Do Any Of You Have Regrets?

[quadomatic]

A lot of the reviews seem negative on at least a few points. Of course, that's normal for any device, and an honest review must not ignore problems.

Just curious, but...of those of you who have received a Pandora, do you regret buying one?

(Don't flame me, I'm just curious. I'm a fellow preorderer as well as well)

 

[Gaeryc]

I wanted to play psx games with it but the emulator hasn't been released yet and that pisses me off. Other than that, everything has been a perfect lovestory between my pandora and me. I will post final part of my pandora review soon where I tell my final opinion after few days of use.

 

[Sarlix]

Yeah, lack of the PSX emulator is a bit of a And the fact the bezel on my pandora is a bit mess-up. But no regrets, was just glad I could support Craigix and Co. It's quite a feat really for such a small company to make a product like the pandora.

 

[NickLoTurco]

A little bit. Everything is so complicated to use. I can't reflash the firmware either to see if thats the problem. Should be having fun with it, instead I'm just getting more and more frustrated.

 

[DaveC]

Yeah I wonder what happened to Zod who was going to port the PSX emu? He was all gung ho then got swallowed up with iPhone again never to be heard from.

 

[Sarlix]

A little bit. Everything is so complicated to use. I can't reflash the firmware either to see if thats the problem. Should be having fun with it, instead I'm just getting more and more frustrated.

I felt similar for the first day or so, but it's the nature of the pandora. It wasn't meant to be a 'plug in and play' device. It almost goes with out saying you need to be computer literate to use it, or are willing to learn. In a way it's half the fun of it. If your still having issues I'm happy to try and help if I can. Was there anything specific?

 

[darkstorm classic]

Lack of a PSX emulator hurts a bit, but at the end of the day that was never guaranteed - just that it's capable of doing so, which we all know is true. I'm happy to be a bit patient(as we have been for a while )

Hardware support for videos is something I'm hoping doesn't take too long though.

And in the meantime I'm very happy with the hardware itself, it is what I hoped.

 

[Sarlix]

Yeah I wonder what happened to Zod who was going to port the PSX emu? He was all gung ho then got swallowed up with iPhone again never to be heard from.

Reading around and looking on his blog it seems the emulator is capable of running at full speed, maybe his just a bit of a perfectionist and wants to make sure it's polished before releasing?

Or his just forgotten....

 

[Monk]

I felt similar for the first day or so, but it's the nature of the pandora. It wasn't meant to be a 'plug in and play' device.

I keep seeing statements like this - or often stronger - that seem to contradict actual OpenPandora statements in order to excuse some issue or other with the Pandora. For example, from the OpenPandora web site:

You don't need to be a developer to use the Pandora. You don't even need to know anything about Linux. Using the Pandora is very easy.

A standard OS is already installed when you receive your Pandora. This will feature the most important things like Internet Browser, Mail program, Contacts, etc.
To install new applications, all you need to do is download them and put them onto the SD Card. You can even use the Pandora to do that.

So, using the Pandora is pretty straightforward. If you can use a computer and browse the internet, you can also play with and use the Pandora.

If just being able to use a web browser is what you meant by "computer literate" then I apologise - but the Pandora is very, VERY much sold/marketed/meant to be "easy to use" WITHOUT technical or Linux-specific knowledge. On the OpenPandora web/sales site.

 

[Bosbeetle]

I felt similar for the first day or so, but it's the nature of the pandora. It wasn't meant to be a 'plug in and play' device.

I keep seeing statements like this - or often stronger - that seem to contradict actual OpenPandora statements in order to excuse some issue or other with the Pandora. For example, from the OpenPandora web site:

You don't need to be a developer to use the Pandora. You don't even need to know anything about Linux. Using the Pandora is very easy.

A standard OS is already installed when you receive your Pandora. This will feature the most important things like Internet Browser, Mail program, Contacts, etc.
To install new applications, all you need to do is download them and put them onto the SD Card. You can even use the Pandora to do that.

So, using the Pandora is pretty straightforward. If you can use a computer and browse the internet, you can also play with and use the Pandora.

If just being able to use a web browser is what you meant by "computer literate" then I apologise - but the Pandora is very, VERY much sold/marketed/meant to be "easy to use" WITHOUT technical or Linux-specific knowledge. On the OpenPandora web/sales site.

I dont have a pandora myself but I would think if you select minimenu (on one of the later units we're very much still in baby stage) it will be like that.

 

[NickLoTurco]

I'm windows literate! And I had a gp2x so I'm used to having to fiddle around with things to get stuff to work. The problem I'm having is getting things to run or even show up on my desktop! I've put pnd's in the desktop directory, some show up and others don't. Some which used to show up all of a sudden have vanished even though they are still on my card, mental! I've tried to reflash the firmware to make sure it's not that, when I press R on boot up, it doesn't give me the option to boot from SD. I posted around the boards but nothing anybody has suggested has worked! I've already installed the codec and hotfix and that only half fixed my issues.

It's not that I'm not prepared to learn, I would just like some of these things resolved before I get bored of trying. I expected the emulators to take a few weeks/months to be released or polished up, but having problems getting pnd's to appear and reflashing the system are just basics which should work without fuss!

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, basically, it IS easy to use. But there are a few bugs out there and the documentation needs to be written, that's why there are some problems.

This was known to first adaptors. But it's WAY easier to use than a GP2X. Put the PND onto the SD Card in the proper directory - and run it.
No unpacking, etc.

But you certainly don't need to be a developer.

It's about as easy to use as a PC.

The problem is: The more features and possibilities a unit has, the more time you need to dive in.
We could've made an OS like for the PSP: Plugin and play. But don't be able to do anything else.

But that's not the Pandora. The Pandora is meant to be open and enhanced by the users - so we don't want to cripple it.

 

[Dead1nside]

Yeah I wonder what happened to Zod who was going to port the PSX emu? He was all gung ho then got swallowed up with iPhone again never to be heard from.

Makes me sad too, I hope he does port it, I think there's just other things he wants to do at the moment -- perhaps more recent hardware and more popular hardware. He seemed really enthused about it when he got his Pandora though. I tried contacting him a couple of times on his website and twitter, didn't hear anything back yet. Playstation emulation was one of the killer apps for me, stockpiled a bunch of games in anticipation.

 

[EvilDragon]

I'm windows literate! And I had a gp2x so I'm used to having to fiddle around with things to get stuff to work. The problem I'm having is getting things to run or even show up on my desktop! I've put pnd's in the desktop directory, some show up and others don't. Some which used to show up all of a sudden have vanished even though they are still on my card, mental! I've tried to reflash the firmware to make sure it's not that, when I press R on boot up, it doesn't give me the option to boot from SD. I posted around the boards but nothing anybody has suggested has worked! I've already installed the codec and hotfix and that only half fixed my issues.

Well, you never showed us what you put on your SD-Card when trying to flash.
Is it FAT32? Are the Flasher-Files extracted onto the root?
Tried another SD Card?

99% of the problems of PNDs not appearing are either badly downloaded PNDs (if they are only half-downloaded, they won't show up) or a flaky SD-Card that breaks the files.

If a PND file doesn't show up, it's corrupted.

 

[NickLoTurco]

If it were that easy I'd have cracked it by now. Fennec is in exactly the same place on my directory as the other pnd's (desktop) but it doesn't show up any more. I've been using it aswell so it WAS working! The reflash thing too, simple process but it's not giving me the option to boot from SD, only giving me the default option.

 

[Sarlix]

I felt similar for the first day or so, but it's the nature of the pandora. It wasn't meant to be a 'plug in and play' device.

I keep seeing statements like this - or often stronger - that seem to contradict actual OpenPandora statements in order to excuse some issue or other with the Pandora. For example, from the OpenPandora web site:

You don't need to be a developer to use the Pandora. You don't even need to know anything about Linux. Using the Pandora is very easy.

Obviously I have no authority to claim what the device is meant to be. I shouldn't have said it with such certainty.

My impression of the pandora has always been that it is aimed at a niche market and not meant for your 'average consumer'.

But going by that quote you pulled from the OP site, this isn't the intention of the OP team. But at this stage I would say it really isn't all that accessible.

 

[Azure]

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS MY BRUTALLY HONEST OPINIONS ABOUT MY EARLY BATCH PANDORA AFTER 2 DAYS OF USE. IF YOU ARE A FANBOY OR ARE OFFENDED EASILY BY NEGATIVE COMMENTS TOWARDS THIS HANDHELD (you know who you are...), YOU BEST MOVE ALONG NOW.

I have some regrets about the hardware, which may just be a result of getting an early unit. But what bothers me is that throughout the course of this project we've recognized that gaming is an important part of the Pandora, and being obsessed with "proper" gaming controls has definitely been an important part of the design...or at least it should have been. Considering how much I paid, how long I waited, and all the emphasis that has been placed on the Pandora's gaming controls (to distinguish it from "competing" products, to say it has gaming controls made by *real* gamers and not just by big corporations, etc. that whole mindset...):

The D-Pad is superbly designed, but my right direction is less sensitive than the others (sometimes I can almost get the D-Pad to rock almost the entire distance to the right before it registers...); that is disappointing. It's not as bad as the others though:

The two nubs feel different, seem to have different tensions, and are a pain/difficult to calibrate (still have not successfully calibrated them; some directions are slightly more biased than others; sometimes I'm holding the nub all the way in a certain direction but the cursor crawls across, move the nub the direction the other way and it zips across, move it back the other way and it zips across again...inconsistent); that is disappointing. With so much money spent on these nubs and all the raving I've heard from the OpenPandora team about them, I really hope I eventually get them "working properly" and can experience what's so great about them.

The shoulder buttons are, well, SHIT. They are somehow not secured awkwardly or something to the case as they have a weird wiggle to them, but they are also tight as hell and have very little spring to them. They are a PITA to use, especially if you are coming from the DS Lite (you can say whatever you want about the size or placement of the DS Lite shoulder buttons, but their raw mechanics trump the Pandora's); Complete slap to the face of a gamer that invested so much time & money into this product. With such dodgy shoulder buttons, I feel like I have a cheap Chinese knock-off handheld...I pray that somehow the shoulder buttons will become much, much, MUCH better with time.

Software will get better with time, so I have no complaints/regrets there.

And just for those that can't stand a post that doesn't say anything positive about this project now that units are finally shipping:

-The QWERTY keypad is awesome. Excellent job here. Very comfortable to use and I got used to it very quickly.
-Love that it runs a full Linux distribution (great with the combined keyboard)...despite it taking so long to arrive, my friends are still impressed that it's like a netbook, but *even* smaller
-Screen is really nice. Really sinks in the 800 x 480 factor of the screen when you use the desktop environment. When people suggest a PSP as an alternative to the Pandora, I don't think they quite realize how much you lose by going from the Pandora screen to the PSP screen...
-PNDs are pretty easy to use; never really had a problem getting them detected. Neat system.
-Love the size. Not too small that it doesn't fit comfortably into your hand, but not too big that you can't slide it into a pocket.
-Battery life is as great as the OpenPandora team has advertised; no lies here.

 

[Sarlix]

If it were that easy I'd have cracked it by now. Fennec is in exactly the same place on my directory as the other pnd's (desktop) but it doesn't show up any more. I've been using it aswell so it WAS working! The reflash thing too, simple process but it's not giving me the option to boot from SD, only giving me the default option.

I found PND's need to go in pandora/menu for them to show up. Putting them in pandora/desktop didn't work for me either.

 

[NickLoTurco]

Cheers dude, I think I'll delete them all and re-download them into menu, will let you know what happens!

BTW how is evince installed and which one should I use?

I find the left nub inconsistent too, I'm sure that'll be rectified.

 

[Gaeryc]

It is really nice to be able to just download files from pandora appstore straight to the menu folder and see them working. I have tried a lot of stuff but I havent yet had to use commandline or anything like that. I think pnd files are the best system for installing apps and very easy to use.