bismuthdrummer
Active Member
- Joined
- May 13, 2011
- Messages
- 534
First off, I'm not going to give too in-depth of a review as the 1 GHz are almost identical to the standard models, and I've voiced my opinion more than enough on what I like and don't like.
I want to give some praises. The Open Pandora team put some hard work into making improvements, and for those who don't yet have their marvelous units it's difficult to know the improvements that they will also be getting. Those of us who were lucky to get the black units know the differences now, so let me enumerate the good things I noticed.
I want to give some praises. The Open Pandora team put some hard work into making improvements, and for those who don't yet have their marvelous units it's difficult to know the improvements that they will also be getting. Those of us who were lucky to get the black units know the differences now, so let me enumerate the good things I noticed.
- The silver casing.
Right now the Pandora looks 10X more impressive than the previous black Pandora -- from most angles. The only nagging bit about it still is the plastic imperfections that are obvious to everyone. But the choice of gunmetal silver was dead on. It shines so well that it literally almost looks semi-glossy, and the build quality feels so SO much better. Hopefully no cracking issues arise like with the black plastic, but we will see. In any case, great work OPT.
- 1 GHz.
Perhaps it is obvious but the decision to test run the newer processor was a sound one. Literally the experience becomes smooth as a desktop with hardware-accelerated software like Openbox and Firefox. Less slowdowns and stalls, and the general tasks feel more brisk, enhancing the immersion. For those who can afford it, the 1 GHz is most certainly worth the extra cash.
- Wifi/Bluetooth LED.
Maybe I missed the announcement somewhere, but the radio lights are now orange! Small thing, but much more attractive than red, which already is used for power anyway. Nice job guys. The external speakers.
Better! They actually play the bass end and as a result have much fuller sound.(Tested more closely, and I changed my mind. They sound the same.)- Bigger carrying case.
As Craig promised, I can confirm he wasn't making shit up about getting more room in this case. Not that anyone suggested it, mind you, just the sense of false reassurance creeping in. Well, he was right. There is more room now, it is a perfectly comfortable fit. Here is photographic evidence of the good work:
The carrying case on the left has been stretched after months of use, and still it is tighter than the brand new cases.
- Official Pandora box (package).
This makes such a difference in terms of professionalism, it's unbelievable. Before the units just shipped in a box with each component in bubble wrap, and they were well-packaged but it felt like buying stuff off eBay. Now you're starting to build an official image, every step towards this goal counts. Although only existing customers will see the box until you start stocking some retail shelves, perhaps the friends of buyers will be more affected now.
- The screen is an inferior model.
I understand that the other model no longer has manufacturers that we know of, but I feel it's worth reiterating that it is indeed darker (though not too bad), and for me it doesn't sense some of my touches with the stylus. The screen on my black Pandora is brighter and much more responsive in comparison. Of course I can swap my two screens, and I might do that, but I'm talking in general project terms. - The 1 GHz uses more power.
I did some comparisons, and so far as I can tell, when it is clocked the same at 600 MHz, same OPP level of 3, screen all the way off, and all the startup services are the same as my CC Pandora, the 1 GHz unit uses like 20% more power (-150 mA on the black versus -180 mA on the silver, reporting off the battery in the terminal). I don't recall this being forecasted, a technical explanation as to why would be nice. Maybe it's the extra RAM? If so then all newer units would exhibit this, and this is fine. I am guessing there's more to this, however. - The nubs seem to have calibration issues.
My black unit can go all day without problems, but it seems that a little after booting up or resetting the nubs on my new unit, a random direction on the movement nub will get unbearably slow. Both nubs exhibit this problem, I did try switching the directional to the right nub. - Not so much criticism as a request: can we get Openbox into the default OS as one of the options? It's really stellar... good work to freamon there.
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