing as less configuration/installation as needed. He didn't see that this is the work born from a small community with a new companies first product at all. And didn't see the philosophy behind the product, which - at least to me - is an important part. Yet, I don't recommend everyone out there i meet to buy a Pandora, because for a lot of them it wouldn't be the best option. But for some people it is.
