What Flaws Do You See In The Pandora?

[otherguy66]

USB 1.1 support (for mice etc.)
Sturdier case that feels like it would be okay if I dropped it.
Something a bit better for the keyboard keys.
Make it less wide, move the start and select buttons (they're a bit far for my hands).
Don't paint it!

 

[typs lik dis]

Make it wider. My man hands can barely fit in there as it is right now.

 

[torpor]

The biggest flaw I see with the Pandora is this: hardly anybody has one! There need to be a few million Pandora users, heh heh ..

 

[renegadechic]

Make it wider. My man hands can barely fit in there as it is right now.

i definitely disagree! its a bit of a stretch for me to get the middle buttons. my hands aren't all that small either.


what would i change.... i would probably make the fully opened position more secure. as it is right now there is 2 or 3 degrees of wobble in it and its a little annoying. i would also improve my shoulder buttons but then they are drilled painted ones so its probably just part of getting an earlier one. my nubs are a little glitchy too.

i think there are still things that can be improved with the pandora but 99% of them are software rather than hardware and will all come in time. i get minimum 2 hours use out of my pandora a day and up to 8 hours a day at the weekend and i am very very far from disappointed.

 

[Rockthesmurf]

Come on, I can't help but say it, make sure you include two screens on the Pandora 2, as then DS emulation would be possible...

Steve

 

[Bosbeetle]

Come on, I can't help but say it, make sure you include two screens on the Pandora 2, as then DS emulation would be possible...

Steve

Why wouldnt it be possible now. The screen is not the issue the emulation is. (you can easily fit 2 DS screens on 1 pandora screen in several ways)
I wouldnt want to mis a keyboard.

 

[Prometheus]

^ I think you may have missed some sarcasm, there.

 

[DaMummy]

i think bosbeetle knows better and is being sarcastic as well...

 

[typs lik dis]

Joke topic.

 

[Sugar_Kane]

I would like: some jet wings, a retractable vegetable fork, a rectal thermometer, side mounted pez dispenser, angled shaving mirror, left and right indicator lights, a 360 foot diamond filament rope plus mechanical winch for rappelling, 2 egg timers, a transforming robotic bat called Archibald who will fly around the general area and return to a slot in the back to download enemy locations and topographical information, time released pine scented air fresher, 6 different coloured spools of string and a selection of sewing needles, a torch, knockout gas pellets, tranquilliser dart launcher, telescopic table legs, and a brass monocle

 

[Bosbeetle]

I would like: some jet wings, a retractable vegetable fork, a rectal thermometer, side mounted pez dispenser, angled shaving mirror, left and right indicator lights, a 360 foot diamond filament rope plus mechanical winch for rappelling, 2 egg timers, a transforming robotic bat called Archibald who will fly around the general area and return to a slot in the back to download enemy locations and topographical information, time released pine scented air fresher, 6 different coloured spools of string and a selection of sewing needles, a torch, knockout gas pellets, tranquilliser dart launcher, telescopic table legs, and a brass monocle

Why the hell Archibald :blink: are you insane!

 

[wardred]

Agreeing with most of what others have already said, even for refinements to the current Pandora.

I like Pleng's idea about eliminating one SD slot and replacing it with a SIM slot.

I DON'T like the idea about eliminating the wifi/bluetooth.

With a SIM, bluetooth could become more important if one wants to use it as a phone.
For transferring files I like the network, when it's available, more than messing with cables or SD cards.

More memory is always welcome, especially if one's using it for desktop operations. Firefox, OpenOffice, or the GIMP all use fair chunks of memory.

A 1ghz CPU or dual CPU, if they consume about the same amount of power, or can be made to consume just a little more power when they aren't doing CPU intensive things such as games, would be welcome.

Somebody else mentioned a backlit keyboard.

Other than that, simple refinements to what you already have. Any noticed deficiencies in the case, like the slight lift on one of the hinges, or adding another "locking" joint for the screen so it's not nearly upright or nearly laid back. It sounds like socketed nubs are already in the planning stages, etc.

 

[DaMummy]

the two things that would make the pandora better for me would be if pandora transformed into one of these

or if its SD cards could transform into one of these

 

[pokitfoxx]

^ my car can do that

 

[Usoppe]

Perhaps a more capable decoder chip which is able to decode H.264 high profile, L5 video.
I know, its hardcore for a small device which can decode this, but it could be useful if you think about game streaming.
http://x264dev.multimedia.cx/archives/249

The video you get if you encode it as suggested in the blog with x264 is a high profile, L5 video. Now we need (among many other things to realize a gamestreamer, e.g. rate controlling if you think about transfering video via WLAN) a "fast as possible" decoding on the client Pandora.

Perhaps there are better ideas about how to provide an "as fast as possible game streamer" (e.g. via WLAN) which doesnt require much hardware power of small devices.

For example, you dont need to listen to the suggested parameters in the named blog. You can encode the video so that the decoder (on client side, f.e. Pandora) doesnt need to be capable of decoding high profile video, but you pay this with longer encoding times on server side, I think - not knowing that exactly just thinking. Game streaming via WLAN in general should be possible on the Pandora, even though the "latency" probably wouldnt be good for a shooter game.

 

[b._.o._.b]

No real flaws if you look at the hardware as it supposed to be. It can ofcourse be improved. I am not a real fan of the keyboard, but it is good enough. Would be nice if it was not as thick and you could set the screen better in position (it is a bit loose).
Shoulder buttons don't feel very good (DS and even GP2X are *much* better), you have to click on the exact right spot to get the good feedback.

None of these "issues" should be addressed by the OP team. First let them make the Pandora the success it deserves by fixing quality issues (especially mine ), producing thousands and thousands and improving the software before spending energy and time in P2 or P1b.

BTW don't touch the 2nd SD slot! I love it.

 

[chris_c]

2nd SD slot is really useful! as too is the 10hr battery life a *major* feature

It's all well and good adding 4ghz cpu + 4xGPU and rocket pack but whats this going to do to the battery life

Although the Pandora is billed as "ultra portability without sacrificing capability" a number of rather nifty design choices have been made to keep the Pandora's power requirements at least sensible

There is always a trade off between power consumption and also physical space on the board.

For me I think they have it pretty much spot on!

 

[zaoin]

IMHO Pandora rocks now.
PRICE is the unique flaw.

And pda software(It needs a special minimenu with pda features).

I wonder if Pandora's PIM can reach PalmOs third party PIM software...

 

[Blue Protoman]

The only flaw I can see is that the internal memory could be bigger; it's 512MB, compared to the Wiz's 1GB. (This thing's supposed to be better than the Wiz, remember?)

 

[Prometheus]

^ Correct me if I'm wrong, please, but the Wiz's internal memory is actually meant for storing things on, isn't it?