Observations of a new Pandora owner
- Thread starter oarias
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Hmm, as far as I remember, he told skeezix exactly how he wanted everything to work and that's how MiniMenu was born. AFAIK, it includes everything that was included in Craigs demands back then.
Surpassed by PNDManager, which is spot on.
Having used different appstores with Android now, in my opinion PNDManager is way better and uncluttered...
So to be honest, for me, our appstore has now surpassed the one from Android.
Yes, the Pandora still has ways to go to be a bit more userfriendly - but it's not especially hard to use it either and with each update and various contributions from the community, it gets better and better.
Android was successfull because Google pushed it onto every smartphone out there. I still prefer Maemo for various reasons, but with Google and quite a lot of money pushed into it, it's easy to make it popular.
The simplifications of Android also lead to a lot of things you can't do or that are hard to figure out for anyone who knows around PCs.
For example, when I was using Android on the Pandora, I had the following issues:
1. I didn't manage to find out where the heck Android saves configs of my programs. I browsed through the whole file system but didn't find the log file while World Of Goo crashes (and according to the website, there should be one in the appdata directory). I tried searching for 30 minutes, then gave up... if I can't find them in the filesystem, I don't know where else the settings could be.
2. How can I try an app without installing it? I found no way to do that. I hate installing and uninstalling stuff just to try it out (especially as I don't know where it saves its data, and it might leave trash on my system). This is easily available on the Pandora and one feature I'm missing on Android.
3. Is there even a (legal!) way to download games I bought from the Android appstore on my Pandora and install it? I like browsing for new stuff on my desktop PC, download it, put it on my card and try it out. Easily done on the Pandora - how can I do that on Android?
4. How do I use stuff like DVB-T or UMTS Sticks on Android? Sure, it also needs some fiddling on the Pandora, but I haven't found any way to even do that on Android...
Android might be simpler and suited for mass use who only want to use it as phone and to run apps... but in my opinion, it restricts me A LOT.
Especially the missing feature to browse and download games on the appstore to put them on the SD Card and run them right away without installing them to the system is a real showstopper for me.
Of course, that might be just me, but if I browse and download 30 games to try, the least thing I want to do is install and remove each one as well. Just takes too much time.
A2000
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Funny that filesystems once have been an analogy to a bureau: files, drawers, desktop and so on. They were made to help people used to pen and paper to accustom to computers.
Nowadays that analogy seems to ceased working. Is there an analogy for having no (access to the) filesystem? Only being able to work on a document with the very app it was created with in the first place?
Yes, one has to be a "techie" to get full benefits from ones pandora but that is unavoidable as it is a versatile gadget!
If you just want to run some emulators and games the pnd system is great but maybe shipping the pandora with a small SD card ready to use with the needed directory structure and PNDManager set up would be better. And even then the roms have to be copied to ... the filesystem.
partly ninja'd by ED
Nowadays that analogy seems to ceased working. Is there an analogy for having no (access to the) filesystem? Only being able to work on a document with the very app it was created with in the first place?
Yes, one has to be a "techie" to get full benefits from ones pandora but that is unavoidable as it is a versatile gadget!
If you just want to run some emulators and games the pnd system is great but maybe shipping the pandora with a small SD card ready to use with the needed directory structure and PNDManager set up would be better. And even then the roms have to be copied to ... the filesystem.
partly ninja'd by ED
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Mr_Loon
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Load up the Play Store, press the Android Menu Button (Right Nub Down IIRC), Select My Apps, this then shows a list of apps purchased / downloaded via the Play store for all your Android devices. Using this method I was able to get stuff I'd paid for on my phone installed to the Pandora.
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I meant from the Desktop PC, not on any phone or the Pandora.
As mentioned, I love to browse through games on my desktop PC (more comfortable), download them onto my SD Card, put it into the system and play right away without installing them. Then I remember which games are good and simply delete the other ones from the SD Card and that's it.
This is so awesome with the Pandora system we have.
On Android, do I really have to do this all on my Android device? And I do have to install and deinstall every game to try it?
That's a no-go for me, now that I'm used to the comfortable Pandora-way.
diligentcircle
Well-Known Member
Jesus Christ, people think file management is a "techie" thing? That doesn't make any sense! You do file management on a regular basis on a regular PC! I fully understood management by the time I was 10 or so, without ever even trying to learn.
Not to mention that file management with a file manager is a noob's metaphor that we all use because it's convenient. If someone came up to me calling himself a "techie" because he can do file management, I would laugh at them (unless it's a family member or friend, then I would tactfully as I can tell them that I don't consider file management a "techie" thing).
Not to mention that file management with a file manager is a noob's metaphor that we all use because it's convenient. If someone came up to me calling himself a "techie" because he can do file management, I would laugh at them (unless it's a family member or friend, then I would tactfully as I can tell them that I don't consider file management a "techie" thing).
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levi
Still fresh, damnit!
Judging by some filesystems I've come across on end users hard discs, yes, arranging your files so you can find them again does indeed seem to be a task beyond some people.
pmprog
DNF (Did Not Finish)
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What?! Of course it is... There's all sorts of things ... like they have names, and urm, sizes - they all come in different sizes!! But they're all the same shape!? (Though some of them do look funny) How does that work??
Seriously though, I hate this "We have to search for everything" business. I know damn well where I put everything, quit clogging up my machine with indicies I'll never use :angry:
Mr_Loon
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My personal fave, from years of helping PC numpties, is the save everything on the desktop approach to file management.
ExquisiteCorpse
Member
Exactly what ED says.
Android as a consumption operating system is great. But you're starting to see users in trendy starbucks bringing in bluetooth keyboards for their ipads. Why?
Android is a restrictive OS and totally crap on a device like the pandora.
Mini menu is pretty awesome but could be better to stream line process's. I'd love to figure out how to run a script so i can just hit some keys to play music in a directory and hit another key to stop it and another one to skip etc.
Android as a consumption operating system is great. But you're starting to see users in trendy starbucks bringing in bluetooth keyboards for their ipads. Why?
Android is a restrictive OS and totally crap on a device like the pandora.
Mini menu is pretty awesome but could be better to stream line process's. I'd love to figure out how to run a script so i can just hit some keys to play music in a directory and hit another key to stop it and another one to skip etc.
pmprog
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You want some background music in MiniMenu? I could probably look into that for you, if you want. It wouldn't be an "official" MiniMenu patch, that'd be up to Skeezix, but I've hacked around enough to know how to put something like that in ^_^ Would you want it based off the original MiniMenu, or my current version - which lets you toggle WiFi and edit connections from the "Select" menu?
And this is why my pandora wins over any Android, iOS or *shudder* Windows mobile device out there.
I don't see how that's terribly different from browsing to play.google.com/store on your pc, looking around, hitting download on the things you want, selecting which of possibly many android devices you want to install onto and then playing them immediately after they finish downloading to the device itself. The download speeds on mobile devices tends to be slower than on desktops, but you don't have to swap cards or know where to put the files.
When you're done testing, you remove the apps you want from the apps list. On my phone I counted three button pushes to get to the point where I could uninstall stuff plus two more for each application (select and confirm). That's not any harder than navigating to /pandora/menu and deleting things, especially since you then have to go find the appdata folder (which may not match exactly the name of the program you were using) and delete that separately. On the plus side, with pnds you can be pretty sure that you've removed everything. Not so much with android.
Actually, just booted up android on the pandora and removing apps is definitely a bigger pain than on my phone, but that's a matter of which menu programs we are using.
All that said, I like pnd.
Ah, you can actually download and install stuff automatically from your PC to the phone?
Didn't know that. That's similar then, good
Hm.... sounds like it could be fun if you keep logged onto your google account at work and evil co-workers come around while you're not at your PC...
Didn't know that. That's similar then, good
Hm.... sounds like it could be fun if you keep logged onto your google account at work and evil co-workers come around while you're not at your PC...
WizardStan
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Yeah, this is a new thing with the Play Store. You can remotely install and even uninstall apps from the devices you've registered with your account.Ah, you can actually download and install stuff automatically from your PC to the phone?
Didn't know that. That's similar then, good
Unfortunately once you've installed an app it is forever listed in "My Apps", even after you've uninstalled it from every device it was installed to. I've got several dozen games that I just randomly tried one weekend cluttering up my list and I don't like that.
This drives me insane.
Not sure how new the remote install is since I've been doing it for at least a year, probably longer.
lordbobjones
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One of the observations I have made is that most Android based products come without root access. So you have to manually root them to get superuser access. So by design they are functionally limited. I have an android based phone and tablet (both now rooted) This is true of Apple based stuff too. I appreciate the flexibility that you get with the Pandora OS and the ability for new users with limited knowledge to learn something new.
ibisum
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I quite thing that PNDManager is newbie friendly, if you explain to them that the Pandora is a real computer, and they can just use PNDManager to handle the whole 'whats on my machine' aspect, then .. it works. But that is the niche in which Pandora sits; and actually in my opinion, it does a good job. I think if PNDManagers' children/offspring running on Pandora2.0 happens, its going to be quite competitive/positioned, at least, for market growth.
The App Store wars are on. The thing is, soon enough we realize that *anyone* can operate their own App Store, these days..
The App Store wars are on. The thing is, soon enough we realize that *anyone* can operate their own App Store, these days..
So oarias, you say you're a new Pandora owner... Is this from first batch or some other ordering option? I haven't been keeping up so much on the process of the first batch being produced (I haven't been lurking on the general forums, but have been checking the news forum every so often) but I haven't seen updates on it in about a month or longer. I just want to be told they're still being made and sent out to previous preorderers, because I'm pretty much one of the last ones to order that squeezed into the first batch. Could somebody please confirm this?
