Getting a bit left behind?

[laurencevde]

The Tegra3 consumes quite a bit of power, resulting in barely acceptable battery-life if something loads that chip to the max. Tegra3-owners should be happy that barely anything does. They'd have no choice but to disable 2 of the 4 cores if stuff did. That chip isn't much of a threath. For emulators, the Snapdragon S4 should currently be the best available SOC, thanks to its higher performance/Hz, followed by the Exynos4412.


As for emulators, writing a multithreaded emulator for a singlecore chip is, while doable, pretty darn hard. Most emulators are almost entirely single-threaded. As such, Pandora's single ±1Ghz-Cortex-A8-core is competing with newer 1.5-2Ghz-cores. Really not that much of a difference... And ARM-SOCs probably won't increase much in clockspeed much for a while, adding more cores that can do more/Hz instead. (Raising the clockspeed consumes more power/Hz than adding cores).


Furthermore, beyond the N64, we have the NDS, PSP and PS2. No good ARM-emulator exists for those consoles, and probably won't for quite a while. The PS2 probably is still too powerful for current SOCs to emulate, and the Pandora should be fast enough make a good (as in: runs fine on high-end SOCS) NDS-emulator playable.


So no, the high-end SOCs don't provide much advantage over the Pandora for emulation-purposes. I'd much rather have Pandora's battery.

 

[craigix]

https://www.youtube.com/embed/us1tc-JKCIM?feature=oembed

 

[craigix]

True that most phone functions are not going to have that many threads, we looked at a tegra3 tab against my tegra2 tablet I bought last year and the performance increase was there but not really a staggering increase.

And we can not forget the competition aspect. There is that JXD 7100 that has the same speed as the Pandora, but at a fraction of the cost ( 170$ vs 500$ ).

Your post lost all credibility at this point. The comparison could only be done by someone who does not understand our market.


The fact we can't make the 1Ghz Pandora fast enough to meet demand might be confusing to you, but I doubt you have actually used one. So you won't understand the desire.


So I don't have much more to say to you. Go and buy the JXD if that's what you want.

 

[sebt3]

Go and buy the JXD if that's what you want.

you will enjoy :


- its wonderfull dpad as 4 distincts buttons


- its perfect lack of working nubs


- its sub-par bettery life


- its screen tearing


- its absence of community


Maybe should I list some more feature of the device

 

[Null]

Go and buy the JXD a PSP if that's what you want.

What can I say? I'm a traditionalist. :lol:

 

[FaeMinx]

Great post ED... I'm behind it all the way... Except I'm pretty sure you meant StarCraft 1 not StarCraft 2.


Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk 2

 

[ekianjo]

you will enjoy :


- its wonderfull dpad as 4 distincts buttons


- its perfect lack of working nubs


- its sub-par bettery life


- its screen tearing


- its absence of community


Maybe should I list some more feature of the device

Haha that was a good list

 

[Barnaby]

Yeah I think the Pandora, specification wise, is a bit outdated now. Many phones/tablets run video and internet browsing much better. But in a lot of other ways, my Pandora kicks them in the teeth. Most emulators systems pre-Playstation work flawlessly, so a faster device wouldn't bring any benefit. The gaming controls work prefectly (the Pandora has one of my favourite handheld d-pads ever. I like it more than the 3DS d-pad) and add a lot to the experience (I'm one of those people who really, really cannot stand touch screen controls on games not designed for it). The battery life is excellent. I use my Pandora as my MP3/FLAC player all the time, it's a little big to carry around constantly but I make do as it means I also constantly have games on me and I don't need to invest in another, possibly flashier piece of kit when the Pandora does the job admirably. Plus the Pandora drives music a lot louder than most devices I use which is good for drowning out loud transport.


Recently my Pandora has been out of action, boxed away waiting the funds to afford shipping to repair it - but soon it will be repaired so I took it out of the box and flashed the newest OS onto it (I previously had Hotfix 6). The improvements are great and are really helping with user-friendlyness - I'm particuarly fond of the PNDStore, makes it so much easier to update my apps. So the Pandora is a very useable device still, despite the growing trend of very simple, easy to use touch screen devices in the last couple of years. The Pandora is really more than the sum of it's parts - take it by it's spec sheet values and it may look a bit lacking, but actually having one in your hands and using it defies expectations - if it ironed out the downsides I'm about to get to, then I could easily just replace my laptop and use the Pandora all the time.


The only downside to the out of date hardware is that internet browsing can be slow at times (and occasionally prone to crashing - I've had a weird bug where Firefox always says another copy of the program is running and I've never been able to get it to go - no matter how many times I delete the pnd, put different versions on, wipe the appdata, and even reflash the entire unit) and video playing isn't quite what I hoped it to be, as I have to re-encode a lot of my videos so they'll run which is fairly time consuming. Bare in mind I'm using a 256MB CircuitCo unit overclocked to 800MHz, so some of these problems are probably less of a problem on the newer 1GHz GC units.


However I still don't think there needs to be a Pandora 2 just yet. I'd happily buy one in the future, for sure (as long as I have the money!), but right now the Pandora does plenty, and I feel if a Pandora 2 was made now it would only be an incremental update. I'd rather wait longer for a bigger leap, so then hopefully it can run 720p videos (even if it doesn't have the resolution, as long as it can downscale it so I don't have to re-encode all my 720p and maybe even 1080p videos) and I can always dream about something having a full speed Dreamcast emulator, and possibly even PS2.

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

^^^^^Im in no rush for the p2 either.2014 sounds good to me.theres plenty of life in the 1ghz p1 yet. Browsing could be faster I think the browsers need to be tailored for the pandora a bit more is all.

 

[ekianjo]

^^^^^Im in no rush for the p2 either.2014 sounds good to me.theres plenty of life in the 1ghz p1 yet. Browsing could be faster I think the browsers need to be tailored for the pandora a bit more is all.

If you want faster browsing the solution is PanDebian and an install of CHromium inside PanDebian. This is way faster than the Chromium available in the Repo, and almost bug free compared.

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

^^^^^Im in no rush for the p2 either.2014 sounds good to me.theres plenty of life in the 1ghz p1 yet. Browsing could be faster I think the browsers need to be tailored for the pandora a bit more is all.

If you want faster browsing the solution is PanDebian and an install of CHromium inside PanDebian. This is way faster than the Chromium available in the Repo, and almost bug free compared.

Reallly.Is pandebian in the repo?Is it easy to install chromium inside pandebian.I think i will try this for sure.

 

[THB]

I dont think the specs are a problem. But the current 1ghz price Vs specs might be an issue for anyone besides the hardcore.


I just hope they can sell enough 1ghz models at this price once the hardcore orders have been filled to keep the whole thing going.


I consider myself hardcore, I have been around since the gp32 and currently have three pandoras. Even though I could afford a 1ghz pandora I just cant justify spending that much on one.


I'll probably do some kind of trade in deal at some point with ED if he is still offering them.

 

[ekianjo]

^^^^^Im in no rush for the p2 either.2014 sounds good to me.theres plenty of life in the 1ghz p1 yet. Browsing could be faster I think the browsers need to be tailored for the pandora a bit more is all.

If you want faster browsing the solution is PanDebian and an install of CHromium inside PanDebian. This is way faster than the Chromium available in the Repo, and almost bug free compared.

Reallly.Is pandebian in the repo?Is it easy to install chromium inside pandebian.I think i will try this for sure.

Yes it's in the repo, but I advise you also check the Pandebian thread for the instructions. It's not straightforward and it takes a few hours to install PanDebian. But its worth it!!

 

[Trezker]

Another vote for not rushing into a Pandora 2. As long as only specs are upgraded I'd rather keep calling it Pandora 1.


P2 needs a bunch of changes IMO. The actual design process hasn't even begun yet except for brainstorming on this forum.


I think every detail of the product should be thought through to consider worthwhile improvements.


When I get a P2 in my hands I want to be thinking "Damn this is good compared to my old Pandora!".

 

[dibad0011]

Hi all, this is my first post, I am very eager to get the new 1Ghz pandora (when available from Link). About this topic I think the Pandora is still very attractive to many potential consumers for all the reasons already said before.


From my regular consumer point of view I think the Pandora is getting a bit left behind in 4 aspects:


(Pardon my English)


1) Public Advertising: For many people out there the Pandora console is still an obscure-underground gadget. People would gladly invest in such a device if the would know more about it. We consumers need (if possible) and official promo video, maybe some small web advertising on video game/retro/linux/opensource web sites and of course some very good photos/videos/exhibitions of very hot girls showing the console.


2) An official User/owner guide (such a pdf). I've been checking the Pandora boards from a few months back and I see there is plenty of very useful info (specially for newbies) all around but all this info seems to be scattered inside old topics, mixed posts and repeated questions. so how about placing all this info inside one place in an organized and user friendly way.


3) Even more software development. We all know Pandora's hardware is not up to today's consumer standards. but if developers make a deeper effort on offering new and improved things from time to time, the console will maintain its appeal over the years. (I don't see Pandora software developers asking for donations, why?)


Also I need to mention an official Tv-Out cable is a must.

 

[Darkjudge1]

Craigx,


Is that just a stock Pandora that you're using? Rebirth edition? Inquiring minds want to know. (Might have to try that...)


EDIT: Forgive me, I should probably clarify based on the video title. The reason I ask is because I see you overclock in the beginning of the vid. That's why I want to know if it's an actual 1Ghz or just OCed. Not that it necessarily matters as of course, our mileage may vary... etc, etc.

 

[craigix]

Craigx,


Is that just a stock Pandora that you're using? Rebirth edition? Inquiring minds want to know. (Might have to try that...)


EDIT: Forgive me, I should probably clarify based on the video title. The reason I ask is because I see you overclock in the beginning of the vid. That's why I want to know if it's an actual 1Ghz or just OCed. Not that it necessarily matters as of course, our mileage may vary... etc, etc.

It's probably the new GPU which allows those games to run that well on the 1Ghz. I suspect GTA3 won't be that smooth on a 600Mhz unit, even overclocked.

 

[TrashyMG]

Craigx,


Is that just a stock Pandora that you're using? Rebirth edition? Inquiring minds want to know. (Might have to try that...)


EDIT: Forgive me, I should probably clarify based on the video title. The reason I ask is because I see you overclock in the beginning of the vid. That's why I want to know if it's an actual 1Ghz or just OCed. Not that it necessarily matters as of course, our mileage may vary... etc, etc.

It's probably the new GPU which allows those games to run that well on the 1Ghz. I suspect GTA3 won't be that smooth on a 600Mhz unit, even overclocked.

Overclocked to 1Ghz on a Rebirth Pandora with the 512MBs of ram. at best it's marginally playable..


I'm kind of curious if there is a way of overclocking the SGX, I never researched it.