Notaz and his Pandora!!

[notaz]

I currently don't have a Pandora here. As soon as my work was done it was sent on to a dev.

 

[Vlynndar]

I never say this, but:

Freaking. Awesome.

 

[Bosbeetle]

 

[mali]

Oh my....
I should stop rofling, it hurts

So in other words, Notaz has got a real Pandora now and doesn't need to work on his crappy dev board any more. Congratulations

wait a moment...

 

[Sphinxter]

Must be nice.

 

[Trip]

At least we know it will be getting put to good use

 

[Dead1nside]

@Notaz: That is freaking awesome. Makes you hopeful that this time the cases will be right because it just looks so good already!

Hopefully this means more ports

 

[mindlord]

I think I speak for everyone when I say, "I can't wait to hear your impressions of the (almost) finished device. Oh, and what you do with that extra 128 Megs of RAM you not until now had access to."

 

[Phawx]

Seriously, when I look at that sweet device Notaz is holding, I want one. This 3rd revision to the case is killing me.

 

[Nova]

I currently don't have a Pandora here. As soon as my work was done it was sent on to a dev.

Best 1000th post ever.

 

[notaz]

Indirectly on topic - posting about device the blog is about..

I think I speak for everyone when I say, "I can't wait to hear your impressions of the (almost) finished device. Oh, and what you do with that extra 128 Megs of RAM you not until now had access to."

I had a 256 board for some time now.. Cased unit impressions below.

This 3rd revision to the case is killing me.

Actually it's the 1st rev one.

The lists below are my impressions on the exact unit I have, not on final product which will differ. Before you read them, a little quote from last MWeston's email:

Those first cases really suck

pros:
- the controls. D-pad, buttons and keypad all very responsive and feel nice. I was told the dpad on this unit is "crappy", but it works fine for me.
- the screen is bright and viewing angles wide (worse than OLED of course but that's different weight category).
- the weight is ok, not much different than "phat" PSP.
- hardware volume wheel, can set to exact volume level I want.

cons:
- few cracks here and there:

- loose hinge, can only have it fully open or fully closed. I think this is the one which suffered Craig's merciless hinge testing.
- completely loose battery when it's cover is open
- L and R buttons don't sit right (1st revision problem)
- volume wheel is too deep for my liking (a bit hard to move with a thumb)
- some light leakage between light pipes
- screen ghosting.. Yes there is some, and I'm very sensitive to it (as well as tearing on Wiz). I would even say it pretty bad in some situations, but much less intensive than PSP1000 (which I consider unusable for 2d games because of ghosting).

full size here
The screen on my unit is different from the final ones though, it acts a bit differently when booting, so this might still change.

 

[Phawx]

@Notaz

I know you have the 1st one. What I meant was waiting for the 3rd rev right now from China is killing me. Sorry for not splitting my sentence into paragraphs.

 

[Jumpman]

@ Phawx
I knew exactly what you meant! Sometime we all see things slightly differant though, not a big deal!

@Notaz
Hey Notaz, what would you rate the Pandora in comparison to the GP32, Dingoo, GP2X, WIZ, DS and PSP overall? Better, worse, the same? I know you have a revision 1 unit, but without the case problems, do you think hardware, screen, controls have been worth the wait? Also, what can we expect from you at release? Thanks Again!


Chris

 

[yannv]

- screen ghosting.. Yes there is some, and I'm very sensitive to it (as well as tearing on Wiz). I would even say it pretty bad in some situations, but much less intensive than PSP1000 (which I consider unusable for 2d games because of ghosting).
...
full size here
The screen on my unit is different from the final ones though, it acts a bit differently when booting, so this might still change.

That's quite notable ghosting, and I agree, it's horrible on the PSP. Common monitors compensate for this with some overdrive; it should be possible to implement with the graphics processor, exagerrating changes frame to frame. That type wouldn't be fully effective on top or bottom intensities, though.

 

[gruso]

Maybe that wasn't the best idea for a blog post...

 

[Phawx]

@yannv

Mweston commented on the community blog that the screen Notaz is using is grade B stock. Not the same LCD's we will have in our Pandora. So we shouldn't judge how the LCD is right now.

 

[chris_r]

I really hope that screen ghosting isn't as bad on the production screens. The PSP ghosting completely ruined roco loco for me.

 

[Nintendo]

It looks small, Notaz...do you have large hands?

 

[yannv]

Mweston commented on the community blog that the screen Notaz is using is grade B stock. Not the same LCD's we will have in our Pandora. So we shouldn't judge how the LCD is right now.

I'm aware (sorry I didn't make that clear). Just pointing out that this particular problem can be reduced even if it occurs in released units, though it would be nice if the final screens make it unnecessary.

 

[second exodous]

It looks small, Notaz...do you have large hands?

I was wondering the same thing. It seems like the videos craigx made it didn't look this small. Maybe notaz has normal hands and craigx has small hands?!?

It looks like it's still a good size even if my hands are the same size as notaz's though.