Should i get a open Pandora in 2025 and what apps do you recommend?


Xboxfreak2004

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May 30, 2023
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Hello peeps of the internet, so anyways i was just wondering should i get a Open Pandora in 2025 and what apps do you recomend me? + can it run android apps? thanks and have a wonderful day
 
Monitor the forums or Ebay for someone selling their Open-Pandora.
I wouldn't aim at running Android on it though. The native Pandora apps usually run fine. You can check the repo for most downloaded apps for an objective result.
 
At least on the original version, even overclocked to 800 MHz, the internet experience is terrible for the majority of webpages.
And there's no fresh batteries available as far as I'm aware. I would not buy one today unless I wanted a piece of open source history collecting dust on a shelf.
That's not to say that there's no other point in owning one, but I only see peculiar archeologic reasons.
 
The battery life on the Pandora has always been very good I think. So even with an older battery you might get enough play-time.
I have the 1st batch which runs at the lower speeds from the Pandora family. Browsing the Internet with single core CPU's isn't a very good experience. Website these days are very compute heavy compared to the early internet.
But running retro games works fine, even Xash (Half-Life 1) runs okay when using a swap-file. Personally I think it's an ideal MP3 player, as it has tons of storage and a good battery life. But most people probably use stuff like Spotify for their music needs.

There is a lot of other hardware out there which can be cheaper and runs games faster. As Kuru stated, you don't need a Pandora to play games. But if you want a Pandora to play (retro) games, it should be up to the task.

Open-Pandora listings on the forums: https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/forums/trading.223/
Not sure if this one is sold already: https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/threads/for-sale-open-pandora-1ghz-edition-sd-germany.100140/

Open-Pandora listings on Ebay:
 
Still use my Pandora almost daily and have 3 spares. The battery life is amazing and I love that you do not having to worry about cooling issues / fans. Keyboard might not be the best for typing but it is indestructible. Having 2 SD card slots is very convenient and very helpful to make backups. Some great software and emulators should run full speed until PS1.

User friendly GUI - I do prefer Pandafe as alternative but it is slightly more involved. It's a very versatile device but check the apps on the repository if it suits your needs, because don't expect new software to become available. Linux users will feel at home with it pretty soon and if you are an advanced user you might be able to compile 'new' software on it.

Weak spots: quality of nubs and shoulder buttons, wifi. I agree with previous comments, you will not be able to do a lot online. Browsing is basically impossible due to dated browsers and hardware.

Pandora feels premium to me and I would lose a lot of familiarity, old data (save states etc) changing my device. Was tempted once or twice, but never tempted enough. Emulators work very well until PS1.

Pandora is definitely eol but Chinese devices feel eol the minute they are launched. Those chinese batteries are dead after a few years and new batteries are by then very expensive and of bad quality.

I've bought a bunch of batteries from ED a while ago just to be sure I'd have enough if they would fail. They keep on performing fantastic though, even after many years of use. So anyone that needs a battery now they are not sold by ED anymore can PM me.

I've kept them in good shape (stored under good conditions and usually half charged). Recently checked one of them and it hadn't lost almost any charge (since 2021)..
 
For its original purpose of playing retro games it's still good, and with some games still better than the Pyra (at least for now).
 
Pandora to me is still an ultimate retro gaming portable. I know there are a flood of cheap Chinese gaming devices now. but the Pandora has a decent enough keyboard and has a ton of quality game ports over the years. It's definitely a machine that punches above it's weight. I still have it in my backpack all the time and break it out more often than my Steamdeck.
 
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