...me more than he can

[ora]

Hey,


Had a talk with a work mate. I told him about my intent to buy a Pandora. He asked why - and that I could just get a smartphone or something.


I said that it was a proper computer in its own right , truly open with a great community to support it. But I didn't seem to get across too well.


What would you have said in my position ?

 

[Caine]

Smartphones lack a decent battery life and proper gaming controls. Most of them are locked down. If these issues are not important to him, then arguing about it is pointless.

 

[Hoodoo]

Why should one explain his coworkers why he spends his money this or that way in the first place? If you were going to spend your money on coke and hookers would you ask your coworkers if they're okay with that?


To me, Pandora is (or was, I'm not sure yet, still can't get spare parts no matter how much money I throw at it) is a device which can be held in one hand, can do 'instant-on' and last for a day and runs genuine Linux (not that obfuscated malware haunted Android), and that's enough reason for me to buy it.

 

[Prometheus]

"Different strokes for different folks.", as they say. (Though to be honest, I either wouldn't say anything, or just that I have no use for a telephone, myself. )


For some folks, a telephone and/or a tablet are adequate, and for others they aren't. No need to worry over justifying it.

 

[ora]

To me, Pandora is (or was, I'm not sure yet, still can't get spare parts no matter how much money I throw at it) is a device which can be held in one hand, can do 'instant-on' and last for a day and runs genuine Linux (not that obfuscated malware haunted Android), and that's enough reason for me to buy it.

This ^^^^


Yeah , I get everyone's point that you get a device you need , but this is a good point about what phones lack in regards to computing capability.

 

[Mr Rob]

I agree with Prometheus and Caine.


At the end of the day, the Pandora sells in a niche market. It's profitable for the company (you don't need 90% market saturation to turn a profit), and fun, but lots of people will just see it as another device in a big mobile market.


And of course, if someone were to ask me why I bought a Pandora instead of a smartphone/tablet, the correct answer is: "Don't bother me, I'm playing Cave Story."

 

[gruso]

It can be frustrating getting the basic concept across to some (most) people. It's not that you want to convince everyone to buy one - it would just be nice if they kind of understood what it's about. Otherwise they leave the conversation thinking it's dumb, and still wondering why you don't just buy an iPhone.


I've got a coworker who is exactly like this. Even though he listens with interest to whatever I try to explain, it never really sinks in. Just get an iPhone, he says (although it's mostly just to stir me up these days).


Problem is, if you're trying to tell someone why an open platform is cool, you first have to explain what closed is, and that can turn into an awfully long conversation. (It can also turn into a rant, which is bad )


I can understand the need for the right words, but I haven't found them yet.

 

[NoeleyC]

I've always gone more for the mini netbook angle, then mention the gaming controls. Start off with the old check your emails, facebook etc, browse the net etc, then move onto the joys of retro gaming. A good thing I've found to impress people with it is simply to ask them to name a game they liked in their youth, then have it up and running in front of their eyes. Somewhat backfired kinda on me recently showing my Pandora to my 16yr old nephew, the oldest games he can remember are PS1 ones, and I didn't have the ones he was looking for! But I showed him Mario 64 running instead, and he was happy out again! (not because he's played it, but he recognised some of the levels from Mario Galaxy 2)

 

[Sugar_Kane]

I have a phone and I have a pandora, I don't use my phone for emulation at all because the pandora is a far superior experience. Everything I need to play runs flawlessly on the Pandora, only dosbox is lacking due to many games being unplayably slow, but I tried to dabble with dosbox for android, hoping my dual core would give me the wiz I needed, and it quickly became apparent that even if the speed had increased (still not enough to make my favourite games playable) without a keyboard you're in for an incredibly frustrating time.


I would get an icontrolpad if I didn't have the Pando, but the keyboard really does add another level to the Pandora.

 

[Caine]

At the end of the day, the Pandora sells in a niche market. It's profitable for the company (you don't need 90% market saturation to turn a profit), and fun, but lots of people will just see it as another device in a big mobile market.

I'm actually one of the few people who doesn't own a phone. Mobile telephony has always been a horribly overpriced and for me mostly unnecessary service (telcos are mobile ISPs, they just don't fully realize it yet). I have a phone on my desk and when I'm traveling I enjoy the peace and quiet while reading a book or playing a game.


Once you strip the phone as an essential service, the Pandora is actually a better deal than many smart phones out there (though I admit that they are rapidly becoming more interesting).

 

[Prometheus]

only dosbox is lacking due to many games being unplayably slow

I suppose I've been lucky, there - it runs those two bizarre MS-DOS Mega Man games just fine, and Jazz Jackrabbit is the only one where it struggles a little bit, for me (that being the most demanding MS-DOS game I own).


I still can't figure out why it started running a bit slower circa Hotfix 4 or 5, though... Before that, the Commander Keen games all ran flawlessly, too, but now the later ones are a bit sluggish for some reason.

I'm actually one of the few people who doesn't own a phone. Mobile telephony has always been a horribly overpriced and for me mostly unnecessary service (telcos are mobile ISPs, they just don't fully realize it yet). I have a phone on my desk and when I'm traveling I enjoy the peace and quiet while reading a book or playing a game.


Once you strip the phone as an essential service, the Pandora is actually a better deal than many smart phones out there (though I admit that they are rapidly becoming more interesting).

I'm exactly the same - mobile telephones serve no purpose for me (though I'm still not seeing anything interesting about them, myself), although I do have a mobile broadband modem, which is fantastically useful with the Pandora.

 

[Mr Rob]

Fascinatingly enough, I have a simple cell phone since it's cheaper than a land line into my apartment. I'm not signed up for texting, or any fancy smartphone stuff. It's just a run of the mill cell phone from a few years back, and it's all I need. Heck, I don't even call people much as email works better.


I'm a computer science major, but am generally skeptical when it comes to technology. The Pandora is fun because of the games, plus it's quite enjoyable to tinker/develop with. But I can't imagine how I'd use an smartphone/tablet in my life.


I'm going to grow up to be a dinosaur.

 

[Caine]

though I'm still not seeing anything interesting about them, myself

General purpose computing platform with mobile internet connectivity. The Pandora offers much the same but trades openness of the platform and better controls for the mobile connectivity (WiFi is not yet ubiquitous).


The mobile broadband modem you have, solves the latter issue making the Pandora the superior device.

 

[gabrielc84]

I'm exactly the same - mobile telephones serve no purpose for me (though I'm still not seeing anything interesting about them, myself), although I do have a mobile broadband modem, which is fantastically useful with the Pandora.

Can you tell me how you do that? Most vendors have applications for those that would only run in Windows.


And also please tell me if i can make the pandora a wi-fi router :rolleyes:

 

[Prometheus]

^ I use a pocket-sized 3G router, which can host up to five devices over WiFi - no need for dependence on any particular operating system. There's a bit of a run-down on these sorts of things here.


I don't know how to make the Pandora itself act as a router, though. I'm not even sure that ad-hoc connections are currently possible. Sorry about that.

 

[gabrielc84]

I saw the link, pretty amazing little device. If it connects to a 3g vendor then i don't need to make the pandora into a router.


I am from Romania ,and it says that it is also supported there. Thanks for the info!

 

[Prometheus]

It does indeed connect to a 3G vendor! Mine is on contract, but you can get them Pay-as-you-Go from some providers, too.


Glad that the info's useful to you.

 

[Phelsumania]

i always go with its basically a powerful full blown laptop in the size ofthe size a nintendo dsi with a rediculos amount of battery life for its size that is perfectly geared up to play games with good graphic (quake, grim fandango, goldeneye) thats is open and can theoretically do anything up to scratching your ass, which continually improves daily thanks to its amazing devs. creators and comunity. where as phones have hardly done jack all in improving my hd2 is years old now and there only ben minor steps forwards since then (even though the new iphone does unfortuinately sound promising i hate to say).


Usually just turn the thing on and everyone ive shown so far love it. I was down center parks last week using it in the cafe and was starting to build a crowd of people in amazement with it, bare folk wanted to know where they could get one. And i wasnt even trying to advertise the thing was just using it and it seemed to just draw people in.

 

[Prometheus]

and can theoretically do anything up to scratching your ass

Oh, it could probably do that, too. It's just that no-one would want to touch it afterwards.

 

[Nintendo]

Tell your mate that you don't have to jailbreak your Pandora per se.