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


I got my Pandora 2 days ago, and I'm loving it. Due to work this week, I haven't had as much time as I would've liked to use it.


So far, it has already proven to be an amazing UMPC and portable game machine. With Firefox 4 beta loaded with my favorite extensions, I couldn't be happier. (It's great to have LastPass & Xmarks on this.) I have yet to use most of the Pandora's features, but wifi works great, even when using wifi from my rooted Evo phone. Music via Deadbeef is great. Zelda via Snes9x4p is fantastic. PandoraPanic! is a blast.


I'm really impressed with the layout, nub control, touch screen, etc.


Next is to get VNC going so that I can connect to my windows machine for Evernote & Dropbox access.


Thanks OP team, community, & all the developers!
 
Today I received my premium pandora (~13h ago), everything seems to be perfect (except L button - it pushes little harder, but I hope it will get better in time).


Thanks for everyone who made it possible!


P.S. if there is demand for crappy unboxing video, I can post one ;)
 
Trip said:
Any differences between the two units hailrazer? Screen clarity/colour etc.?
Click to expand...

The one on the left was a one nubber. The one on the right is a Premium.


Physically they look identical. Screens look identical also.


The one nubber will only overclock to 850mhz, the Premium will hit 1100mHz.


The Premium has a much tighter hinge. I can leave it at almost any position and it won't move even when I shake it. The one nubber will flop open on the slightest provocation.


The one nubber has four pads covering the screws on the Lcd half, the Premium doesn't have these. No idea if they stopped using them or they were forgotten. Doesn't matter as I like the look either way.


The one nubber is actually a two number. Took it apart and cleaned it up and it works perfect. But the Premium seems to have more responsive nubs.


The Premium unit arrived with a non-working left trigger and a volume knob that wouldn't turn easily. Opened it up and trimmed the left trigger a bit and it works perfectly. Had to use a small file on the plastic around the volume knob and now it works perfect. No big deal as I love modding and tinkering as you guys might have guessed :)


Overall I LOVE my Pandora twins. B)
 
hailrazer, nice one! I also got two:


web.jpg
 
mvickers03 said:
Torpor, How did you change icon size,


Not looked into it yet but would love more stuff on my desktop!
Click to expand...


I used the Xfce 4 Settings manager, I think .. Appearance sub-menu .. I dunno, it was a long time ago that I tweaked it on the build-Pandora ..
 
hmmmm since i got mine too, i'll give my two cents :)


nubs: interesting but WAYYYYYYY too sensitive :eek: and also they don't go back in the middle so much by themselves


ABXY buttons: not great, not bad either but they lack feeling, they move a bit too much sideways and tend to rub against the side, playable, but not the quality of my NDS lite or other official game controllers


analog cross: no issue, i personally find the rubber beneath it a bit too rubbery: not to be compared with my NDS either


but overall they're good and games are playable, so i'm happy :)


the keyboard is nearly perfect, the keys could be slightly flatter and higher and feeling a slightly more "clicky" under the finger for total perfection (again, a bit more like nds, xbox, etc controls i guess :D ) but it's pretty useable, as i've discovered during my long and numerous attemps to make tethering work on terminal and also some posts i've made on this forum FROM the pandora :)


the hinge DOES lack a click to keep it slightly angled (nds angle, again :p ), it keeps being attracted to 180° but stays in place with a smaller angle, bit of a bummer to me ..


performance wise,


picodrive: marvellous


PCSX: very promising, lots of 3D games near fullspeed, rayman smooth and beautiful :)


mupen64plus: promising but not so much playable for a zelda or goemon ...


many emulators need a gui i think, often i spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to do simple stuff, even quitting is hard: i can't figure out how to quit psx4all without a hard reset, while snes9x on the opposite quits back to the GUI with even the SPACE key ...


in XFCE the tactile double-click is annoying.... gotta find a way to execute stuff with a single touch and perhaps apple-esque long touch for right click


lots is perfectible i think, reminds me of my GP2X somehow as it had a pretty poor build quality, flickering screen, and a terrible joystick and still was a cool machine :D


i'll say the pandora has much less defects that the first gp2x wich was made by a much bigger company, that's pretty amazing :)


i'm so glad i got mine :]
 
Nickie said:
hmmmm since i got mine too, i'll give my two cents :)


nubs: interesting but WAYYYYYYY too sensitive :eek: and also they don't go back in the middle so much by themselves


ABXY buttons: not great, not bad either but they lack feeling, they move a bit too much sideways and tend to rub against the side, playable, but not the quality of my NDS lite or other official game controllers


analog cross: no issue, i personally find the rubber beneath it a bit too rubbery: not to be compared with my NDS either


but overall they're good and games are playable, so i'm happy :)
Click to expand...

Everyone has there own opinions,


For me, I have to disagree. The buttons on the Pandora are absolutely perfect, maybe there is some variation from different systems and of course peoples personal preference. All though I do agree the nubs are too sensitive but that will improve as it can be changed


I honestly wouldn't change the buttons at all they are very tactical and responsive, the rubber beneath compresses with a satisfying amount of pressure making the gaming experience absolutely spot on. IMO

Nickie said:
i can't figure out how to quit psx4all without a hard reset,
Click to expand...

You can quit PSX4Pandora by mashing the buttons A,B,X,Y,L,R :)
 
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Nickie said:
many emulators need a gui i think, often i spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to do simple stuff, even quitting is hard: i can't figure out how to quit psx4all without a hard reset, while snes9x on the opposite quits back to the GUI with even the SPACE key ...
Click to expand...
You might want to try mini-menu for running emulators etc.. As far as I'm aware hitting the dedicated Pandora key whilst in any program will shut it down and return you to the mini-menu.


You can also try reading the help files or manuals by pressing the Y button whilst hovering over a programs icon :)
 
Got mine this morning!


Order confirmation was September 30th 2008 21:51 GMT.


I can report the positive physical aspects: No bezel bowing, both shoulder buttons respond evenly, all the screws seem to be present, screen hinge is firm in any position. D-Pad and gaming buttons all feel fine. Haven't even turned it on yet. Don't want to jinx it.


So far so good!


asmospandora.jpg
 
I got my "premium" (or in my case 3 weeks early at this pace) Pandora today! :D I also almost got arrested for threatening a postal employee (apparently thats real!), because the postman left a notice that I wasn't home, while in fact I was home all day, and had to go to the post office to get my package. While there I was told that I would have to "come back tomorrow" for it but ney, ney! I waited till the postman returned from his route and demanded my package now! Complained to the Postmaster and got my package but was warned that I could no longer "harass" the postman for my mail or packages, or they would press charges. :(


On to the important bit... Much better quality than I thought it would be. It does have a certain scent to it, but I swear that that smell comes from the pink dye in the plastic, as opposed to it actually being spayed by perfume. Feels real solid, and the weight is welcomed to make it feel substantial and real. Not like a DealExtreme knockoff which is light weight and feels empty. All of my buttons feel perfect (thankfully), and I feel like I'll be playing with the nubs while the unit is off also... Hinge is solid at almost any angle.


Now that negatives! The lid has a bit of a bow (but that was expected), a few tiny little gashes on the left hand side by the hinge, and I am missing the case and a little rubber "foot" which goes on the lid, but am very thankful all of the buttons feel perfect and I wont need to do any tinkering. The gashes are not very noticeable at all, and I need to try and find a rubber "foot" from something else and use that unless I can get another, but its not worth the postage, or federal jail time...


My unit is charging currently, since I had to take my girlfriend out for a belated Valentines day dinner, but I have put her on notice that tomorrow is Pandora Day! I am a linux noob so I will post my impressions on the software, as far as ease of use and other things go.


Thank you OPT for producing this little piece of Heaven!
 
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Loving that Speccy!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Anihil8ion2199 said:
I also almost got arrested for threatening a postal employee (apparently thats real!), because the postman left a notice that I wasn't home, while in fact I was home all day, and had to go to the post office to get my package. While there I was told that I would have to "come back tomorrow" for it but ney, ney! I waited till the postman returned from his route and demanded my package now! Complained to the Postmaster and got my package but was warned that I could no longer "harass" the postman for my mail or packages, or they would press charges. :(
Click to expand...
Extra, extra! Man arrested for assaulting mailman opens Pandora's box! Read all about it!
 
torpor said:
Loving that Speccy!
Click to expand...

and the "Ultimate Play The Game" backdrop :)


I still want to paint a speccy rainbow logo on the same place on the Pandora (and this coming from a c64 owner). I'll probably have to get a new case for that and paint it before adding the keyboard
 
Wootson: You don't happen to have this in a larger resolution/without JPEG-artifacts. It appears to be the nicest picture of a Pandora I've seen :)
 
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