TJFBryant
Island Man with Pandora in my pocket
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2003
- Messages
- 535
- Age
- 45
Initial Appearance:
DS like clamshell design, with the slightly larger midriff. Her bulkiness is still not even close to being unsightly. In fact, she's quite attractive. She's a bit of a exotic. Her smooth dark skin tone and curvey edges is something back from the hay day of gaming and PC computing. She has a great weight to her, solid....yet... fragile. Once opening your "box". Its the most beautiful sight I have seen in the nearly 2 years we've all waited for. The Nubs, D-Pad, Keyboard and LCD... wow what a sight. The feel is smooth and tactile. In terms of blemishes or deformities due to construction or manufacturing, I see none. The only thing I found that others have mentioned has been the slight bowing of the lower middle part of the LCD frame casing. But its so slight.... its virtually unnoticeable unless you were looking for it. Overall, a pretty solid design and finish. (8/10)
The Control:
Without going into too much detail I'll keep this brief. I've used all controls so far within a gaming format; From running PSX4ALL (awesome) to Quake 2 (sweet) to typing out a few words via Xchat. The Nubs, D-pad, Keyboard, and "XYZ" buttons are some of the most responsive controls I've had the privilege of using. The shoulder buttons seems to be the only hiccup in terms of tactile correct responses. They feel hard to press or like there is too much resistance until switch activation. Overall, IMO... the Pandora has perfect controls for retro gaming AND navigating the OS. (9/10)
The LCD
The are no words to describe it. When compared to my PSP, Dingoo, Wiz, DS, Ipod Touch 2nd gen, Gp2x. It has a crisp, clear vivid display I've only seen on higher end electronics. When I get Gnome Player to play Avatar or an old school Indiana Jones movie such as Raider of the Lost Ark, I get lost in its full screen capability. Wow guys... The OP team....Bravo. You've made my dreams come true with a beautiful media LCD. Thank you
Overall: one of the shining stars of this device. (9/10)
The Software
What can I say its getting better and better. I won't comment on the firmware because the bugs are being handled and fixed with each passing week thanks to bug reports from this community and EvilDragon's unrelenting day and night work to get it to perfection (not to mention other members of the community who are helping as well. I've installed Hot Fix 2 and have found significant improvements over the initial OS install. I've used PSX4all, Quake 2, NEO GEO, and VBA emulators. Franky, playing Metal Gear VR missions and Fear Effect with sound in playable fashion almost had me in slight nostaglic tears. I haven't even begun to tap into her full potential. Everyday seems brighter and brighter. (7.5/10) Always improving.
The End Result
The Pandora is a beautiful piece of hardware. To put it simply I would have waited another 2 years to receive one. I have been with this community since the first few months its been up and running. I've seen the devices such as the GP32 leave me with that sense of nostalgia of when I was just a small child playing a coin op Pac Man game or dropping hundreds of coin on Galaga and Dig Dug. Now the Pandora firmly brings all that to life again for me. Its sincere Retro Action without compromise. Its a device that carries with it a powerful multimedia experience with Exaile and Gnome Player. Yet, it can settle you down so you can get to work on your workload with Abiword and Gnumeric.
This device is community driven. She has heart. She has soul. She was made with Blood, sweat and tears in only "2 Months". The Open Pandora Team must be proud. They need to be shown our thanks by those who have had the honor and privilege to own one and be apart of this long journey. Yet, even so, this journey has only started for the end user. The Pandora community is growing. New greater things are coming software is popping up day after day.
From now until Open Pandora ends its commitment to community and improving open source hardware, I will always be a strong supporter and representative of The Pandora Device and its OP members. Overall (8/10)
