My Pandora Review


cosam

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Having received the thing only yesterday, I've not tried out anywhere near everything as yet, but here's a quick summary of the most noticeable points. Note that this is an honest review and contains my own personal opinion of what must be one of the first 100 units produced. Having a sample size of precisely one, I have no idea how other people's consoles compare to mine.

The Case: The paint finish on the case is a very nice satin black, and the thing fits pretty comfortably in your hands. Working at a desk is also quite doable. The screen may not click in an upright position, but it does stay put where you leave it. There are some minor build quality issues, what they'd call "fit and finish" in the auto trade. On my unit, the screen bezel wasn't pushed completely home, but this was easily remedied with a little tweaking. Unfortunately the way it fits has resulted in some minor scuffing of the paintwork near the clips. The L and R buttons are also a little wobbly, to the extent that the tabs which keep them from jumping out of the case can catch around the edges. This may be due to the screw at the rear of the case not being fully tightened, leaving a gap between the two halves. The battery seems to push to corners of the cover up a little. Hopefully it's just a matter of flattening out the "sticker" (for want of a better word) around it a little better. There was also a rough spot on the tip of the stylus. Users may want to give that a quick test and sand down if necessary before using it on the actual screen! Overall though, an ergonomic and nice-looking case.

The Controls: The D-pad is good, with nice travel and feedback. The ABXY buttons are pretty close together, but work great when you get used to them. The nubs are like nothing I've used before - very smooth and, although I've not used them in-game yet, moving the mouse pointer around with them is fluid and accurate. The keyboard isn't going to win any awards but considering the limitations of this type of keyboard, it's good. There are some minor imperfections visible under the clear sealant. The layout is however pretty terrible. Except for the letters, numbers, and major keys like enter and space, nothing is where you'd expect to find it, instead being scattered apparently randomly over the keys. Typing anything more than a couple of lines is going to take some getting used to.

Audio/Video: The screen is very clear and very sharp - you will not be disappointed! The resolution is also very impressive for such a small screen. Not a ghost in sight, either. It has a slightly rough finish, so can feel a little scratchy when using the stylus. Sound is clear and pretty good considering the size of the speakers. I have not tested with headphones yet.

Software: Although still early days, the xfce desktop is light and snappy. Unfortunately I didn't get the alternative Minimenu to work yet. Reflashing the firmware (not usually necessary, I have been hacking away at this thing) and installing updates was quick and easy. There's not an awful lot else to try out yet, but so far the Pandora has coped with everything I've thrown at it with ease, including full-screen video playback.

Overall: Although let down a little by the build quality issues, as a gaming handheld and computer: it's great. Technically speaking, it's a nicely spec'd machine and I can't wait to see what it can do when the software catches up. Well done, OP team!
 
mindlord said:
Sounds like a nineth assembly team member needs to be added for Quality Control to me.
Yes, a quick QA once-over at the end of the production line would be time well spent, IMHO. That really ought to catch the obvious stuff, at least.
 
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SteveM said:
The layout is however pretty terrible. Except for the letters, numbers, and major keys like enter and space, nothing is where you'd expect to find it, instead being scattered apparently randomly over the keys. Typing anything more than a couple of lines is going to take some getting used to.

LOL, the keyboard debate continues...


Thanks for the review. Did tightening the screws fix your L/R problem?
 
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mindlord said:
Sounds like a nineth assembly team member needs to be added for Quality Control to me.

Not a bad idea. QC issues are slightly concerning but hopefully they can use this feedback when they do a final check. It sounds like the case is still causing them trouble.
 
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Hi,
My 2 cents regarding the design: I feel that the screen could do with being tightened a bit more. Mine doesn't really stay upright easily.
Apart from that, I concur with the rest of the review, I'm really impressed with the build quality and I'm loving the paint job. The stylus slot is very well made and it looks like it'd be pretty hard to loose the stylus!
 
MonkeyChops said:
LOL, the keyboard debate continues...
Well yeah, people are free to disagree with me. But they'll be wrong ;-)

Did tightening the screws fix your L/R problem?
Nope. I think the mounting holes/pegs need shimming out a bit. Others have however remarked how tight the buttons are, so there's probably quite a bit of variation. If that's the case, it may be as simple as trying several pairs of buttons during assembly, to see which fit that particular case best.
 
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Good stuff Steve (and Murff). :)

I've compiled some of the user feedback (including this review) and posted it here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=396036
 
Just to let you know: We're doing a lot more testing now.
We test every single aspect of the hardware, the DPAD, the Nubs, WiFi connection, etc. and do the first boot, so all units leaving here should be fine :)

Of course, some might have a few problems if you throw them around or the battery might be bad - something like that ALWAYS happens, especially with first batches, since all the production lines need to be optimized get used to that.
We're constantly improving things already, reading the boards and reacting - and of course, if the unit is faulty, we'll fix it.

The keyboard layout... well, that's something we discussed over and over again.
I used for four months and I do all the scripting for the OS, etc. on that keyboard.
After using it for a few days, you get used to it. You can't do a standard PC layout as you're typing with your thumbs - and that's completely different to using 10 fingers :)

I'm sure whatever layout we use, somebody is going to complain about :)
 
Murff said:
My 2 cents regarding the design: I feel that the screen could do with being tightened a bit more. Mine doesn't really stay upright easily.
Looks like there's some variation in that too, then.

The stylus slot is very well made and it looks like it'd be pretty hard to loose the stylus!
Same here. They certainly got the fit right there.
 
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SteveM said:
The keyboard isn't going to win any awards but considering the limitations of this type of keyboard, it's good. There are some minor imperfections visible under the clear sealant. The layout is however pretty terrible. Except for the letters, numbers, and major keys like enter and space, nothing is where you'd expect to find it, instead being scattered apparently randomly over the keys. Typing anything more than a couple of lines is going to take some getting used to.
gotcha. What were I saying?
 
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I can assure you we check and test every unit. The shoulder buttons had to be manually drilled out so there is some variation on them, but they should work.

Over 100 units out there now and no DOA and only one unit being returned so far (wifi/battery issue) is pretty good isn't it? In comparison to the F100?

We can't do miracles but the QC is strict here right now, we're aiming for a <1% failure rate.
 
Well balanced review, sounds much in line with what I'm expecting and thanks to ED and Craigix for the responses. I'm sure other peoples reviews and feedback must be useful for the different perspective, after being around the Pandora variations for so long I imagine its hard to judge it how it fairs.
 
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