Incentive To Buy Pandora?

[darin]

When I first found out about the Pandora, I was really excited about it, but soon I started considering finances and it kind of killed my buzz.

Assuming the Pandora is about $330 USD, plus whatever shipping might be, what functions does the Pandora have to justify such an expensive purchase?

As far as I've read, emulation for a wide array of systems is nowhere near 100%, and we've yet to see any PC functions in action, so I'm wondering why so many people are willing to blindly take the fall and pre-order something, that is at this stage, a write-up for what we'd actually want.

I see the Pandora as something I'd like to have, I'm just not sure it's worth putting down the cash for.
Is the emulation of a number of platforms worth $330+ when you can purchase a current console near that price range?
It's certainly worth SOMETHING to me, but is this the best option when it comes to portable emulation? Is this the definitive answer? And the PC functions it's supposed to have, will they actually be practical enough to use?

In short, what makes the Pandora worth $330 to YOU? I think some influencing could be of some help, as my decision is teetering.

 

[senquack]

Good grief

 

[darin]

Good grief

No? I felt this was a good question, because it's something that I've had on my mind recently.

I've showed the Pandora system to many of my friends, and a few of which who are interested in it, but have the exact question tugging at their wallets, so I know I don't stand alone in this.

I know the Pandora isn't something for everyone, so what makes it something for you?

 

[TaG]

At the end of the day you pays your money and takes you choice. Its that expensive because of all the stuff inside. Those that want a cheaper handheld capable of emulation could consider, er, hang on, the PSP. or wait for a GP2X replacement, if one is coming out.

 

[gruso]

I get the feeling that you haven't read much of the forums before asking this. Regardless, I'll answer.

The reason many people are "blindly" buying Pandora, is that they've been involved in the GP32/GP2X scene for some time, and have seen their own community members devise and build this thing from the ground up (personally I've only been here since Jan, vs. years for some people, but the same applies). The final hardware spec speaks for itself.

With regard to software, there are a large number of reputable and talented developers involved, that have been doing work in this scene for some time. Pandora is also attracting a lot of outside attention, and the hardware specs mean that there will probably be a lot of new devs coming to the scene, and a lot of good open source software ported.

Looking at it from the outside, maybe it seems like there is a lot of faith being employed (and maybe there is). There's no "killer app" yet. We have an idea of what's in the pipeline, and we know that a handful of things will be available on release. We also know that as Pandoras find their way into peoples hands, the software flood will start.

What makes it worth $330 to me, is that while it will instantly become my best friend for long train rides, its real potential will hardly be tapped early on. It's going to have legs.

 

[ish420]

thebeagleboard is $149. Pandora uses The top class omap35xx series board, HD touch screen, wifi, bluetooth, too much to mention. And frankly, I'm surprise it's relatively inexpensive.This thing could easily be worth $399+. If you need incentives, hell I don't know what else to say.

 

[gruso]

They could probably throw in some steak knives.

 

[trooper]

If it floats your boat, You buy it.
If it doesn`t, You don`t.

Trooper

 

[darin]

I get the feeling that you haven't read much of the forums before asking this. Regardless, I'll answer.

The reason many people are "blindly" buying Pandora, is that they've been involved in the GP32/GP2X scene for some time, and have seen their own community members devise and build this thing from the ground up (personally I've only been here since Jan, vs. years for some people, but the same applies). The final hardware spec speaks for itself.

With regard to software, there are a large number of reputable and talented developers involved, that have been doing work in this scene for some time. Pandora is also attracting a lot of outside attention, and the hardware specs mean that there will probably be a lot of new devs coming to the scene, and a lot of good open source software ported.

Looking at it from the outside, maybe it seems like there is a lot of faith being employed (and maybe there is). There's no "killer app" yet. We have an idea of what's in the pipeline, and we know that a handful of things will be available on release. We also know that as Pandoras find their way into peoples hands, the software flood will start.

What makes it worth $330 to me, is that while it will instantly become my best friend for long train rides, its real potential will hardly be tapped early on. It's going to have legs.

Thank you for your educated response!

I've been lurking/reading the forums for about a week now reading up on all the things posted thus far concerning the Pandora.

I'm not new to the emulation scene, as I've been experimenting with it as far back as SNES Backup Units such as the Pro Fighter/Game Doctor/Super Wild Card, to something as recent as the Nintendo DS rom emulation, which is pretty much perfected at this point.

I'm interested in the Pandora mainly for portable SNES/PS1 emulation, and its basic computer applications.

The main thing hindering my purchase is that, arguably, the PSP outperformed the GP2X when it came to emulating games, will the Pandora provide supreme emulation over the PSP?

 

[gruso]

Pandora will absolutely outperform PSP for emulation. When they say Pandora will be the most powerful handheld on the market, it's not just hyperbole. SNES and PS1 emus will most likely be ready to go at launch.

 

[nubie]

The main thing hindering my purchase is that, arguably, the PSP outperformed the GP2X when it came to emulating games, will the Pandora provide supreme emulation over the PSP?

YES, there is no way it can fail.

Stock CPU speed is 600mhz, but overclocks are hitting 750mhz+ (900mhz? Correct me if I am wrong, I was unsure) and the graphics are much more powerful. Most emulation (SegaCD for example) is already fullspeed when underclocked to 500mhz

Add in that the Dual SD can support $25 8GB cards (or $45 16GB cards), and you are saving much more money over a PSP for the "Memsticks" ($60 for 8GB memstick? one slot only?)

The firmware will have a devkit, use standard SDL and OpenGL (OpenGL ES 2.0 for mobile devices), run linux out of the box, just drag and drop.

The screen is bigger, higher resolution, no blurriness (I couldn't stand my PSP, I sold it very quickly), and the colors are much more accurate.

The Ram is 128mb, that is more than the PSP.

The battery should last 8-10 hours, no kidding, it is a very large battery.

USB on the back, S-Video too. The PSP wouldn't let you play with your original controllers on a TV, the Pandora will.

The inbuilt keyboard means that you will be able to actually use a PC emulator (Apple IIe, Dosbox, Atari 800, Commodore64, BBC micro, etc.)

Touchscreen. You will be able to play mouse based adventure/puzzle games.

I personally believe in this because of the community, there are tons of devs here, and if you count all the BeagleBoard software that will be developed you will see plenty of applications for the Pandora. Not to mention that some projects for whatever will use the Omap will likely get ported to it as well.

The PSX and SNES are already demonstrated working within days of the devs getting hardware, at full speed without any video acceleration hardware in use. I think that says a lot about the amount of power and the great devs on this scene.

You can of course wait and see what kind of software there is and buy after you are satisfied, and that is your right as a consumer.

The hardware and firmware are going to be a lot better than the GP2X, and the software guys are finding it has a lot more power, so I am hopeful that it would be a good investment. (and who honestly can promise 8-10 hours of battery life with this kind of performance?)


This is the state of PSX emulation as of May 8, 2008:

Full speed at 600MHz in some tough games and not even touching the 3D hardware yet.

Got the boards running stable at 900Mhz (925 on some) and hit 200fps in FF7 once!

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showt...mp;#entry606869

So yeah, the PSP has been bitch slapped, hard. (3D hardware has not been touched!!)

 

[darin]

Pandora will absolutely outperform PSP for emulation. When they say Pandora will be the most powerful handheld on the market, it's not just hyperbole. SNES and PS1 emus will most likely be ready to go at launch.

Beautiful!

In conjunction with your excellent responses, and some research of my own, the Pandora is shaping up to be something I can fall in love with.

When I put it into perspective that about 5-6 current-gen games pay for this whole console, which has access to a library that spans into the thousands, $300+ doesn't seem bad at all. Now combine that ability with that of a movie and music player, computer-like functions, and the ability to hook it up to a television? I'm sold! I'd pay $50 alone just for an Earthbound cartridge to play on my SNES. But with the Pandora I'll be able to do that and more! I can't wait to be able to tackle adventures as Ness, which riding on the train to work. The Mother 3 fan translation rom is due out shortly as well!

I knew all I needed was a little nudge in either direction, and I'd be pushed head first into that choice.
For now, I eagerly anticipate the release of the Pandora!

 

[u9i]

I would like to thank those here who gave some excellent responses. It helps a lot. I hope those with the condescending replies will learn something from it. This is probably the biggest question people will have about the Pandora: Why so much? At the end of the day this is what decides who buys and not, and giving a good reason goes a long way.

I would like to add that it is open source. That means anyone can (in is encouraged to) do whatever they want with it, run whatever software they desire, or even make their own, without having it "sanctioned" by one of the gate-keepers (sony, ms, nintendo). Yes, open source probably makes the Pandora more expensive (initially) because it cannot be sold at a loss while making money in as a gate-keeper

 

[Kyo]

I always thought it was kind of cheap for being a community project, I can't imagine the sony pandora being any cheaper than the... pandora pandora

 

[PolloLoco]

For further reasons to buy this, research PMP's - portable movie and audio players. Specifically the Archos 605, Cowon Q5, and Cowon P5. The cheapest of those is $270 (when you purchase codecs to match the Pandora). The Cowon Q5 can't be found for under $450.

The Pandora beats all PMP's for codecs natively. It'll play just about any video and audio file you throw at it. It almost played 720P files at 100% speed, WITHOUT optimization.

In short, the Pandora will thoroughly replace my Archos 504 which I paid $330 for 2 years ago. And that's not even beginning to get into gameplay - consider that a bonus. ;-)

As an audio player, after extensive research - there's no mp3 player that has all the following features:

Bluetooth stereo, Touchscreen, Line Out, SD Expansion, Wifi

Plus it has a Ray Burr DAC that should put other mp3 players to shame. All in a profile that fits in your pocket.

 

[TaG]

For further reasons to buy this, research PMP's - portable movie and audio players. Specifically the Archos 605, Cowon Q5, and Cowon P5. The cheapest of those is $270 (when you purchase codecs to match the Pandora). The Cowon Q5 can't be found for under $450.

The Pandora beats all PMP's for codecs natively. It'll play just about any video and audio file you throw at it. It almost played 720P files at 100% speed, WITHOUT optimization.

In short, the Pandora will thoroughly replace my Archos 504 which I paid $330 for 2 years ago. And that's not even beginning to get into gameplay - consider that a bonus. ;-)

As an audio player, after extensive research - there's no mp3 player that has all the following features:

Bluetooth stereo, Touchscreen, Line Out, SD Expansion, Wifi

Plus it has a Ray Burr DAC that should put other mp3 players to shame. All in a profile that fits in your pocket.
Ssshhh! Don't say that, they'll all want one.

In all seriousness, this device is many things to many people - that is why it is so damn awesome and worth every penny.

 

[riosingh]

well I wan't to buy it to replace my gp2x, the first time I played choas engine overclocked on the gp2x, I could hear my heart beating in my head. What I'm hoping that the pandora will be able to deliver this for chaos engine 2, and r type, and other games that didn't play or overclock that well. AndI want a better controler than the gp.

 

[Chip]

I think the previous posters have covered most of the important features of the Pandora, but I'd like to say one more thing:

You cannot buy a device that does everything the Pandora does in a pocketable form factor for any amount of money.

If you just want to play games, then you have the PSP and DS and GP2X and soon you'll have the Wiz. But they're not that great for much beyond that. If you want an internet device / pocket PC, there are the Nokia tablets, the iPhone, and similar devices like the HTC Shift. If you want a bit more productivity and are willing to pay more / carry something larger, there's plenty of UMPCs and netbooks to choose from. If you just want a PMP, there are hundreds of them in every form factor imaginable.

But if you want all of that, your only option is the Pandora. Even if money were not an issue, what else could you buy that covers all the bases of the Pandora? Nothing. Nothing that fits in your pocket. Nothing that has an 8-10 hour battery life.

I've said numerous times that the Pandora is not for everybody. It really isn't. Not everybody wants to do everything that the Pandora can do. There is no reason to buy a Swiss Army knife if all you need is the corkscrew. But if you want the knife, scissors, toothpick, can opener, saw, awl, and half a dozen other doodads of indeterminate purpose, then you pay a bit extra and get the right tool for the job.

 

[fusion_power]

In short, what makes the Pandora worth $330 to YOU?

The fact, that in Europe, the Pandora will cost €250 and "€250" sounds much better than 330$.

 

[DXR_13KE]

it is the ultimate tool, and i want it!!