[review] HappyCustomers++

[Binky]

I've had my pandora for a couple of days now, and thought I probably ought to do a breif review of first-impressions, before I get used to all the shortcomings and forget about the awesomesnesses of my new toy purchase. So here goes:


Things I like:

Hardware:

having a keyboard is awesome, and I have`nt made any typos so far while typing this post


Twin SD slots are a really key feature, i like being able to have slots of cheap, swapable storage.

screen seems to be an almost perfect resolution for it`s size

processor is adequate (mine is a 600MHz GC model) I`ve noticed very few delays that I wouldn`t expect on my desktop machine

I`m not much of a gamer, but the nubs, dpad and shoulder-buttons seem to work comfortably

Battery life is epic - getting 20h of light use on one charge is pretty damn good

Case feels solid - no evident flaws, decent paint job

USB host is very useful

resistive touchscreen & stylus work comfortably

pysical volume wheel

indicator LEDs

having a "hold" slider

clamshell design

To my suprise, it fits in my pocket without any problems

battery is user-replaceable

Software:

pnd system is great. Full stop.

Desktop. Multitasking. Window management. Up yours, smartphones.

GUI available for most things I want to do, command- line available if not

mousing around with nubs is comfortable

I really like PNDmanager

default setups are well thought-though

user-freindly OC`ing

Things I don`t like

Hardware:

the full-stop, comma and Fn keys ane inconveniently placed

the front corners can dig into your palms a little

The keys skeaky a liitle when first used, and the blue writting is hard to read

a seccond screen-locking position would be nice

I`d appreciate being able to set the screen dimmer when used in the dark

L2 and R2 would be useful for Fn or media control

no USB activity light

poor internal wfi (external works a treat, though)

Silly, proprietry EXT connector.

Software:

some games, like supertux, have controls better suited to destop PCs

huge pink firefox dowload notifications in ff

not being able to boot into PNDmanager

poor handling of default programs to open files from thunar

the bug in thunar`s list view

lock screen doesn`t work

Features that would make an even better P2:

Being able to swap one nub, and the dpad for moar buttons

bigger (physically) screen

concave keys

Slightly larger internal volume with more rounded case

expanadable harware

I may add to this over the next few days...

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Have you ever seen a USB activity led somewhere ?


The EXT connector is not proprietary.


Internal wifi works very well on my unit.

 

[bismuthdrummer]

Have you ever seen a USB activity led somewhere ?


The EXT connector is not proprietary.


Internal wifi works very well on my unit.

Come on though, the internal wifi has numerous reports of inadequacy. I am fine with mine, as I am somewhat of an old timer who recalls when 28.8k was fast, and 56k was blazing (compared to 14.4k ). But the ~100kb down peak for me isn't a plus for the device in this day and age, it's a minus.


Of course the full-size USB more than makes up for that, connecting an external adapter produces amazing results, and more profoundly that OPT had the foresight and willpower to include something so versatile and robust as full-size USB vastly outweighs the crappiness of the internal wifi. And hey, some internal wifi is better than absolutely none, so there we are.

 

[Binky]

Have you ever seen a USB activity led somewhere ? The EXT connector is not proprietary.

No. Does that make a difference?


Maybe not proprietry, but incompatible with all third-party connectors I`ve ever seen

 

[Binky]

Some more software things I like:

running full-size destop applications

not being restricted by huge, finder-freindly GUIs

the knowledge that I`m doing what I want, not just what Openpandora Ltd. wants

 

[TrashyMG]

wifi seems to be hit or miss, my Rebirth Pandora is fine, I can play videos from my PC via windows share and Netflix without issues.. My first batch not so much.

 

[Wally]

My 1GHZ Pandora should be in my hands tomorrow - day after so I will probably do a review myself

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

Glad you finally got a pandora binky.

 

[Trezker]

My #1 wish is higher resolution.


#2 wish: A dock. Imagine you've been out all day doing stuff on the Pandora. Then you come home and plug in your Pandora and can contiue working on the same machine but with ordinary keyboard/mouse/monitor(s), speakers etc...

 

[_wb_]

I can get ~400KB/s with the internal wifi, and I'm not sure if the limitation comes from the Pandora wifi or from my ISP (I rarely get much faster speeds than that on any of my machines).


@Trezker:


Higher resolution, or bigger screen? On a 4.3" screen, 800x480 is pretty much enough for me - if it would be higher, you would need to use huge font sizes to keep things readable.


Wouldn't it be possible to hardware-hack your own dock? Essentially you just need to combine a USB hub (for keyboard/mouse/whatever else) and an ext cable (for video/speakers/mic).

 

[Binky]

my ideal set of indicator lights would be:


SD 1 activity


SD 2 activity


wifi activity


BT activity


USB activity


USB on


BT on


wifi on


charging


power on


I like the way that the SD cards, volume wheel, etc are protected by the slight indent


the chargeindicator led seems a little bright


being able to reach the enteer key with your right-hand thumb-joint can be helpful


On the subject of docks, I` d love a dock that clipped onto your P2 without making int unpocketable


perhaps with TV out, a USB hub, extra shoulder butons, another battery and a second SD slot


I could even see this being kinda feasible, given that the ICP2 seems to be smaller than the pandora