Problems I Have With My Pandora

[paddy]

Hi

This is a list of things i have found wrong with my pandora and requesting some info and help ..

1.LCD has an indentation at the very top of the screen in the middle almost like the stylus has been pressed
too hard into it ,was like this when i got it.

2.Bezel bottom half at screen raises out ,can be pressed back in but comes back out.

3.Battery is starting to peel away ,caused when i removed the battery when i had to reflash the unit ,the battery cover catches on the paper wrapping of the battery ,battery has only been removed once.

4.Number 5 key does not work ,if i press it down it just stays down ,sticking inbeween the plastics ,note the 5 key function does work but i do not want to use it as it's too hard to get the 5 key back out without damage to the key.

5.Right Nub is very gritty feeling on the top half of a full circular motion ,doesn't feel very good but the Nub still works ,could get worse so trying not to use it but i need left and right click so i am forced to use it unless i hold down the left click stylus function ,but not really usable.

6.Right trigger shoulder button is very loose and doesn't work very well.

7.Controler buttons ABXY are very squeeky very anoying to use.

8.Keymat all buttons are also very very squeeky ,i was typing up a document and had to stop becase it was just getting simply anoying and i also felt i had to press down really firmly to get a key response ,had sore hands from the strain after a while.


9.WIFI ,very slow i can get about 40-110kbs tops and downloads stop sometimes without brwoser fail and other times downloads finish but with corrupt file. ( i am on a 10mb line and the pandora is the only device using it) i don't have networking issues ,and i have simular linux setup on a desktop with no problems ,also all other devices i might use have no problems ,only the pandora.

10.WIFI ,when i turn on my pandora and connect to wifi ,my pandora makes a very quiet buzzing noise ,it also makes a strange noise when browsing the web or downloading a file ,the noise is like a boing ! sound very strange.

11.The black satan finish on the pandora has already started to ware off (well kind of) it's like it has went a bit shiny looking ,like greesy looking and i don't want to clean it incase i make it look worse ,is it safe to clean with a moist cloth ?

12.LCD lid hinge ,forgot to mention this one ,it's getting looser ,it still seems ok but i need to support it with the back of my hand if i press the touch screen with my stylus otherwise it goes all the way to the back position.

sorry that this is all bad things ,i could write about all the great things but i need these issues addressed

my pandora seemed almost pefect when i got it ,but after a day all these things started to be noticed.

 

[iprice]

 

[Bosbeetle]

Does it come with satan finish , how evil

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, you got one of the first units before we started to test EVERY single control, but since you were here and chose your own unit yourself...

LCD has an indentation at the very top of the screen in the middle almost like the stylus has been pressed
too hard into it ,was like this when i got it.

I don't understand what you're talking about, sorry.
Could you explain it a bit more? The LCD was fine when you tested your unit here, so... how could it be like this when you got it?

Bezel bottom half at screen raises out ,can be pressed back in but comes back out.

Already known that it can happen for the first units we shipped, but that was already solved.

Battery is starting to peel away ,caused when i removed the battery when i had to reflash the unit ,the battery cover catches on the paper wrapping of the battery ,battery has only been removed once.

Why did you have to remove the battery to reflash it?
I have no idea what you mean with "the battery cover catches on the paper wrapping of the battery"

Number 5 key does not work ,if i press it down it just stays down ,sticking inbeween the plastics ,note the 5 key function does work but i do not want to use it as it's too hard to get the 5 key back out without damage to the key.

Hm, only the number 5? That's kinda weird - but as said above, after the first units we built, we test every single key now.

Right Nub is very gritty feeling on the top half of a full circular motion ,doesn't feel very good but the Nub still works ,could get worse so trying not to use it but i need left and right click so i am forced to use it unless i hold down the left click stylus function ,but not really usable.

It's a new device - USE it! I'm a collector and have had so many new gaming devices where the buttons were a bit stiff at the beginning. Use them and it gets better.
And if not - we're replacing it.

Right trigger shoulder button is very loose and doesn't work very well.

Known problem with the first units, already fixed for the future one and if anyone has any problems with that on the units shipped out, we're gonna replace it. Easy as that.

Weird for me though is that you spent a long time here at our place to select the unit... if it was so bad, why did you select it?

Controler buttons ABXY are very squeeky very anoying to use.

Happened on my PSP, stopped doing this after a while.

Keymat all buttons are also very very squeeky ,i was typing up a document and had to stop becase it was just getting simply anoying and i also felt i had to press down really firmly to get a key response ,had sore hands from the strain after a while.

Well, thumbkeymats are not meant to type big documents with, only for quick browsing, eMail, etc.
However, I were developing a lot of the OS scripts directly with that. It's pretty good.

And... well... I can't possibly imagine how it could squeak. It's rubber. Rubber doesn't squeak. The buttons are plastic, so they can squeak at the beginning until they wear off a bit, but rubber...? How the heck can that squeak technically (and I haven't had a squeaking keymat in the hundreds of units we built during the last days...)


I do wonder... you claim PicoDrive has tearing, when it does proper VSync and doesn't have ANY tearing (as said, multiple people were testing it).
You bitch because all those emulators are not stretching to fullscreen yet, whereas the unit has only be out for a few days?

When hundreds of shipped units would have so many problems - do you think there wouldn't be tons of complaints here?
Most problem posts here are about software, and that's in heavy development...

I've got no idea what you're trying to pull here - but if you have any problems with your unit, send it back and we will replace it.
And if you want to return your unit - you can do so, too.

I haven't seen a first batch unit of ANY device out there that didn't have small flaws. But the ones we have here are minor and we're working on getting even those fixed.

 

[EvilDragon]

12.LCD lid hinge ,forgot to mention this one ,it's getting looser ,it still seems ok but i need to support it with the back of my hand if i press the touch screen with my stylus otherwise it goes all the way to the back position.

Well, the device is meant to be used like an NDS - with the lid in the locked position.
You can also use a touchscreen on any notebook, upper lid of the NDS, etc.
It gets ALWAYS pushed back to the locked position.
So that's no flaw - it is intended to be like that.
(If the hinge was stiff enough to let you use the touchscreen, you'd had a hard time to open and close it)

sorry that this is all bad things ,i could write about all the great things but i need these issues addressed

Well... after bitching about unfinished non-widescreen-stretching emulators, you think?

I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're trying to do.

Sure, it's no HQ-Sony-Product (would've cost at least 500 EUR then), but it's definately not as bad as you try to make it look.

 

[Bosbeetle]

but if you have any problems with your unit, send it back and we will replace it.

This is why I love OP where else can you talk to the compagny in such a direct manner.

 

[Loon]

@ Paddy

Why not post a few photos of your problems (where appropriate), might help with diagnosis / suggestions.

 

[parag0n]

Bezel bottom half at screen raises out ,can be pressed back in but comes back out.

Already known that it can happen for the first units we shipped, but that was already solved.

How can this be fixed? Its happening on mine... is it something i can do at home?

 

[Prometheus]

@parag0n - I believe that VRAndy (am I remembering right?) had that issue, and with his unit it was the result of a clip that hadn't been clicked in. I recall that he mentioned being able to fix it by pushing it back in firmly. (But don't quote me on this, I may be misremembering.)

 

[Monk]

I don't understand what you're talking about, sorry.
Could you explain it a bit more? The LCD was fine when you tested your unit here, so... how could it be like this when you got it?

I can offer up this as PARTIAL explanation:

my pandora seemed almost pefect when i got it ,but after a day all these things started to be noticed.

but for the actual technical problem - and bearing in mind I cannot say that paddy definately did not make the indentation himself - a picture is worth a thousand words. A photo of the problem - even blown up to super-size - would most surely help, paddy.

Already known that it can happen for the first units we shipped, but that was already solved.

Maybe there is a language difficulty here, but if it is still affecting paddy's unit then it is not "solved". It may be solved for all FUTURE Pandoras, and THAT is great, but perhaps not on paddy's own actual unit? However good a humanitarian paddy is, I suspect his own unit matters more than everyone else's.

The rest of us have noticed you say that you are improving the assembly and QC operations to prevent various issues in future, and I am sure we appreciate it more than paddy does. But that doesn't really affect paddy's situation, necessarily.

Battery is starting to peel away ,caused when i removed the battery when i had to reflash the unit ,the battery cover catches on the paper wrapping of the battery ,battery has only been removed once.

Why did you have to remove the battery to reflash it?
I have no idea what you mean with "the battery cover catches on the paper wrapping of the battery"

That actually sounds pretty nasty, and I hope that it is NOT what is in MY head. Paddy - got a camera?

Hm, only the number 5? That's kinda weird - but as said above, after the first units we built, we test every single key now.

Again, not so useful to paddy himself. He wants HIS unit/problems addressing. Though to be honest this sounds at present more like an email to OpenPandora than a forum post.

Weird for me though is that you spent a long time here at our place to select the unit... if it was so bad, why did you select it?

Probably excitement/enthusiasm. The honeymoon period appears to be over

Keymat all buttons are also very very squeeky ,i was typing up a document and had to stop becase it was just getting simply anoying and i also felt i had to press down really firmly to get a key response ,had sore hands from the strain after a while.

...

And... well... I can't possibly imagine how it could squeak. It's rubber. Rubber doesn't squeak. The buttons are plastic, so they can squeak at the beginning until they wear off a bit, but rubber...? How the heck can that squeak technically (and I haven't had a squeaking keymat in the hundreds of units we built during the last days...)

Google "rubber squeak" and you will find there are plenty of examples of people noticing rubber squeak and asking why/how it does so. General consensus seems to be that with two materials rubbing together, especially where the point of contact is small, it is possible to cause vibration that will cause a squeak. e.g.:

Quote: It seems everyone agrees that the sound is produced by vibration from stick/un-stick movements of one material against another material.

Perhaps the plastic case, or the paint on the plastic case, CAN cause a squeak under certain conditions, and it is the case which is squeaking as the key passes through it rather than the rubber key per se?

I've got no idea what you're trying to pull here - but if you have any problems with your unit, send it back and we will replace it.
And if you want to return your unit - you can do so, too.

I haven't seen a first batch unit of ANY device out there that didn't have small flaws. But the ones we have here are minor and we're working on getting even those fixed.

I have seen both issues where your response seems exemplary and also responses you have made to criticisms that paddy didn't even make in the thread (I assume he made them elsewhere) as irrelevant - you don't, I am sure, need a blow-by-blow "good, bad, WTF? bad, bad good, bad, good, good, excellent, good, bad" running list. So I have tried to cut the quotes up into things I ACTUALLY have something to say about - no more, no less.

IMHO "what's your order numer" type replies are not necessary. The offer to replace the unit is at least fair, though it might be good to work through whether some of the issues are only transitory - for example, if the main reason for an exchange would be the squeaky keys, and the squeak on the keys would dissapear quickly with use (wearing the rubber/paint/plastic) then a replacement unit does not sound like as good a fix as just using the device.

Paddy - how about a /wav or .mp3 sound recording of typing on the keyboard? Or a video, even!

But please, some photos would be most useful and even better, with that list of niggles this feels TO ME (and possibly to me alone) like you should possibly be talking to OpenPandora directly about a replacement unit.

 

[j6cubic]

And... well... I can't possibly imagine how it could squeak. It's rubber. Rubber doesn't squeak. The buttons are plastic, so they can squeak at the beginning until they wear off a bit, but rubber...? How the heck can that squeak technically (and I haven't had a squeaking keymat in the hundreds of units we built during the last days...)

Well, no. Actually, rubber is a very squeaky material due to being flexible while having a rough, slightly sticky texture. Just ask anyone who owns clothes made of the stuff; the squeakiness is considered part of the appeal. Or think of a balloon. Same material.

You might be thinking of silicone, which is much quieter.

 

[kuru]

You guys make me weep. Here's some squeaky boots for ya.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS0Za2QKGQE[/Youtube]

 

[paddy]

Hello ,sorry i was out all day and need to go back out ,i didn't choose my unit ,Craig offered me to choose but i had been working along with them all day and thought well i trust all units would be the same and didn't want to cherry pick my pandora ,i think that is unfair so i asked Craig to pick one for me ,and when he did ,we pluged it in so i could have a 1 minute look at at and it was wraped up and off i went ,when i got home i went to bed ,was busy all of the next day so it wasn't till 10pm the next night i was able to email craig to say thanks and have a look at my pandora.

Ohh and btw i did not go there jsut to get a pandora ,i went to help.

ps ,when i played pico i was not overly impressed ,i did see slight vsync and the display looked washed out or something ,but like i did say in that other post i am sure it will be tops when it is released ,remember it is not released yet and there is many things the author wants to do like 32x emulation ,also i think i have a point about other emulators not being full screen stretch.

I will take pictures tonight of every aspect ,and i am NOT complaining ,but i feel these things need to be addressed so OPT can fix them in the future.

I can see Ed's point about the emulation of picodrive ,but i didn't
feel that it was as polished as say the psp picodrive and i really didn't think it had vertical sync on,again mabe i am wrong as it would not be the first time but well i just didn't feel it was that great.
Ed i am sorry if i come across as bitching to you about the quallity of the pandora,please don't think this as i really do love the pandora,there are many great things about it i could go on and on about but the issues i have are ones that i would like to make you aware of so you can fix them in later revisions but also i am asking for your assurance that with such problems OPT may be able to fix for me as well.

as for the problems i have noted Ed can you please be a little more helpfull in answering them for me,do all pandora units make the low buzzing sound or should i be worried,ohh and i removed my battery becase when i flashed it,the read me instructions says to do so if the battery is low on charge becase it could crash the unit while in flash.

a very happy paddy typing this via his pandora

cheers

Paddy

 

[VRAndy]

@parag0n - I believe that VRAndy (am I remembering right?) had that issue, and with his unit it was the result of a clip that hadn't been clicked in. I recall that he mentioned being able to fix it by pushing it back in firmly. (But don't quote me on this, I may be misremembering.)

Yea, that was me. I pushed it into place with my thumbs and heard a "click".

It's still not exactly a perfect fit like the other three sides, but it looks fine to me.

 

[EvilDragon]

Sorry if I sounded a bit offensive, but after 5 days with 16 hours Pandora assembly each day increasing the quality with each day, I guess it's a bit easy to become slighlty pissed off...
And now I'm sitting in a hotel instead of being home, since my flight from Newcastle to Dusseldorf was delayed and I missed my connection flight back to Munich... geeez.

Anyways, back to your problems: I examined the squeaking problem a bit. I think it's because of the paint being a bit rough (to have better grip).
It's not the keymat, itself, we tried in an unpainted case.
But I don't think it's that loud - the keys on my xperia phone (from where I'm typing this) are way more annoying. And both the buttons and the keymat will probably wear off after a while, so that they will most likely stop doing that.
As said, I had the same problem on my PSP.
My gp2x-Buttons were similar at the beginning - and some might even remember the paper-clip fix for the L/R-Buttons (you might not believe it, but those really are the most complicate to create properly... the gp2x FE also had a lot of stuck buttons, seems like a learning curve. None of the buttons from our last produced buttons stuck though. We tested them by clicking like hell
In worst case (if it's really so annoying to you), we could send you buttons from the next cases made, as they will not be painted (we have no idea why they had BEEN painted)

As for the rest, I'd also love to see some pictures.

Of course, things can go bad. Especially with the first few units. But we're here to help. So far we only had 4 replacements of over 100 units that arrived at the customers place.

 

[Shirohagen]

Hello

I recognise a couple of the issues here, my Pandora was apparently between 200-300 in the queue.

The bottom bezel of the screen is not glued at the very centre, so it does curve away from the LCD panel, sometimes quite a lot. You can push it back onto the screen, where it sticks - but eventually always comes away again. Dust etc is starting to get into the gap, so I imagine it's only going to get worse. It's great to know this problem has been "solved" now but of course, it hasn't been for me. Is there a way to fix it myself or must I send my unit back? I've waited so long for it, I really don't want to parcel it back up...

Secondly, the two nubs do feel different, although my situation is reversed from the poster's. The right nub is perfect, really lovely, but the left is a bit looser, and feels 'scratchy' sometimes when moving around the centre. Not a deal-breaker, but certainly seems less than perfect, when compared to the right-hand one.

That's about it. I haven't yet noticed any of the other issues reported, the only other niggles I have so far appear to be software based, which hopefully can all be fixed.

Although, I REALLY wish the keys had been left matte ala ZX Spectrum, they are soooo shiny it hurts, and everything else is über cool, almost military-like. The keys stick out a mile in their glossiness, which actually makes them harder to read with reflections sometimes. I'd strongly suggest matte keys for a future version.

 

[EvilDragon]

Oh, and about PicoDrive: You might confuse Tearing with ghosting.
Tearing (usually due to missing VSync) is when you have scrolling and sometimes the upper area is not in perfect sync with the lower area.
This happens from interpolation when the LCD-Timings do not match the Refresh settings of the game.
That happens currently with the quick emulator ports like SNES, UAE4ALL, depending on the game more or less visible and will be fixed.

But it certaily doesn't happen with PicoDrive as notaz took care of that.

Now, ghosting happens because an LCD has a crystal clear screen when nothing happens but blurs when fast movements happen.
There are LCDs with higher refresh rates, but with that res and size, they are not affordable (we got a quote of about 3x the price... and the LCD is the most expensive part in the whole device!)
As old TVs were always blurry and therefore a lot of 16bit games used tricks to simulate more colors with that blurriness, it makes some problems on ALL LCDs.
The ghosting of the Pandora LCD is about as good / bad as it is on the gp2x.
And it can still be improved with settings and filters.

Maybe some other users can tell us if the LCD really is that bad

 

[Pleng]

The LCD looks lovely here .

 

[Dead1nside]

In worst case (if it's really so annoying to you), we could send you buttons from the next cases made, as they will not be painted (we have no idea why they had BEEN painted)

Sorry to hear your flight was delayed, I hope you didn't have to pay for the hotel yourself and the airline covered it. So are the D-Pad, action buttons and shoulder buttons all not being painted from now on, to try and alleviate some of these issues?

Thanks.

 

[paddy]

My LCD is minted,just a slight indentation on the top middle part it's very hard to notice and it's not a mega problem,i would go as far as to say the LCD is the best one i have ever used and the acuracy of the stylus is amazing,the headphone jack got tested for the first time last night and is awsome,the real volume control is superb and everyone i show the pandora to i always point it out becase you just don't get that level of quality these days.The speakers are very loud and crystal clear i love listening to online radio on my pandora,the dpad is all that it was said to be and more,superb dpad and actuly might be better than nintendo's own dpad,,the games buttons ABXY are tops and could not be better,apart from the sqeek but i my self am sure it will calm down in time,the anolog nubs are amazing really impressive,shame my right nub grinds a little but well there we go,the keymat is very type friendly and the shinyness doesn't bother me one bit but it can squeek a bit,like ed said this could and prolly will get better with more use.the sd card slots are perfect and auto discover is mega fast and just works,the only thing i do not like is the power button but you cant get everything perfect.

One other thing i had always asked Ed about was multitasking ... well the pandora does it great ,i browse the web ,have media player running my fav online radio station ,messenger running in the background ,editing a document and i can even startup an emulator so i recon the mutitasking is more than i wanted in the first place.

I took pics,i don't really want to post them as i don't want to make the pandora look bad in anyway but well Ed asks to see so here goes.

Sorry if these pics are bad quality ,cam doesn't want to take a good picture for some reason ,and that indentation on the top of the lcd is very hard to see so no pic of that ,it's night time here and bad lighting ,even with the flash on it's pretty bad and also the right shoulder button pics don't look like such a bad thing but i can't seem to get a good shot of it ,there is one pic where you can see but it's blurry.

anyway ,i love my pandora and hey Ed no you can't have it back ! mabe when the cases are more refined i will put a new case on it ,i would like the shoulder button fixed ,mabe not now as you guys have a big backlog of pandora units to get through but once things quiet down ,possible fix my right anolog while you are at it ,the battery situation i will leave up to you and you can tell me what i should do about it ,the bottom of the bezel will wait till when i put a new case on it i guess.
uploading pics now .. 5 mins

http://img707.imageshack.us/g/dsci0351r.jpg/

paddy