How does the Pandora compare to this UMPC?

[obiwan22]

Other than the price, how does the pandora compare to this UMPC?


http://www.dynamism.com/notebooks/viliv-n5.shtml


Thanks

 

[Link]

It's got no control. How can you play Super Geometry Dust without analog nubs? Or why would you want to try on a touchscreen?


And your running Windows....

 

[TrashyMG]

Other than the price, how does the pandora compare to this UMPC?


http://www.dynamism.com/notebooks/viliv-n5.shtml


Thanks

It looks like a fairly decent for around the house office / Web surfing.. It uses an Atom based processor so it can run Windows and x86 linux.. But has about half the battery life. the GPS and the 3G is a nice touch, the LCD is a bit better too.. but the one thing is lacking is proper game controls.


The Pandora is a different animal than this, so I hate comparing it to a general UMPCs.


Edit: Also it's huge compared to the Pandora..

 

[Blue Protoman]

You could probably nuke that and run Linux on it, but we still have the issue of improper gaming.

 

[Morn]

It's atom and runs Win7 so most of the desktop apps would work out of the box. That's the main advantage imho. Of course it would suck as portable console. I just wonder if Atom and 1GB RAM is enough for Windows 7 to run comfortably.

 

[Prometheus]

I strongly suspect that the usage cases of the two machines are in some ways quite different.


The linked UMPC noticeably has no gaming controls built-in, and seems to be aimed at those who require an x86-based machine running Microsoft Windows, in a pocketable package. If you need particular x86-only and Microsoft Windows-only software, that machine is very likely going to be a better choice for you.


If you're not tied to any particular OS, and your purposes lean a bit more toward gaming and/or emulation, the Pandora has the benefit of a library of software that's been passed down through various ARM-based and Linux-based platforms to this day, with the portion that's come from past ARM-based systems working very well already, since it's got years of optimisation behind it (disclaimer: My personal experience with Intel's Atom platform has been that emulation can be rather choppy on it - your mileage may vary).


The Pandora has the better in-use battery life as well (8 to 10 hours in-use, as compared to the claim of 6 in-use for the linked UMPC), but this may not be a factor for everyone, as the convenience of what you want to be doing with the hardware might be of higher importance.

 

[obiwan22]

from the videos I see it runs n64 much more smoothly than pandora

 

[Poem58]

Gaming or not, the geek in me would love to have one of these too, even when I have my Pandora, I'd still want one. I mean c'mon all us computer lovers wanted one in our pocket or we wouldn't have ordered the Pandora. I'm not the type that feels having one means the other can't be cool too. But alas, it's always money (the lack of actually) that keeps me from buying all of these cool machines.

 

[Nardella]

The biggest difference you will find is that the Pandora has two very nice nubs, L1/R1 buttons, and digital gaming controls.


The Pandora:


Has four more hours of battery life


Has awesome gaming controls


Will boot MUCH faster


Is smaller


Weighs less


Has TWO full size SD card slots (vs 1 micro SD slots on the viliv)


Has a USB OTG port that allows it to appear as a drive to a host computer


You can hook up a microphone to the pandora, you can not hook one up to the viliv


Can output to a TV


USB Charging


Runs Linux on ARM


The viliv:


Has a higher resolution screen


32GB built in storage (not very relevant as the pandora supports MASSIVE SD cards)


More ram (also not a big deal as apps for the pandora dont require as much ram)


Built in web cam


Built in GPS


Optional built in 3G radio (requires a subscription)


Optical joystick (this is a bit of an advantage but it is only for mouse control, the pandora can use its joysticks for mouse control as well)


Slightly larger screen


Runs Windows on X86


They both have:


Touch Screens


Keyboards


Microphones


Speakers (I would bet a small amount of cash that the pandoras speakers are superior for sound quality and probably max volume)


Bluetooth


Wifi

 

[Prometheus]

from the videos I see it runs n64 much more smoothly than pandora

Is N64 emulation a key factor for you?


If so, if N64 is of a higher priority than built-in gaming controls, again, this might present a better choice. However, I would be inclined to do some heavy research on what the battery life actually is under such usage.

Gaming or not, the geek in me would love to have one of these too, even when I have my Pandora, I'd still want one. I mean c'mon all us computer lovers wanted one in our pocket or we wouldn't have ordered the Pandora. I'm not the type that feels having one means the other can't be cool too. But alas, it's always money (the lack of actually) that keeps me from buying all of these cool machines.

Seconded. (But only if the x86 unit was available with a Linux option - I'm not interested in having to pay for bundled software that I don't want and don't use. )

 

[Phelsumania]

i have a umpc with 2gb ram and came with windows 7 and the experience wasnt all that. A its windows and B windows 7 made the whole thing run slow[ so was removed for ubuntu which greatly improved the speed], and the battery life was not close to what it claimed until the battery eventually gave up all together after a year of use. i also found that apart from mario games on the n64 emu most were unplayable and that emus dram the battery so fast it was hardly worth using for that purpose.

 

[Batou456]

Other than the price, how does the pandora compare to this UMPC?


http://www.dynamism.com/notebooks/viliv-n5.shtml

That is 32mm wider, 3mm longer, and 2.5mm thinner and 53 grams heavier then the Pandora, which will tend to limit pocketability options as it is 6.77"(W) x 3.38"(L) x 0.98"(H). It has several integrated features that can be otherwise handled by the Pandora, and is limited to miniSD cards and control options are significantly more limited.

That UMPC design may be better for thumb typing compared to the Pandora, although the Batch 1 people indicate Pandora's thumb typing experience is solid. The UMPC design has more theoretical power, but realizing this will be compromised by Windows 7 not being really intended for systems with as little RAM as that assuredly has, or processors that far down the curve. This will impair user experience and is mated with rather limited battery life. I'm also not seeing a proper speaker setup like the Pandora has.


If used purely for business purposes the more conventional keyboard may be enough of a asset to compensate for its relative weaknesses, but for general use I'm going to tend to say that design is lot more limited and will tend to have an inferior user experience in addition to tending to not have a community that cares.

 

[marovada]

I've got an N5 (as well as my Pandora).


I very much agree that the Pandora is far superior for gaming especially because the controls mimic the controls of the machine being emulated (eg psx) which makes it much easier to remember what to press! The N5 requires keyboard combinations that are not pretty and the keyboard is 'mushy' so not designed for accurate pressure. The Atom is also slow with emulation because of the horrible GMA500 drivers - I don't want to EVER buy intel graphics again! They always have theoretical DX11[edit DX10] compatibility but that would require intel to source or create proper drivers - they just haven't delivered (do a google search at how many people hate the GMA500). Also, GMABooster doesn't yet support the GMA500 chipset. Finally, the viewing angle of the N5 is not great when you hold it and the keyboard is much wider than the Pandora's so it's very uncomfortable trying to hit keys in the middle of the keyboard.


Having said this, if you want x86 compatibility and a full browser experience, the N5 can't be beaten. Win 7 is actually very quick and so is the built in SSD (unfortunately can't be swapped for a bigger ssd because it's soldered on to the motherboard!!!!). I even ran OS X Snow Leopard on it using virtual box (it's on youtube) just to see if it would work. Yes, it was like trying to box under water but it wasn't as bad as I expected!


The battery life is fine. The battery is ultra slim and you get two in the box. The N5 easily fits into a jeans pocket and you can carry the other battery in your other pocket for 10+ hours battery life.


In conclusion, get a Pandora for gaming (the N5 absolutely sucks at emulation and don't expect to play any modern games with it) and get the N5 is you want full browsing and x86 compatibility - you can run any office software on it etc, do skype calls with the built in webcam etc etc.


As to expandability (eg microphone) the N5's usb port and win 7 (ie drivers) means you can always get usb peripherals including a usb microphone. This would be in addition to the Microphone the N5 already has built in.


Edit: the N5 is also great at multitasking and I need it because Pandora doesn't have a dropbox app and I use dropbox extensively. (I know you can use dropbox via their web interface but there's no automatic syncing etc)

 

[Poem58]

Seconded. (But only if the x86 unit was available with a Linux option - I'm not interested in having to pay for bundled software that I don't want and don't use. )

Be that as it may, from Mac's to PC's many (especially laptops) come with an operating system preinstalled that you have to pay for. Choosing a device only cause it has Linux can and will severely limit your choices. I did read an article where a man bought I believe an HP laptop and decided he didn't want Windows and declined to accept the user agreement necessary to use it. He asked HP to refund him the amount for the operating system. I guess in in a move to not garner bad press, they sent him a check for somewhere around $200. Although I would imagine that the exception not the rule, although if you don't accept the license, legally they would probably have to reimburse you, but I doubt many would try.

 

[bismuthdrummer]

I cannot lie, seeing this thing gave me much the same attraction as the Pandora... they're practically two hot cousins!


Yes, the Pandora's better designed for gaming, and overall design is likely better, but the N5 could probably play Baldur's Gate 2 quite smoothly, so I have to give it an edge in that (small) regard. Windows games will generally work better, so that is a reason to favor it I suppose.


However, the Pandora's more reasonably priced! Go figure that.

 

[Prometheus]

Seconded. (But only if the x86 unit was available with a Linux option - I'm not interested in having to pay for bundled software that I don't want and don't use. )

Be that as it may, from Mac's to PC's many (especially laptops) come with an operating system preinstalled that you have to pay for. Choosing a device only cause it has Linux can and will severely limit your choices. I did read an article where a man bought I believe an HP laptop and decided he didn't want Windows and declined to accept the user agreement necessary to use it. He asked HP to refund him the amount for the operating system. I guess in in a move to not garner bad press, they sent him a check for somewhere around $200. Although I would imagine that the exception not the rule, although if you don't accept the license, legally they would probably have to reimburse you, but I doubt many would try.

Sorry, not wanting to go off-topic here, but I feel this warrants a reponse.


It's still ridiculously difficult to get a refund for unwanted copies of Microsoft Windows, very much regardless of what the EULA pays lip-service to. This is precisely why I stopped purchasing hardware with it pre-installed.


I honestly don't care if my choices are limited: It's the hassle of having to chase a refund that will then inevitably be refused (speaking from personal experience), that I don't want. Yes, I'm sure nobody will miss the custom of my household, but it's there to be gained if someone actually wants my money. :lol: For now, though, the option is to get hardware I want and be forced to pay for bundled things I do not want and be unable to get the promised refund, or to stop bothering altogether. I chose the latter.

 

[Nintendo]

In terms of gaming...


N5 = Without the use of accessories (USB control pad), it's limited.


Pandora = Perfect. Endless possibilities out of the box.

 

[Batou456]

I very much agree that the Pandora is far superior for gaming especially because the controls mimic the controls of the machine being emulated (eg psx) which makes it much easier to remember what to press! The N5 requires keyboard combinations that are not pretty and the keyboard is 'mushy' so not designed for accurate pressure. The Atom is also slow with emulation because of the horrible GMA500 drivers - I don't want to EVER buy intel graphics again! They always have theoretical DX11 compatibility but that would require intel to source or create proper drivers

I don't quite follow.

The Intel GMA500 is basically a licensed PowerVR 535, which Imagnation Technologies does claim has GP-GPU capability but says nothing about OpenGL 4.0, DirectX 11, or Shader Model 5 capability. The Pandora's OMAP3 incidentally is sporting a PowerVR chip from the same product line.


The more mainstream Intel graphics technology on Sandy Bridge is fixed function and thus about the farthest thing from having DirectX 11 capability possible. It also cuts corners in multiple respects causing problems that having nothing to do with software. nVidia wasn't and isn't stupid enough to simply hand over CUDA core technology to Intel.


I do agree with the sentiment against Intel graphics especially with AMD APUs coming online combined with a massive move towards better Linux support by AMD, but you're giving that hardware too much credit.

 

[marovada]

I very much agree that the Pandora is far superior for gaming especially because the controls mimic the controls of the machine being emulated (eg psx) which makes it much easier to remember what to press! The N5 requires keyboard combinations that are not pretty and the keyboard is 'mushy' so not designed for accurate pressure. The Atom is also slow with emulation because of the horrible GMA500 drivers - I don't want to EVER buy intel graphics again! They always have theoretical DX11 compatibility but that would require intel to source or create proper drivers

I don't quite follow.

The Intel GMA500 is basically a licensed PowerVR 535, which Imagnation Technologies does claim has GP-GPU capability but says nothing about OpenGL 4.0, DirectX 11, or Shader Model 5 capability. The Pandora's OMAP3 incidentally is sporting a PowerVR chip from the same product line.


The more mainstream Intel graphics technology on Sandy Bridge is fixed function and thus about the farthest thing from having DirectX 11 capability possible. It also cuts corners in multiple respects causing problems that having nothing to do with software. nVidia wasn't and isn't stupid enough to simply hand over CUDA core technology to Intel.


I do agree with the sentiment against Intel graphics especially with AMD APUs coming online combined with a massive move towards better Linux support by AMD, but you're giving that hardware too much credit.

Yeah sorry, I might have gone over the top saying GMA500 has DX11 compatibility - it's actually DX10. It's true that the GMA500 is a licensed PowerVR chip. I think PowerVR even makes the driver for it, but the driver for windows is absolute crap and, at first, there was no official linux driver.


See:


Truth About GMA500


GMA950 Vs GMA500


customer drivers

 

[vadsamoht]

It's interesting that this was brought up - I originally found out about the Pandora when searching for a UMPC that would allow me to use LaTeX and python on my long commutes into university, and was just about to buy a villiv when I stumbled across this weird machine that had a keyboard as well as gaming controls. I then joined the GP32x forums and the rest, as they say, is history (though I'm still waiting for Latex support).