Post picks and first impressions of your shiny new Pandora here!


^Felt a bit guilty :(


Decided to do a video. But before you get excited, see below!


Disclaimer:-


I've not really made many videos before (except a couple of arcade ones from Manitou, Colorado last year on holiday) - and I've not tried with my Galaxy S before, but I've attempted to make a small Pandora video in 720p to at least prove I have one. And with the carry case as well! Turns out it's not that easy one-handed! So kudos to ED for his amazing videos :lol:


And please ignore the crap commentary - it wasn't rehearsed, but I don't like silent videos B)


Anyways - it's currently uploading to Youtube - maybe 40 mins to go. Will post the link here when it's ready.


If you wanna see my crap camera skills in action in a classic arcade - then here is one of my Classic Manitou Arcade videos (only 480p)


/plug

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rwcZbkP2Fkg?feature=oembed
 
@gren Thanks for the video, the one handed operation wasnt bad! I love shiny new Pandoras, and I'm sure others do too! I promise to make a video too when I get mine, it's at the end of batch 1, but as long as things keep going like they are it won't be that bad...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think I might make a video of my own; I'll probably aim it at those who aren't familiar with the Pandora.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just did a small review of my refurbished unit bought on eBay in that thread, if anyone's interested.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Craigix said:
we don't use them anymore. Too many fell off.
Click to expand...

Really mine has them and I only got it on Friday? Plus they appear to be glued on... With a really soft sticky glue, one actually has a fingerprint on it... I wonder if it's Craigs... Probably some DNA on it... I could clone my own Craig! Beget hide the booze first though.
 
Stustaff said:
Really mine has them and I only got it on Friday? Plus they appear to be glued on... With a really soft sticky glue, one actually has a fingerprint on it... I wonder if it's Craigs... Probably some DNA on it... I could clone my own Craig! Beget hide the booze first though.
Click to expand...

They are not glued on, the pads were just sticky. We only just stopped using them in the last 100 or so.
 
I tried doing a video. I spent like 2 hours with one hand dropping the fecking camera, spending too long getting an app started...not showing stuff properly etc.


Then WHEN I GOT IT ALL RIGHT YOUTUBE SAID MY VID WAS TOO LONG!!!


So I respectfully resigned. I've now got Quake 2 and 3 working, hope to get herroes 2 working soon so I'll do a vid soon.


It certainly won't be no 720p shindig.
 
Got mine yesterday.


1. right shoulder button is rubbish


2. the case has a lump in it because someone overtightened the screw and its bumped out the plastic ( someone on the assembly line needs firing for this imo, also where is final inspection? )


3. the screen IS blurry when playing fast games, almost as bad as the psp imo im very dissapointed in this as a i thought the screen would be very very good.


4. the nubs do not centre when you let them go, which i found pretty poor.


5. the stylus on mine was sticking out, no wonder why when you push it in its a complete bast to get back out


6. probably have to wait another 6 months to get a replacement lol.


Thanks
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Re: rubber caps

Craigix said:
we don't use them anymore. Too many fell off.
Click to expand...
Odd. Mine has them. When did you stop using them?


Anyhow, here's my review, after using it for 4 days.


From a lefty's point of view, using Shift-Drag to move windows is awkward since I use the stylus with my left hand (but oddly enough I use a computer mouse with my right). I'm glad I was able to reconfigure the Shift-Drag feature to another key to move windows around. The right shoulder button maps as either Alt or Ctrl, which I can use.


Other than that, there aren't enough donkeys in the world to fully express how the Pandora truly kicks ass. I was reading others' reviews and was gradually getting turned off, but decide to stick with it, if only to support the project. People were describing stuff like wobbly shoulder buttons, sticky "A" buttons, faulty "Del" buttons, shoddy WiFi, and I thought "oh well, I'll try to tolerate it, or sell it on eBay if I can't tolerate it". But when I got mine and inspected it, tried it for a few hours, I found it was physically perfect! Buttons feel fine, nothing is spongy or sticky or wobbly. The display is sharp and bright (so bright indeed that I actually prefer to dim it a few notches down to conserve battery). Thumb typing on the keyboard is comfortable enough for a short email, but maybe not for typing a review! ;) Like many have mentioned, my stylus was stuck inside there. Turns out I noticed the "large" end of the stylus (as opposed to the sharp pointing end) was rubbing and sticking. A little bit of wobbling and prying, some rubbing and fiddling in and out of the Pandora's stylus holder, and about a day later, it behaves as expected. The shoulder buttons seem to get in the way when I'm holding it playing an action game. That's just my big hands, and I'm sure I'll figure out a different way to hold it that won't hover around those buttons. The hinge is fine at just about any angle, although I find it most comfortable completely open flat. I am happily surprised I enjoy using it like that. I'd rate the hardware 9/10. The only missing 1/10 would be mostly personal preference, or perhaps perception, or big hands.


I was under the impression that "low power" standby mode would last longer than it does. I like instant on (and it does rock my socks when I use it), but found out that my Pandora loses about 10% of its power overnight. Others have reported this as well, but it's not that much of an issue to me. Is the green power LED supposed to stay glowing very dimly in low power mode? People seem to shy away from doing a full shutdown due to boot time and nub calibration. Honestly, boot time is faster than I expected and my nubs don't seem to need recalibration at every boot. So I shut it down completely overnight and it doesn't seem to lose any power at all that way.


The good news is that the bad news is not that bad. My biggest problem lies mostly with the software side of things, and I fully expected this. And I know this is the only part that can be completely improved on with time, ans the Pandora evolves. The biggest issue I haven't yet found a workaround yet is that not all games and emulators seem to save their settings in the appdata folder. In Vice64 for instance, I like to start it up with an Epyx Fastload cartridge all the time. But it seems that no matter what I try, that setting does not stick across sessions. Conversely, most games and emulators do not start in the app's appdata folder, which means when you browse for which ROM to open, you start in /mnt/utmp/something and have to traverse a large chunk of the file system just to get to /mmc1blkwhatever/pandora/appdata/thisapp/thisrom.abc. This may just require some digging through miles and miles deep of forums.


Chromium is an awesome browser, except mine didn't seem to get on to certain https pages. I tried Firefox 3.6.12, and that worked.


As far as people being afraid of Linux, or command prompts, I'd like to provide a bit of reassurance and comfort. I haven't had the need to open a single command prompt for anything significant other than pinging a computer on my home network. My experience with PCs stems back from the MS DOS 2.x days, so I'm not afraid of command lines (although I'm not fond of some Linux command lines people just hand over to me, when they don't fully understand what each parameter does). It isn't simple as to configure as a Gameboy, but then again it's also not a UNIX server without a GUI.


On a sidenote, I installed the community codec thingy, and that went well. I've played MP3s, but haven't really cared to play movies yet. However, I have no idea how to tell what hotfix level I'm at. Do I assume Hotfix 4 is already installed?


PS: and yes, the contents of the box did smell a bit like cigarette smoke to me, but I'm very glad that was limited to the bags, it seems. My Pandora itself has no odor.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
sverm said:
Do I assume Hotfix 4 is already installed?
Click to expand...

Pretty sure it's not. Mine's from the same lot and I noticed some differences when I installed Hotfix 4 so I assume it was at a previous version out of the box.
 
After two years and a few months, a box arrived this morning.


I have my pandora.


I had started to lose a bit of enthusiasm as the time ticked on,


and as I got other gadgets to do the things I was planning to use


the pandora for


- an ipod touch (jailbroken to bluetooth tether my phone) to surf and ssh on


- a Wii (homebrew enabled) to play Mame, N64 and Amiga stuff on a big tv


- a usb enabled router (running ww-drt) to have an always on low power linux server running services


but, here I sit smiling with that warm feeling I had when I first


unwrapped the ZX Spectrum 48K a million years ago - something special is here.


No time to play yet tho - at work.


order date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:46:17 +0100 (BST)


queue estimate: 1400 - 1600 -> 950 - 1050 -> 750 - 850 over the two years


I'm glad I stuck with it. It's cool. It's something special.


ID.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

toastylynx
Yet Another First Impressions Review
Replies
11
Views
2K
Trezker
Trezker
Prometheus
User Reviews Aggregation Thread
2 3 4
Replies
60
Views
25K
klapse
klapse
L
"my Pandora Arrived Today" Threads
Replies
19
Views
3K
Mithrildor
M
Prometheus
Got My Pandora. First Impressions.
6 7 8
Replies
141
Views
18K
Sarlix
Sarlix
Azure
Are Some Of The First 105 Still Going To The Press?
2
Replies
32
Views
5K
Vlynndar
V
Back
Top