Noobie Here With A Few Non-Faq Questions

[OilySalmon]

Hi, guys! I'm OilySalmon, and I've been looking around concerning the Pandora. You see, I have an LG Ally, and since these devices are so similar I thoug-

Oh, forget it. The Pandora looks incredible and I'm itching to buy one of these guys. I've been using *nix in some way or another for about six years now, and I'm almost drooling over this machine. I can only imagine what this community has done with a handheld that has completely open specs...

So I want to buy this guy. But I live all the way in the United States, and aside from that, I've never ordered anything online before. So I have a few questions for you guys, if you're willing to help me out:


-Since I live in the US and the backorder for this device is (supposedly) huge, how long would I have to wait until I get one of these all-powerful chunkmonsters?

-Again, since I live in the US, I'm assuming that S&H would be fairly high... any idea how high? Would I be paying something insane, like $30 just for shipping?

-I'm not exactly swimming in cash at the moment. I know this thing is basically a kick-awesome toy, but what kind of practical use can I get out of a Pandora?

-Strangely enough, I haven't found very many reviews for the Pandora. Can anyone point me to a few? I'd love to be able to hear some things about the build quality/usability of this device.

I would ask about overclocking as well, but I see a few threads already floating around on a few subforums already. Anyways, thanks, hopefully someone here can help me out!

 

[Prometheus]

Hi OilySalmon, and welcome. If you don't mind, I'm going to move this to General Talk [Pandora], as the help section is generally for support with hardware and software issues.

As for your questions, I can't really help with many of them, as I'm UK-based. However, there are a few reviews from customers dotted around in General Talk - you may want to root around in there. I don't have any links to hand at this moment, as I don't know what pages the threads have dropped to! A quick spin with the Advanced Search option (the link is located in the upper-right area of any forum page - it's just below the username/sign-out/help links up at the top, there), with the term review, restricted to General Talk [Pandora] *may* help. However, the forum's built-in search isn't all that great, and attempting to use Google's "site:" option likely won't help, as every single page of every single section has "Pandora" in its title, which tends to confuse it. :lol:

There has been a bit of press coverage, too - Linux Format kindly gave us permission to post a PDF of their recent review to the forum, which was very good of them. There's a thread about that review in General Talk, too, if that's of any help.

 

[WizardStan]

-Since I live in the US and the backorder for this device is (supposedly) huge, how long would I have to wait until I get one of these all-powerful chunkmonsters?

Lots of people from all over the world have ordered. A fair number of Canadians and Americans, and I think there's even someone from Mexico. They're being shipped out by order time, location matters not.
That being said, they're working as fast as they can to fill the orders, but if you order now, it'll probably be at least two months until you receive it. And just to prevent you from getting your hopes up that it is "only" two months, it's been Two Months(tm) since Christmas 2008. Assuming they can get the nubs on time, and the board manufacturer can keep up with demand, and something doesn't happen to the plastic parts that are supposedly on a ship right now headed for the UK, then 2 or 3 months is not entirely unreasonable a time frame. Of course, this plastic factory has been questionable in the past, and natural disaster has struck once already, and really we don't have a time frame for the nubs other than "soon", so take that estimate with a grain of salt.
Believe me though, it's worth it.

-Again, since I live in the US, I'm assuming that S&H would be fairly high... any idea how high? Would I be paying something insane, like $30 just for shipping?

It is about $15 or $20 as I recall, but I may be recalling wrong.

-I'm not exactly swimming in cash at the moment. I know this thing is basically a kick-awesome toy, but what kind of practical use can I get out of a Pandora?

Practical? I frequently use mine to SSH into my home system remotely: I can check the progress of torrentsvery important and life saving processes from a coffee shop; queue up some music from my living room; kick people off my minecraft server for being jerks. Some people use it to read their email, though I've not bothered to configure that yet. Full on web browsing in your pocket. It's got a scheduler and organizer that can sync with your desktop. There's a dictionary app. Someone was working on an offline Wiki reader (which stalled due to hardware delays, but maybe it'll be back). A number of people are using it to write documents and code. Really the practical uses are almost limitless. Think of what you want it to do, and it probably can.
Impractical? It runs a lot of emulators, and a lot of awesome games are being compiled for it regularly. It plays every music format I've encountered, and almost every video format up to (and in some cases including) 720p. I'd stick to 480p videos for the most part though, if you have the choice. Flash is moving along slowly, but I'm confident it'll work eventually, opening up youtube and all the other video streaming sites.

-Strangely enough, I haven't found very many reviews for the Pandora. Can anyone point me to a few? I'd love to be able to hear some things about the build quality/usability of this device.

Here's a review for you: AWESOME!
There are some variances with the build quality, apparently. Some people complain of hinge looseness, but after 2 months of frequent open/close, mine is still holding strong: something to watch out for, whether I'm fortunate to get a strong hinge or their unfortunate enough to get a bad one. There's the mysterious crack on the back: it's minor and easy to ignore but still shouldn't be there. There was also an issue with the LCD cable being installed wrong and breaking, but that's supposedly been corrected going forward. It still crops up occasionally, but appears to be much less frequent (I hope).
Other than that, though, the case feels quite solid, at least to me. I'm not going to go twisting it to test for strength, but I can't see it doing too much. It also feels right: heftier than my DS, it fits a lot better in my hands; some people have said that's a bad thing and wish it were smaller and lighter. To each their own, I suppose.
One other very important thing to be aware of is that the wifi can be very spotty. I'm fortunate enough to get a stable 300KB/s. Some people can hit a solid 900KB/s. Others are unfortunate enough to be reduced to sub 100KB/s, when they can connect at all. It's all very odd but symptoms point to driver issues, so hopefully that'll get sorted: just be aware that when you receive yours (assuming it hasn't been fixed by then) there's a chance you may have some wifi troubles.

 

[OilySalmon]

Thanks for the replies, guys. From what I can tell the only potential problem with these things is that the build quality of these things can vary a little, but I can understand that. It's not like these things are rolling off massive production lines or anything.

I'm pretty sure I'll be placing an order for my own Pandora in a few weeks, after reading some reviews. Thanks, guys!

 

[jonlad1]

I can vouch for the loose hinge thing after a few months, but honestly? The Pandora is so cool and there is really nothing else out there like it that little issues dont seem to matter. Spare cases will be available soon as well as other spare parts for modding.

Know that love has gone into each one, making it unique

You will not regret purchasing one as soon as you receive it.

I love it, as does everyone else who has one.

Jon

 

[OilySalmon]

I can vouch for the loose hinge thing after a few months, but honestly? The Pandora is so cool and there is really nothing else out there like it that little issues dont seem to matter. Spare cases will be available soon as well as other spare parts for modding.

Know that love has gone into each one, making it unique

You will not regret purchasing one as soon as you receive it.

I love it, as does everyone else who has one.

Jon

The only thing I'm worried about (besides the hinges, and even then I think that by the time batch #2 is being produced, that will be somewhat fixed) is the fact that I live in the US. I've never done anything involving online purchases, and I don't know how the whole payment thing will go down. Heck, I'm 18 and have only just started a bank account recently. "You don't need no money yet," my parents told me when I was younger... I've taken a look at this but I still don't know what any of that really means. I suppose I could talk to my banker to iron that out though, right? But really, do I just send an email to the address on the main openPandora site (for worldwide purchases) and tell them I want a device and then send them the cash? How does this process work?

 

[gruso]

^ Here's a post I made on the official forums regarding the ordering process. (the one you found is very old and outdated)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is unofficial advice from me, not official advice from OP Ltd.

• Send them an email and state that you'd like to order a Pandora. Let them know which country you're in. They will reply with a current price list, and an explanation of the payment & shipping options.
• Reply back letting them know which items you want, how you'd like to pay, which form of shipping you prefer. You'll need to provide your full name and address at this point.
• If your chosen payment method is Google Checkout, you will receive a Google Checkout payment link. If you choose another payment option, the Pandora team will provide further details.
• Once paid via Google Checkout, you will receive a confirmation from Google Checkout which contains your order number. If you chose another payment method you will get this information direct from the Pandora team.

This whole process can take several days, as there are only two people handling enquiries. Have some patience, and welcome to the party.

Notes:

• If you know exactly which items you want, how much they are, how you'd like to pay and how you'd like it shipped, you can probably send all that (along with all personal details) in the first email and save yourself a day or two.
• Battery, stylus and AC adapter are included in the Pandora price. You don't need to order these separately.
• Orders are filled in the order they are received, but your order number does not tell you your queue position. This information is not available.

 

[OilySalmon]

Gruso, you are awesome. Thanks for this. I've already sent them an email while I was at work, so now I guess all I have to do is wait. It's a shame there's no quicker way to do it, but I guess when ordering something like this, when it's made my just a small group of people, patience is sort of necessary.

Plus, I can see myself paying for this and immediately forgetting that I purchased it. When it arrives months down the road it'll almost seem like a present!

 

[meandu229]

Gruso, you are awesome. Thanks for this. I've already sent them an email while I was at work, so now I guess all I have to do is wait. It's a shame there's no quicker way to do it, but I guess when ordering something like this, when it's made my just a small group of people, patience is sort of necessary.

Plus, I can see myself paying for this and immediately forgetting that I purchased it. When it arrives months down the road it'll almost seem like a present!

No you will pay and then visit this forum daily like the rest of us,
You can try to forget but you wont,
Trust me its worth it I love mine it goes everywhere with me

 

[j.pickens]

Just to add a comment.
I live in the U.S., and that did not create any difficulties.
The only difficulties are due to the time needed to create the parts for the thing.
I ordered mine in October, 2008, and received it in June 2010.
The five days it took to actually move from the U.K. to the U.S. for delivery was not relevant to the process.

 

[WizardStan]

The only other thing I can think of that you may need to prepare for is custom fees. As far as I know no one has been hit with them yet, but there is still a non-zero chance that someone will.

 

[DaMummy]

dont hold your breath on that whole "months down the road" thing

 

[OilySalmon]

dont hold your breath on that whole "months down the road" thing

I was actually sort of low-balling. I'm guessing that if I preordered right now, it'd take anywhere to four to six or more months in order for me to actually get the thing.

 

[EvilDragon]

Plus, I can see myself paying for this and immediately forgetting that I purchased it. When it arrives months down the road it'll almost seem like a present!

Hehe, and I thought I'm the only one where that happens when I preorder something

 

[OilySalmon]

Hehe, and I thought I'm the only one where that happens when I preorder something

Sometimes I even forget what I'm talking about in mid-sentence. It especially sucks when

 

[DaMummy]

well new guy, i hope you know that the shigeru miyamoto of the openpandora has just talked to you, welcome to this beauty we call a community

 

[OilySalmon]

Yeah, I was about to go all pre-fanboy (the kind of fanboy that can't really back up any claims without using the term "I heard") when I realised that doing so would make me look lame.

Anyways, it's nice to get such a greeting from this community. Hopefully I'll have something to contribute once I get my device in... a while...

 

[Prometheus]

Are you sure you shouldn't be saying "In Two Months(TM)", there? :lol:

 

[OilySalmon]

Alright, I emailed the sales. All I need to do now is wait for a reply. As a side note, I'm a little curious as to what the VAT is going to be. Never done anything like this before, so I can only hope it's not insane.

 

[gruso]

You're in the US so you won't pay VAT The price you're quoted for the Pandora (which I assume is $349) is all you'll pay, plus any extras ordered and shipping of course.