Hi there!

[RuneIV]

Hi everyone. I just want to introduce myself to the community.

I recently discovered the Pandora while browsing through lxer.com (and its link to thepowerbase.com review) and immediately fell in love with it. I am a OSX/Linux developer by trade (kernel drivers, applications, libs in the video industry) and think this little Linux computer is absolutely wonderful. Also, after playing a couple of games on my smartphone I discovered that I'm not much of an "on-screen buttons" kind of guy. Gimme some good old hardware interface to control my games.

Alas, with a 5 months old baby girl, cash is a bit tight and I do not have the money to buy a Pandora at hand. I'm already going through my bookshelves for rare items (books or video games) which I might sell online to finance this purchase.

I have a couple of questions though:

- With the 1GHz model being out for a year now, is there another more powerful model in the works? I'd hate it to buy one only to find that a new, better model will come out in six months to a year.

- Anyone know the average shipping cost from Ithic to Canada. If it's pretty high, I'd rather go with the project's creator and support Dragon Box. Especially since I've heard it has awesome customer support.

- Is it pretty much mandatory to get the wifi adapter? Is the on-board wifi that unreliable?

- Is the touch screen really scratch-prone? Or should I really get a screen protector?

Thanks for the answers in advance.

DMK

 

[EssoAir]

well, 안녕하세요 to the forums!

 

[RuneIV]

Thanks!

Had to check Google translate to find its Korean

 

[WizardStan]

- With the 1GHz model being out for a year now, is there another more powerful model in the works? I'd hate it to buy one only to find that a new, better model will come out in six months to a year.

There's a lot of speculation but as of right now that's all it is. If you take a look at the "Pandora 2 Spam" section below you'll see everyone making their wishlist but there's not likely to be anything new in the next year or two.

- Anyone know the average shipping cost from Ithic to Canada. If it's pretty high, I'd rather go with the project's creator and support Dragon Box. Especially since I've heard it has awesome customer support.

I seem to recall shipping being around $15 but I could be mistaken. It is much cheaper going through ithic.com than through Dragon Box. Link provides excellent customer support as well, no need to worry there. Just make sure to ask for USPS shipping, UPS screws us over. They're terrible for international shipping.

- Is it pretty much mandatory to get the wifi adapter? Is the on-board wifi that unreliable?

It absolutely isn't. I've got three Pandoras and they all have excellent wifi. Other people have gone through 3 Pandoras and they've all had terrible wifi. I don't even want to begin speculating on the over-under when it comes to wifi anymore. You can take the chance and skip the adapter for now and if your Pandora arrives and you find the wifi is flat out terrible you can stop by Tiger Direct and get a similar module for about the same price.

- Is the touch screen really scratch-prone? Or should I really get a screen protector?

I use the touch screen quite a lot and I don't notice any scratches. I've had this one for about a year without any sort of protection. The clamshell design keeps it safe from the real dangers, keys and loose change. That being said, I only don't have a screen protector because I'm lazy. It doesn't hurt anything to have one.

 

[iridepolarbears]

I wouldnt worry about ordering from the dragon box shop for shipping costs. it may actually be cheaper as I didnt have to pay import taxes and brokerage (signed shipping), where as I belive Link mentioned that It happens with UPSP on occasion and for large sums of money. it also took a week to arrive, so DHL and signed sipping worked out to have the same delivery time. plus since the DBS is basd on the euro, the extchange rate some times works in your favour (I saved about 60 bucks becuase ED also gives discounts on accessories when ordering with a pandora and another 5 when I waited for the extange rate to swing in my favour).

the wifi is pretty good as well. better than my phones at least.

 

[ghostpatch]

Wellcome! and have fun : )

There probably won't be a hardware update in the near future. We only got the 1GHz edition because the DM3730 is backwards compatible to the OMAP3530.

But I expect a lot of software changes like ARM multiplatform support. The engineers from Linaro are doing a great job. I'd ditch the 1GB NAND and use one of the SDcard slots instead. The performance loss is acceptable in my opinion.

I also have good wifi and no scratches on my touchscreen. You'll be safe as long as you keep using a stylus

 

[RuneIV]

Thanks everyone for the answers.

I just saw in the FAQ that the case production would move from China to Germany. Has this been done yet?

I've heard many things about cracking cases and hinges. Not something that woudl prevent me from buying, but still better to know if it's a thing of the past.

Thanks once more.

 

[WizardStan]

Production was never in China, it was in the USA. It was moved to Germany with the Rebirth editions (hence why they were called rebirth ) and has been moving steady ever since.

The "many things" about case issues I will definitely say are the minority this time. The new silver cases are especially stronger. You'll still get some people with cracks and such (it's plastic, not titanium) but for the most part you'll be fine. Even when cracks do develop, they're usually only cosmetic. It's not like the hinge has a history of cracking and can no longer support the screen at all.

 

[RuneIV]

Cool thanks for the quick answer. But if the case was made in USA which plastic parts is the FAQ referring to when it says:

What? The Pandora isn't made in China, is this true?
Yes. The Pandora, thoughout its life, has been made in either the UK or Germany. Only some of the plastics are made in China and we are aiming to move this to Europe too.

 

[mcobit]

The plastics are still from China afaik. He means the electronics.

 

[WizardStan]

Oh, right. Sorry, I was confused. What mcobit says: electronics were originally in US but were moved to Germany, but the plastics are still being produced in China. They were looking but just couldn't find anyone that could even remotely compete on price. It was either China or nothing, unfortunately.

 

[RuneIV]

Ah thanks I understand.

Another quick question, is it worth it to go for the Class 16 SDHC card or do the more common Class 10 do the trick just fine?

 

[EssoAir]

Class 16? Wow! Didn't even know those existed....

 

[moxie]

If I remember correctly, the SD subsystems in the pandora isn't fast enough to take advantage of the extra speed in the class 16:s, så the 10:s will be just fine. I'm sure others will come along and correct me, though

Personally, I use v. cheap Class 4s, and hasn't had any problems with them either. I'm not running the OS from the SD, though.

 

[WizardStan]

Class 4 is probably "good enough" for most applications, it really really depends on what you want to do with it. The class specifies the minimum write speed: ie, no matter what is happening you can be safe knowing that it will not write slower than the class. Most cards have a higher average speed. Many Class 4 cards have no problem reaching 10+MB/s on average.

What tasks do you plan on using it for? Even HD movies are often encoded at around 200KB/s, well below the 4MB/s "guarantee" of the Class 4.

If you want to do any sort of video or audio work directly on the Pandora, or anything else like that where write speeds are important, it may be worth it to get a Class 6, or even Class 10, but Class 16 is definitely a bit overkill. The Pandora has a practical limit at about 12MB/s write speed anyway (16MB/s read speed).

If you're like me and just use it for playback and games then a Class 4 is going to be all you need, so you can save some money (or get a bigger card )

edit: Also, if you want to run an OS off the SD card for any reason the increased speed might come in handy, but even then I'd suggest trying it with a slow card and see if you want the boost.

 

[Binky]

Class 16 is certainly the fastest that pandoras can make full use of (I think some tests managed to reach 15MB/s at one point).

Get a couple of class 16s if you're feeling rich, else class 10 or below will do fine

 

[GreyKatana]

Thanks for the info.

 

[RuneIV]

Thanks once more for the thorough answer. I only asked because both Ithic and DragonBox sell 16GB Class 16 SDHC card.

So a nice 32-64GB Class 4+ should be plenty fast, enough storage for a while and not too expensive.

 

[levi]

/>
That being said, I only don't have a screen protector because I'm lazy. It doesn't hurt anything to have one.

I've put one on my Pandora. The fact you can take the top half apart and fit the protector to the LCD itself means it's totally invisible as the edges are under the frame.


It does have downsides though. It makes using the screen less responsive and slightly more draggy, which occasionally frustrates when playing Picross DS. It also scratches a lot more easily, as playing Picross DS has proved. Screen protectors vary a lot, and this was a no-name brand which I bought because it was designed to be cut to fit. On the other hand, on my old DS lite I've a Hori-brand protector which is still pristine, despite plenty of Picrossing.