Should I buy a Pandora now?

[keyz35]

Hello there!

I'm looking for a portable open console with a touchscreen about 5'' to play DosBox, SNES, Megadrive and GBA games... Is the Pandora the best for that? (Battery life, controllers quality, emulators quality...) I don't really need a physical keyboard... In fact I like the "GP2x" style consoles, with buttons around the screen. What do you think about Android-based consoles?

Thanks a lot!

 

[_wb_]

Battery life, controllers and emulators are excellent on the Pandora, I don't think there's anything else that can beat it.

How are you going to use DOS without a keyboard?

If you're only interested in playing games, the Pandora is probably a bit "overkill" though, and while probably the best, it's certainly not the cheapest option. Maybe the GCW Zero is more something for you - it's a lot cheaper, and it should also be able to handle those emulators. Only problem might be that it has only a 3.5" screen (a bit smaller than Pandora's 4.3" screen), I'm not sure if it's a touch screen, and its resolution is only 320x240 which is a bit low for some DOS games.

I don't have any experience with Android consoles, but I guess they're typically touch-only without physical game buttons.

 

[Stainy]

Answer : yes

 

[ekianjo]

Yes yes yes, and nintendo ds emulation makes it even more worth it.

 

[renegadechic]

The Pandora will have you covered and really i think the only other alternative would be an iCP2 and a smartphone, though you need to wait still for that to be released.

 

[gunrock]

I think the community needs to qualify the performance of DosBox (or get the OP to qualify his expectations). Pandora's implementation of DosBox is great, but it performs in-line with the hardware ability, i.e Prince Of Persia : Yes, Half-Life, no.

 

[Wally]

Go for the 1GHZ Pandora You won't regret it.


DOSBox is so-so at the moment, there's a lot that could be improved on (when DOSBox gets more ARM support I guess) but most games with requirements up to 486 should work fine (with exception to some 3D titles of course). 


Might help to mention some of the games you wish to play.

 

[FaeMinx]

Yes. Get the Classic version from ED - Cheapest option and will cover everything you need and then some.

^ Edit: Lol... Well the 1Ghz is awesome, but does he need anything more than the Classic?

 

[b_o_b]

 If you don't need or want a keyboard: GCW Zero. 

 

[Mr_Loon]

Hello there!
 
I'm looking for a portable open console with a touchscreen about 5'' to play DosBox, SNES, Megadrive and GBA games... Is the Pandora the best for that? (Battery life, controllers quality, emulators quality...) I don't really need a physical keyboard... In fact I like the "GP2x" style consoles, with buttons around the screen. What do you think about Android-based consoles?
 
Thanks a lot!

Do you have a budget, or is money no object?

 

[MrBazil2k]

And do not forget that there is the possibility to run "FreeDos1.0" or other "Retro"-OSs through "Qemu for Pandora"

which has got quite some more performance compared to DosBox... =D

There you also have the chance to get "3D" games running like NFS or Dungeon Keeper or Comanche

(At least with the 1 Ghz Version of the Pandora tho.)

 

[Ian J]

If you can afford one yes.

The keyboard may not seem as though it's something you need but if you start to run some of the computers / arcade emulators it will come in very handy.

The higher resolution screen is a real bonus over other hand-helds, especially if you want to play anything from the following on an emulator:

Capcom CPS2             384 x 224

Atari System 1              336 x 240

Atari System 2              512 x 384

The massive bonus for getting a Pandora is the community, everyone is more than willing to help you with any queries and the software is continually getting updated.

Yes there are higher spec items coming out but how many of the hand-helds that have come out since the Pandora have already been superseded and forgotten about.

 

[keyz35]

Thanks for your answers! I have no specific budget... Did some of you have the chance to compare the DosBox emulator for Pandora and DosBox Turbo for Android? What's the best?

Answer from ??? : "I know our version of Dosbox has had some performance optimization that may make it perform better than the Android version on comparable hardware. The Pandora having a physical keyboard for DOS based games is also a bonus to me."

 

[PokeParadox]

Yes.

 

[TrashyMG]

Thanks for your answers! I have no specific budget... Did some of you have the chance to compare the DosBox emulator for Pandora and DosBox Turbo for Android? What's the best?


I know our version of Dosbox has had some performance optimization that may make it perform better than the Android version on comparable hardware. The Pandora having a physical keyboard for DOS based games is also a bonus to me.

Performance wise it will most likely be better than DosBox Turbo on Android.. however it won't have as fancy of a launcher.. It's the vanilla PC version of DOSBox with some ARM optimization done (improved Dynarec), so you can expect to use the C prompt and DOS commands. however the Pandora having a physical keyboard that makes it easier.

 

[keyz35]

Ok, no launcher or customizabled frontend for Pandora DosBox? :/

 

[TrashyMG]

Well DOSBOX with DboxFE comes with a Launcher allowing you to make custom profiles, with some work you can make it launch games for you. It's not as pretty though.

 

[Kumaki]

Hello there!

I'm looking for a portable open console with a touchscreen about 5'' to play DosBox, SNES, Megadrive and GBA games... Is the Pandora the best for that? (Battery life, controllers quality, emulators quality...) I don't really need a physical keyboard... In fact I like the "GP2x" style consoles, with buttons around the screen. What do you think about Android-based consoles?

Thanks a lot!

The short answer is YES.

Pandy will emulate all those systems for you.

Controllers are great, battery life is awesome, and for the systems you mention...the only one I can't speak to is DosBox.

The others all great emu quality.  I know others have emulated DosBox, I just never have, so I can't personally speak to it's quality.

And you may t5hink you do not need the physical keyboard, I'm betting you will find uses for it, once you get into the Pandora.

Yes yes yes, and nintendo ds emulation makes it even more worth it.

You can't REALLY emulate DS.

Pandy has only one screen.

 

[TrashyMG]

^ Break the LCD screen in half.. DS!

 

[Mr_Loon]

You can't REALLY emulate DS.

Pandy has only one screen.

Take it you've not tried DraStic yet? It was quite a surprise to me how the lack of a second screen is not much of an issue for the majority of DS games. You can either have 2 small screens shown at one time or 1 large screen and swap between the DS screens with a keypress.