Pandora - A Review

[Sugar_Kane]

This post has been promoted to an article

 

[mahousaru]

Grats on getting your pandy and nice review!

 

[DavidBowman]

Good review, I enjoyed that.


I just got mine yesterday as well, and a lot of what you wrote in your review, I would have written in mine.


When I do eventually write my review, I'll be trying to write about things that haven't gotten a lot of attention yet.


It is most certainly surreal though, is it not?

 

[r00tw00t]

Nice review, thanks

 

[Bosbeetle]

I agree with this review.

 

[mrdremel]

Ok so here comes my review..................................


CASTILLO DE GREYSKULL!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ae2No7bprmY?feature=oembed

Yep, it really is a joy to play games on the Pandora. And I can relate to the "need to get home after work" thing B)


It is a real shame that my Pandora went back for repairs 10 days ago.....I miss that little machine....I really hope that Jacquelyn's remark about a return time of 7 to 14 days was accurate :unsure:

 

[Coldbird]

A very nice review indeed.


About your problem... it's easily reversible... if you have a PND file which used to work before but doesnt anymore... just remove its appdata directory from pandora/appdata and the PND gets reset to its original settings it had the first time you launched it.


Maybe you screwed up some setting, this however will undo them.


Keep in mind though that savegames, etc. might be saved in your appdata folder too, so make sure to back the folder up before removing it from the appdata folder.

 

[Caine]

I found that the actual size of the device is hard to appreciate until you actually have one in front of you. It seems to me that it is roughly the width of a game controller, with the dpad, buttons, and nubs all perfectly spaced. It has a reassuring weight to it too, not too heavy, not too light, and the plastic feels nice and robust. It really is a joy to hold.

I have to fully agree here. Even though I knew the size all too well and saw it on many pictures and videos, it is still surprisingly small once you get a hold of it for the first time.

The hinge on my unit lets me angle the screen any way I want right now, but I think this will loosen over time, however I have found that it IS more natural to have the Pandora open fully when holding it in the hands. The only time I want to have it half way is when it's resting on the table.

I tend to use it quite a bit during meetings and holding it in my hands there just feels wrong (it looks like you are gaming instead of taking notes). So far the hinge still holds halfway for me, but I expect it to loosen as well.

Software wise; I really feel childishly excited about the fact that this has a full desktop environment

It's really awesome, isn't it. Most mobile applications these days are being dumbed down to adapt to the lack of input devices. The Pandora truly offers a good desktop experience out of the box. I would say this is one of its greatest features.

I don't think anyone is going to have an issue here.

I agree, but I'm not one to notice ghosting very much. If you are extremely picky about ghosting the screen might bother you as it's there when you look for it. To me, the screen looks awesome.

My shoulder buttons are perfect too, I have found myself clicking them just for the hell of it, because the feeling and sound when they click is really satisfying.

Glad to hear yours are fine. My only real complaint about the Pandora so far is the quality of my shoulder buttons. I did manage to make my left one click (it didn't before) but there just isn't enough travel. It's good enough to not ship it back but bad enough to not play shoulder button intensive games (or use mini-menu for that matter).

I have found that I am feeling genuinely excited to get home and start using it again, and the day can't go fast enough.

Same here. Enjoying my daily commute even more than I did with my DS.


Good review, it matches my own experiences.

 

[meandu229]

Nice Review I find the worst thing about my pandora is choice,


Do I continue Crash banicoot 2 on psx


Do I get through a couple more levels of supertux/gianas return


Do I waste some time in MAME on SF2


or many other games I have on the unit. glad your enjoying your unit ive had mine about 8 months now and it does get even better

 

[Prometheus]

Interesting review, Sugar_Kane. I do find it odd how many shared experiences there seem to be, when reading people's first impressions like this - for example, I can identify with what you've said about the nubs (although I expected them to be good for mousing, as I'm used to using a TrackPoint on my main computer), the screen, the looking forward to getting to use it again, and pretty much everything else, along with the surreality that David Bowman mentioned.


In particular, the part about it feeling "right" to play these old games on it struck a chord - it feels almost as if they were designed for the Pandora, doesn't it? I suppose it's only to be expected though, since its controls were pretty much designed for all of these games.

 

[craigix]

The Pandora is the only portable machine I've ever enjoyed Amiga on.


Just wish I could find the time to get my 3 DVDs of ADF files on to an SD card... or two.


Wow... that day I don't think I'll leave my bed. What a retro trip that will be.


Do the crack screens entertain others as much as they do me? When I was a child almost every game I owned


was of course copied and shared in the playground. The crack screens and music really take me back to


being in my bedroom, surrounded by school mates and trying the latest games, you always got the crack screen first


to tease you.

 

[mahousaru]

Interesting review, Sugar_Kane. I do find it odd how many shared experiences there seem to be, when reading people's first impressions like this - for example, I can identify with what you've said about the nubs (although I expected them to be good for mousing, as I'm used to using a TrackPoint on my main computer), the screen, the looking forward to getting to use it again, and pretty much everything else, along with the surreality that David Bowman mentioned.

I fell in love with the nub mouse immediately.


Sometimes I give these intro IT classes to our post grad mature students and some of them have a horrible time with double clicking. I keep in contact with some of them and bumped into one in the pub. He tried out the right nub and thought it was brill.


Going to show it to one of our accessibility users who has issues with quick twitch motions, double clicking can be very painful, I wonder what he will make of the right nub

 

[TrashyMG]

I didn't think I would like the nub mouse mode, but when I got it, it works very natural to me. sometimes I forget I have a touch screen.

 

[EvilDragon]

Nice review, thanks


I'm always happy to read stuff like that, it really helps keeping motivated (and there were times where that really way hard )


Glad to see guys liking what we're doing

 

[- Theo -]

Great review, thanks, I agree with everything (apart from the beef top hat probably).

Do the crack screens entertain others as much as they do me? When I was a child almost every game I owned


was of course copied and shared in the playground. The crack screens and music really take me back to


being in my bedroom, surrounded by school mates and trying the latest games, you always got the crack screen first


to tease you.

Yeah, it's a blast from the past (except for me it's Atari ST, but same story).

 

[SirDregan]

Great review, thanks, I agree with everything (apart from the beef top hat probably).

Do the crack screens entertain others as much as they do me? When I was a child almost every game I owned


was of course copied and shared in the playground. The crack screens and music really take me back to


being in my bedroom, surrounded by school mates and trying the latest games, you always got the crack screen first


to tease you.

Yeah, it's a blast from the past (except for me it's Atari ST, but same story).

For me, it's C64

 

[Eridger]

Genesis for me.


Damn you guys are old.


Actually I've been looking around for some interesting C64/Amiga games myself.

 

[Mr_Loon]

...


Just wish I could find the time to get my 3 DVDs of ADF files on to an SD card... or two.


...

Steady on Craig, people will start thinking the Pandora is some kind of piracy device.


It's been a real nostalgia trip for me too to see the old ST & Amiga crack screens, some real works of art there.


@ Sugar Kane, nice review, great to hear so many positive thoughts from those receiving their units.


Not sure I should ask but WTF is a beef top hat?

 

[Anihil8ion2199]

Excellent review! Cant wait till I get mine...

 

[Sugar_Kane]

It's a top hat made entirely of beef, we all have them, don't we?