My Pandora/Pyra does not
replace my laptop, tablet, phone and TV (and gaming devices if I would have any), since those dedicated devices still have their strengths. I'm not going to watch movies on a 5" handheld when I'm at home and I can use a 55" TV or a beamer instead. I'm not going to visit this forum on my Pandora if I can use a laptop or desktop PC instead. And so on.
So it does not
replace any of those devices. But when I'm on the go, or if I'm not at home or at work and I want to travel light, then a Pandora/Pyra is an excellent
substitute for all of those devices. It may not be the best at everything, but it's certainly good enough. Yes, a big keyboard is better than a handheld keyboard, but when I have to go to meetings and take notes, I don't bother carrying a laptop with me -- the Pandora keyboard is good enough for me. When I'm in a tram or subway, I'm not going to try to use a laptop or even a tablet, but a Pandora is fine.
In some things, the Pandora/Pyra is actually the best, and there is nothing that can replace it. In most things, the Pandora/Pyra is not the best, but just
good enough. The real strength of the device is that it is good enough at so many different things
.
It's like a Swiss army knife: sure, there are better knifes, better screwdrivers, better everything. But to have 'good enough' compact versions of all of those things at the same time, always with you, that is the nice thing about them.
Let me add some perspective to emphasize this point.
The main technological breakthrough of the 20th century was the invention (first theoretically, then practically) of the
general purpose computer. One machine that can do essentially anything. Before that, there would be dedicated machines for anything: one machine to compute logarithm tables, another machine to process census data, yet another machine to compute missile trajectories. The realization that universal machines are possible, that code is data, was probably one of the most important insights in the history of mankind. The tremendous rapid progress in engineering made general purpose computers enormously much more powerful, affordable, practical and portable in just a few decades. The computing power of one smartphone probably exceeds the total computing power of the entire world around WW2.
Yet, in recent years there has been an odd reverse trend. General purpose computers are everywhere, but they are increasingly used only for specific, restricted purposes. A GPS device probably has a powerful general-purpose processor, but it is only used to compute paths. A music player or media player is only used for decoding some specific data formats. A smartphone, tablet or smart TV can theoretically run any software, but typically you're not allowed to install arbitrary software on it or to get full control over the device. In a sense, a lot of companies have decided that general-purpose computers have to be restricted, effectively going back to the non-Turing-complete special-purpose machines of the early 20th century. They give various reasons for these restrictions: anti-piracy, user-friendliness, security, etc. The most important reason is of course that they hope to get more profits out of it.
In this context, a hacker-friendly, fully open handheld device, which is extremely versatile both in terms of hardware and in terms of software, is something of great value to me.
