Pandora 2 specifications and price

[FaeMinx]

I'm just going to make the assumption here that if Android is a given - as has been strongly implied, then surely all those components a smartphone is required to have in order to make full use of Android and the Play store will also be required of the P2?


Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk 2

 

[ekianjo]

The os preference is just what most of the active forum members suggest as the killer feature. I personally would have bought and prefered it if it came with android standard. The software catalog is larger and objectively better in general.

I would not have bought it if it did not run Linux. I suspect that holds for a large portion of its current customers, but I don't have any hard data on that.

Same here, If you want hard data, you should start a poll "Would you have bought the P1 if it did not have Linux?"

 

[Caine]

Same here, If you want hard data, you should start a poll "Would you have bought the P1 if it did not have Linux?"

I recall such polls in the past, but I didn't bother to look for them.

 

[SNESFAN]

Not going to get into another android vs linux discussion. You took the most superficial part of my arguement and focusing on that.


Not even going to reply to which is better to prevent a flamewar. Each catalog has their advantages.


The point was to say that the os might not be the most important feature as long as the desired funtionality is there. My point is the defineing features of the pandora were and are argueably hardware related not mostly os related.


When it comes to hardware, the pandora spirit is best of the best from the very beginning of the project.

 

[theweirdn8]

1st concern is price.


All of the options seem a bit far too high.

 

[Wootson]

Although I think the Pandora is still a great device, I do think the current price (440 euro) is too high. Put in another 100 euro and you will have the latest and greatest in mobile technology. Better hardware and more profits (for company survival) means the price will be even higher. I cannot speak for anyone else, but I would never pay so much for ANY niche product. When I would have the choice between a high end estabilished product/company and some obscure device/company, I would always choose the first. Especially when their product would be cheaper. The market for selling (ultra) high end hardware is pretty limited, and a Pandora 2 for example will only have a tiny-tiny fraction of that market. You cannot expect to sell even 10.000 units, unless your device is of uber quality and gets all hyped up by some estabilished websites.


Also: let's not forget those cheap (but certainly not crappy) Asian handhelds that are sold for about 75 to 150 euro, and have so much to offer. That was also the reason why I bought my GP2X F-100 and the GP2X Wiz: so much for so little.


When I hear a possible price of 699 US Dollars, I'm concluding that OpenPandora wants to place itself at the very top of the mobile market. If that is what they want: fine. But don't expect to sell many devices unless you have a few things to offer that the competition has not. Extra battery life is not going to cut it when the competition can offer millions of applications, 1080p Full HD video recording, a 10 megapixel photo camera, quad-core CPU, PlayStation Vita-like graphics, etcetera.


What I always understood from many posts of Pandora owners is that they are most proud of the battery life, the clamshell design, the keyboard and gaming controls and the allround openness of the software side from the system. These are the main reasons the system is still selling today, and these are the things that I would first invest my money in to improve them even more.


Personally I don't care for Full HD (1920x1080) video resolution when something like an emulated Dreamcast game can only run natively in 640x480p. There are not many screens that can upscale that good unless you have some very advanced hardware. Even then, you are going to have serious trouble running the game because your CPU/GPU can't emulate it good enough. Most Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games are only in 720p, so what do you even need Full HD for? It is an absolute overkill for such a tiny screen. Even a Samsung Galaxy S3 has "only" 720p.


Maybe some would need it for watching 10GB Blu-ray rips...?


Handheld devices from GamePark, Yinlips, Dingoo, JXD, Gemei, that is what market the Pandora is originating from. You are going to have a very very hard time to sell a similar thing at 699 US Dollar. Most people use their Pandora for emulation gaming and these kind of devices are what you are up against.


Don't get me wrong: I love my Pandora. But when I wouldn't have had the device and had 440 euro today, I would buy something else for the money.

 

[Batou456]

As been brought up... dual booting android + linux... and even as far as hot swapping between OS's like is available now, but more polished.

I don't think anyone had argued against dual booting, but the specter of it being exclusively Android without GNU/Linux. Some of us need things that aren't available in a gilded cage, and do I really need to drag Minecraft into this to emphasize Java is not an efficient language?

I think stuff like gps haptic feedback and accelorometer and stuff of that nature should be a standard because anything feaseable that's in a comparable device would just add to the list of capabilities and make it competitive. It would also sway a lot of people in arguements of which is better, components being cheap enough to include but not include them because some don't find the need for it isn't the spirit in the pandora...

As I recall the reason that special Smart Phone components weren't used last time around was due to the excessive price of those components at that point.

That said, did you forget a comma between GPS and haptic feedback? And what form of haptic feedback are you thinking of, and for that matter how strong of a vibro motor?


I'm going to tend to agree that adding a gyroscope+accelerometer package, and a GPS antenna would be useful _if_ they don't respresent an excessive cost.


Based on my experience with the 3DS and Star Fox, a gyroscope+accelerometer package can be useful a second joystick bound to the same input. Why? While the gyroscope isn't quite as good for wild maneuvers as a stick, it tends to be a lot easier to handle fine aiming portion of controlling your characters movements as called for in flight sims and shooters.


Enough people have bought and figured out how to use a seperate Bluetooth GPS unit, an argument can be made for making a more integrated ability to use a Pandora Mk. 2 with OpenStreetMap.org or the Android equivalent.


I don't really see a point to adding pinhole camera(s) though unless people want to try their hand at the Qt gesture recognition packages that could use such a thing. Was there and other Smart Phone components you were thinking of given WiFi and Bluetooth are pretty much a given?

 

[SNESFAN]

@Jebe- think you quoted me out of context on the first one, I was demonstrating stuff that makes the pandora unique, the possibility of it being seen as "just another android handheld" and for $700 was being used as an arguement against the price and featuring android as an option. I was pointing out how that won't be the case, and how truly unique the Pandora is and will continue to be., the comment was directed mainly at wootson

As been brought up... dual booting android + linux... and even as far as hot swapping between OS's like is available now, but more polished. THAT is one of those killer features. Something no other device does. {plus stuff similar to} That is what is going to demand a premium pricetag.

To fully integrate both OS's as a dual boot would be great. As exophase was saying, if you could swap between the two on the fly without a reboot would be even better. A .pnd is a good solution to get your hands wet, but for both to share the same kernel and just swap userlands on the fly... man.. that would just kick ass! Just think of all the things you could do! You could run android exclusive apps inside the linux environment, you could develop and test your android apps without doing much swapping. You could run standard linux tools in a more mobile/touch centric GUI all without rebooting. One "UI" for sitting at your desk, another for when you want to just pull it out of your pocket for a couple min to check email etc... That ubuntu + android thing gave me a jaw dropper on all the possibilities. If we can get that, or something like that .. maybe with angstrom + android... the possibilities are almost endless there.


I did mean for a comma, sorry, I typed the first half of that on my phone, and added the second part when I got to my computer. itty bitty keyboard... gotta love it. Anyway, yea haptic feedback could be as simple as a miniature electric motor with a off balance weight to create the vibration, or something as heavy duty as some form of electric piston, or small as a tiny vibration like in some smartphones... I think a tiny motor would work just fine though, 2 would be cool to really feel some of those games that have rumble packs. Something similar to what's in the caanoo for example would be great.


I have mixed feelings for integrated cameras, I don't personally ever use mine on my phone except for barcode scanning of things at the store I want to go back home and get a better price on. The only practical use I personally have for a camera on a handheld is for a front facing one for a webcam for video chat (YMMV) face unlock/gestures seems gimmicky to me, but like I was saying before each person may not use every feature, but everyone uses some.

 

[ekianjo]

Most Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games are only in 720p, so what do you even need Full HD for? It is an absolute overkill for such a tiny screen.

720p in display, but actually most Xbox360 an PS3 games run at lower resolutions and are upscaled to 720p or 1080p. These machines are not fit to display full 720p high 3d graphics. There are a few exceptions, but most of the games can only run a decent framerates at lower resolution on these machines.

 

[2bit]

Please use one of these controls instead of the old Keyboard:

I got one of these and it's smaller and more complete than the actual OP-Controls.


Works well too.

Whats it called I think that would be handy thanks in advance

 

[Exophase]

720p in display, but actually most Xbox360 an PS3 games run at lower resolutions and are upscaled to 720p or 1080p. These machines are not fit to display full 720p high 3d graphics. There are a few exceptions, but most of the games can only run a decent framerates at lower resolution on these machines.

http://forum.beyond3...ead.php?t=46241


1280x720 is a very common render target on PS3 and XBox 360, although some are a little lower or a little higher. A small number are 1080p.


Pandora 2's GPU will probably not be as powerful as PS3's or XBox 360's but it should at least be a lot more capable than what's in the current Pandora, which has a limited amount of fillrate/pixel shading capabilities for even 800x480.

 

[Klumpen]

Please use one of these controls instead of the old Keyboard:

I got one of these and it's smaller and more complete than the actual OP-Controls.


Works well too.

Whats it called I think that would be handy thanks in advance

"Rii Mini"


Normal: http://www.amazon.de...44184754&sr=8-4


Bluetooth: http://www.amazon.de...44184754&sr=8-1


New Layout: http://www.amazon.de...44184754&sr=8-2


Great devices. For me, it is still easier to write with this, than with the OP-Controls


and of course a touchpad is way better then a nub for mousestuff.

 

[Garrett]

I've already set aside a Pandora 2 fund & I'd gladly stump up the estimated price (any ideas of a UK price Craig.. exchange rates and all?) 2013 can't come soon enough for me as I'm currently Pandora less (had to sell my unit to help finance a new phone)


To be quite honest all it need have for me would be a full speed Dreamcast emu..

 

[jp10558]

I bought the original Open Pandora because I want to support truly open hardware / software stacks. I don't like the walled gardens of iOS or most Android I suffer - the "chinese knockoffs" with root are OK, but not great, often don't have or have a hacked on Play store. I don't want to be "breaking" the device to use it.That all said, I also bought it primarily for gaming. The screen isn't big enough for real work for me, and I really don't need super portable - where I do, I need mobile data, not wifi. I don't really want another mobile data device than my phone either - don't want the monthly bill. Most people I know that I've demoed the Pandora to are excited about gaming and not a ultra-portable computer. Tablets have captured most of that market (sadly IMO, but whatever). As a portable gaming device, $700 is insane. The PS Vita is half that. If OP2 is an Android device, focused on gaming at least as much as OP1 - it needs to compete with the $200 or so nich / chinese knockoff devices. I can see (maybe) getting to $499 like OP1 *at most* - the price really ought to come down. I know many in the forum use it as a computer, but that market has to be much smaller than even the gaming market - and people paying $700 are also going to be looking at iPad + keyboard or Microsoft Surface I'll bet!

 

[jp10558]

To follow up on one point - the OP1 price, I was willing to pay $350ish for the hardware and software as described. I added $150 for OSS, not having to root or jailbreak it to use it (I.e. using it legitimately), and having a "real computer" for bragging. If Android is the first class option (and Angstrom with full backwards compatibility with OP1 software is not) or if the device is primarily touch screen and no keyboard / physical controls / not clamshell, tiny so even harder to use... *for me* it's become a somewhat specialist Android tablet - and $220 is about the MAX I'd pay for that what with Google Nexus @ $199 and great chinese knock offs for $220. I'd maybe add in $25 for gaming controls and $25 for a real keyboard. I just think that what I hear about the OP2 is even harder to see why I (or anyone I know) would *ever* pay the sort of prices Craig is talking about. Most people I've talked too love the OP1 and think it's great, but not for $500... Hell, they're thinking more like $99... The price points don't match up IMO.

 

[Tenka]

I've finally finished reading this thread, it was pretty cool. I'm pretty disappointed at the moment to hear that the Pandora 2 will probably only have µSD slots, but maybe by the time I can buy one those will be fancy enough for me to feel like getting. I'm not going to migrate my Pandora SD cards over to the Pandora 2 anyways, they will continue to be used in the Pandora. But it is kind of a funny feature that the Pandora will be forwards compatible with Pandora 2 SD cards while the Pandora 2 won't be natively backwards compatible. I promise I'm not complaining, I like things that are silly.


I'll say a personal preference too though, if it were going to have both µSD and SD then I really wouldn't like them both to be external, side by side as a few have suggested, in fact that would kind of kill me. My preferences are OCD sometimes, but imagine a large human breast beside a very small breast, on the same body I mean.


http://www.macromeme.com/cat/organizing-things.jpg


And while rumble spinners were really fun in Playstation 2 controllers, does anyone else feel concerned about that rattling apart a self contained gaming computer? Oh and the iControlPad2 having two shoulder buttons rather than four makes me worry the Pandora 2 will stick with that too. I think I hope for as many buttons everywhere as possible.


Last bit, I like Foxgod, so I don't want to belittle his opinions or anything, but if he's still keeping up with this: I don't think you've thought out your suggestion to drop the internal microphone and use instead a USB microphone as much as you should. In my head I drew a picture of someone standing outside a restaurant with their stolen Pandora 2 prototype, holding it naturally in both hands while their USB attached microphone hangs between their knees below it. They've wrapped up the cable a bit to keep it from snagging around the legs of chairs, but it's pretty heavy on their Pandora 2's USB port. Oh wait I remember better now, you were talking about speakers, not a microphone. This isn't even an edit I just don't want to rewrite that. But stereo speakers dangling below your Pandora sounds even sillier anyways. Also I hate headphones, they keep me from hearing the rest of the world.

 

[klapse]

Pandora 2 wishlist:


everything exactly like pandora 1 but


- new fast SoC


- 1GB ram for those beastly webbrowsers/sites


- louder speakers (just add more? resonant cavity tech? hard to do, i know)


- HDMI out


- slightly lighter touch on the keyboard but ..


I keep trying to imagine a better layout for the keyboard but It is so damn good.. I could type well with keys spaced even closer, giving room for another two columns (dedicated esc key)

 

[Dark_Link]

How about this a wifi chip that gets above 56 KB/s

 

[_wb_]

I just tested the wifi on my Pandora. I downloaded a 18.4MB compressed movie over http in 53 seconds (341KB/s). It can probably do more, because this was done while notaz' cpu stress test was running. Also I'm not sure what bandwidth limits are configured on the wifi AP and the server - it could very well not be my wifi chip that is causing the speed limit here.


So I don't think the problem is with the wifi chip itself - maybe on some Pandoras the antenna isn't well connected or something like that?

 

[Maquis196]

I have seen scp speeds up to 570k or so on mine. Certainly not quick, but quick enough to do most things without a hitch (ISO's are best copied over using the cards directly though lol).


All the different specs for p2 look awesome, me, I just wish my keyboard had a backlight on it, my laptop is alienware so in the dark its great seeing the keys. Yes I know I can mod my p1 to get it. Just be a lovely cosmetic touch that can be disabled or enabled in software (dont want yet another switch on the box).