Is It Worth It?

[Blue Protoman]

I'm looking to get a Pandora at one point. Maybe for Christmas I'll ask for one, or at least for half of it paid. But first, is it any good? I already own a Wiz. Is it worth it to upgrade? I'm mainly looking to play games, though I may use its internet browsers. How far along is software development, etc. coming along? What I plan on doing is getting the Pandora, then selling my Wiz shortly after I get it in the mail.

 

[Bosbeetle]

yes its worth it Browsing is a lot nicer with a keyboard.

I dont have a wiz so I can't compare gaming between the two for you.

 

[Jumpman]

Well, I owned a GP2X a few years back, and loved it to death. I couldn't use it enough, and it helped to introduce me to the opensource community. It did lack proper controls for classic gaming, but it got the job done. I was able to get a DaveC modded unit, and it improved controls greatly, but still wasn't perfect.

Next, I moved into the Wiz while I waited on my Pandora to arrive, and sadly it just never did it for me. I ended up selling it after about a year, and I had under 10 hours of use on it. The screen was the high point, as the OLED was awesome, but it was small, and the controls where better than the 2X, but still lacked for many classic games. Overall, it was a smaller, and slightly improved GP2X.

Now, on to the Pandora! This system is just Awesome, the screen is huge, and very sharp. The controls are just about the best out there on a handheld, and the battery life is insane. I only really use mine for gaming, and some very light web browsing now and then, but it can so much more. For me, it is hands down better than the Wiz, Dingoo, Caanoo, and even my GP2X. The full qwerty keyboard can't be beat!

For anyone who is interested in getting one, they will need to look at their own personal needs, and factor in cost, time it may take to receive a real unit, ect. I also find the Pandora to be a super value, in comparison to it's competitors. I would have gladly paid 500 dollars for mine. It may cost more than the others in it's class, but it can do way more than any of those other devices, it's a very good trade off in my opinion.

My only complaints would be that the system is very heavy in comparison to any other handheld device out there, but considering that the battery is HUGE, and provides 10+ hours of use, I find it to be a good trade off. I just wish it weighed a little less. My second problem would be with the shoulder buttons. Mine function perfectly, and they are placed well, but they require a very firm press to use. It's not a big deal when you may only have to use them once or twice in a game, but if you need to use them regularly, it can become uncomfortable to use them all the time.

So currently, I have to say the Pandora has no equal, and I personally have no desire to get a Caanoo, or anything else that has come before. The Pandora has me covered for all my current desires and needs. I look forward to a bright and successful future for the team, and this project overall. It is really a wonderful device, and deserves to be given a chance in todays market. The current software lineup, is a little green, but considering that less than a 1000 units exist in the community, this should no longer be a problem once all 4000 have been shipped. I think anyone who gives it a chance, will be plesently suprised at just how nice it is, and how well it works!

Chris

 

[Blue Protoman]

Well, it DOES eliminate the need for an on-screen keyboard, thus allowing me to get into PC emulation. I wanna get more opinions, though.

 

[meandu229]

Love mine to bits, at the moment the web browsers crash alot for me, but messaging on it is ace, things like the ability to hook up xbox controllers (via hub) to it so when tv out cables come around will open up a new realm of possibilities.
Battery life is amazing, Ill usually get about 8 hours with wifi on gaming at 800mhz.
I cant sing its praises enough given what it can already do.

Given some more dev time , im sure that it will become even better,
e.g
more support for dvb-t tv sticks (some working already)
better n64/psx compatibility ( I just want tony hawks and ill be happy, either system)
stable version of chrome.
A better power management for suspend,
and minor bugs here and there in some software,

 

[Blue Protoman]

Plus, a lot more emulators run well than I had heard. But remember guys, I'm asking for comparisons to the Wiz.

 

[Prometheus]

I personally think it's worth it, but I have to echo what Chris says about making sure to weigh up your own needs, the cost, and all the rest. After all, like anything, it's not something that's going to be suited to absolutely everybody, and for some folks there are going to be better options out there for them.

I'm afraid I can't compare to the Wiz, though - unfortunately I was burned by the early problems that the GP2X had, and didn't want to purchase another product from the same company.

Anyway, just in case it's still of any interest, myself, I use mine for gaming primarily, but I also have a 3G/HSDPA "MiFi" router (a pocket-sized router that some cellular phone providers in some countries offer) which I use for internet access when travelling with it. It also serves as an audio player when I'm on the move.

If you're curious, my most-used apps (in no particular order) are as follows;

Snes9x4D4P (The SNES is my favourite system of all time, and this is my favourite SNES emulator)
GINGE (GP2X compatibility application - it allows many GP2X games and applications to be run)
GPFCE (A GP2X NES emulator, used via GINGE - it's currently the best option for NES emulation )
Cave Story (The GP2X version of this wonderful game can be run via GINGE)
C64 VICE (A Commodore 64 emulator)
MAME4All (A speedy, well-optimised version of the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, which also features high score saving)
MAME 0.106 (A build of a more recent version of MAME, for the games I own that MAME4All doesn't support)
Pandora-2600 (A port of the Atari 2600 emulator, Stella)
Pandora-Atari (Emulator for the Atari 8-bit computer family)
O2EM (Magnavox Odyssey 2/Philips Videopac emulator)
DOSBox (Well-known application for running MS-DOS software - works very well for the games I own)
PicoDrive (Mega Drive emulator)
Deadbeef (Audio player)
Mousepad (Built-in text editor - I use my Pandora for writing on occasion)
Firefox (PND version of the desktop web browser)

There are others, of course, but those should probably give some insight into what I think mine's good at. Some things occasionally need overclocking (which is NOT guaranteed - it should just be considered a bonus if yours can), but the need for this will probably disappear as things are optimised.

 

[cbrotherson]

I'm pretty much with the rest of the owners here. My intial impressions are here: http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/54511-i-got-my-pandora/page__st__135__p__916170&#entry916170

Apologies if you've already read the following on the Pandora Press site, as I'm going to copy and paste what I typed there because I still feel the same way, and this is now 2 months into owning my Pandora (which sits right next to me at work as I type).

It’s worth it. It's very worth it. Nothing *still* comes close for convenience and sheer adaptability, with so little physical space required compared to the extras needed to make a mobile phone a ‘complete’ games device, as well as outrightly beating the likes of Wiz, Dingoo and Caanoo.

On the Tubes (living in London) there’s very little room for me to take anything out my bag during the morning rush hours I have to deal with 5 times a week. So anything which isnt whole or self contained is virtually much a no-go. But I’ve enough space (partly because I’m just a short guy ;-) to pull my Pandora out of my pocket and jump straight into an episode of Breaking Bad, play a little Monkey Island, blast some Metroid, read a pdf and then type out some notes, all without having to switch positions or worry about being flung down the carriage during a stop from fiddling around. The only thing I don’t use it for is music, as my iPod Touch is a much ‘better’ option in that case.

I can’t stress this enough: even as an advocate of my iPod Touch, other dedicated games handhelds and smartphones (especially Nokia smartphones – I love them), Pandora is superb. For me, already essential.

It’s *amazingly* easy to take for granted that this thing really is perfect for most types of gaming. Point click, arcade twitch blasters, beat ‘em ups, pixel perfect platformers, typed text adventures… I’ve even tried a few FPS’ and been happy with the results. The marriage of a touchscreen, analogue nubs, dedicated d-pad, keyboard and face/shoulder buttons may seem good in theory, but in practice, it’s bliss (providing all the bits are working, heh, ;-) As a person who tried to throw everything onto my smartphone in an effort to bide time while I waited for my Pandora, I found those options really didn’t compare when I had the real thing in my hands.

There's simply nothing out there that can match it for versatility. Sure, that may change over time (I'm quite interested in the Panasonic Jungle), and yes, the software nor hardware are perfect. But it's the only electronic device I will be certain to use day-in, day-out (bar my smartphone, but that's actually used as a phone in this instance).

 

[Mutilator]

I use mine more than I thought I would. Lunch breaks at work are so awesome watching Futurama on your Pandora.

 

[Qwertyuiop]

at the moment the web browsers crash alot for me

Have you tried the new(ish) Chromium build? It works great for me, plus it doesn't store things on the NAND.

 

[skeezix]

I use mine more than I thought I would. Lunch breaks at work are so awesome watching Futurama on your Pandora.

^^ this!

jeff

 

[Blue Protoman]

Wow. Nice. Since it DOES have a built-in keyboard, with several emulators for computers, I might get into that scene. Now, how well is it built? And I've heard it's unbrickable, or at least easy to fix. I'd mainly use my Pandora for gaming, but perhaps a bit of web browsing would be thrown in, too. I use my DSi for music, so that's out.

 

[skeezix]

It is unbrickable, since you can boot from SD easily enough, and then reflash from there (or just keep booting from SD forever)

jeff

 

[Blue Protoman]

Niiiiiice. Now, what about reliability? I've heard good things, but I'd like specifics, like is the case prone to cracking, does the D-Pad need "breaking in", etc. And also, how often does new software or improvements to existing ones come out?

 

[Vorporeal]

at the moment the web browsers crash alot for me

Have you tried the new(ish) Chromium build? It works great for me, plus it doesn't store things on the NAND.

That build's far from new - Chrome/Chromium Dev is on 8.x now.

 

[Blue Protoman]

I've heard of problems with the nubs. Are those only in the first batch, or should I wait until the third?

 

[Qwertyuiop]

at the moment the web browsers crash alot for me

Have you tried the new(ish) Chromium build? It works great for me, plus it doesn't store things on the NAND.

That build's far from new - Chrome/Chromium Dev is on 8.x now.

New in the sense that it was compiled for the Pandora less than 2 months ago. (Hence the "ish")

 

[WizardStan]

The nubs were a problem with the rubber. The manufacturer took them back and are in the process of making new ones out of a more stable material. The first 1000ish from the first batch have the weaker nubs that have a greater chance of failure. The ones they're waiting on now should be fine *knock/touch on wood*

 

[DaveC]

I'm looking to get a Pandora at one point. Maybe for Christmas I'll ask for one, or at least for half of it paid. But first, is it any good? I already own a Wiz. Is it worth it to upgrade? I'm mainly looking to play games, though I may use its internet browsers. How far along is software development, etc. coming along? What I plan on doing is getting the Pandora, then selling my Wiz shortly after I get it in the mail.

I have to break the fanboyism here a bit. I have a Wiz and most of the stuff is more polished there. First I would have to say that I am the guy who designed the Pandora case, so I should be biased. But I have to be honest here and say the vast majority of the emus on the Pandora are just quick ports of other emus that don't much take advantage of the Pandora hardware. Many of them have terrible menu systems as a result. It seems every game/emu has a different GUI for picking ROMs etc, some of them are awkward to use. Some have you clicking through multiple dialog boxes to set up your screen resolution, CPU cores etc. It doesn't save these settings so you need to do it everytime you load the emu (Amiga is a perfect example). Many don't save ROM paths making you navigate long directory trees everytime to find your game. Many games/emus have terrible screen tearing when things scroll. Then there are emus that don't even exist natively yet on the Pandora or are so poor that they might as well not exist(EX: FBA, GPSP, CPS2, NES, TG-16, PSX). The PSX emu held promise but hasn't been touched in like 6 months.

It is a hope that things will get better someday but it also seems that development has all but stopped in the emu area for some reason. Even the the Caanoo has much more action at this time. I don't think there has been a significant release or update for months. As more Pandoras ship the hope is that things will pick up. If you ordered one now by the time you got it maybe many of these problems will be addressed. It has allot of potential.

 

[urjaman]

It is a hope that things will get better someday but it also seems that development has all but stopped in the emu area for some reason.

Possible reasons:
- working on stuff until its really polished
- work & RL
- there are less than 1000 pandoras out there
- winter depression ...