Which Will You Buy?

[plopperz]

I'm a little curious to know if the recent announcement of the Wiz has influenced your decision to purchase the Pandora (if you have even made that decision).
Personally I plan to get both, in which order I still haven't decided. I want the Pandora for the power and excellent controls. The Wiz seems like it will have a large library from launch, and (appears to be) nice and small.


Comparison Chart
┌──────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┐
│ . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ Wiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ Pandora . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Processor core . . . . . .│ ARM926EJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ ARM Cortex─A8 . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│L1 Cache . . . . . . . . .│ 16KB/16KB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 16KB/16KB . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│L2 Cache . . . . . . . . .│ 0KB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 256KB . . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Processor speed . . . . . │ 533 MHz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 600 MHz . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Overclock confirmed . . . │ 650 MHz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 900 MHz . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│DSP . . . . . . . . . . . │ none . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ C64x variant, full dsp, 430MHz │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Screen . . . . . . . . . .│ 2.8" AMOLED . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 4.3" LTPS LCD . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Resolution . . . . . . . .│ 320x240 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 800x480 . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Colors . . . . . . . . . .│ 16M? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ 16M . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Touch screen . . . . . . .│ yes ─ .resistive? . . . . . . . . . . │ yes ─ resistive . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│3D core . . . . . . . . . │ OpenGL ES 1.1 compliant . . . . . . . │ OpenGL ES 2.0 (SGX 530) . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Polygon throughput . . . .│ 1.33Mp/s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ 10Mp/s . . . . . . . . . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Pixel throughput . . . . .│ 133Mp/s .(max?) . . . . . . . . . . . │ 275Mp/s (with overdraw = 3─4, .│
│ . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ max never specified) . . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│3D core speed . . . . . . │ ??? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 110 MHz (166 MHz o.c.) . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Memory . . . . . . . . . .│ 64MB DDR─266 . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ 128MB DDR─333 . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Memory throughput (max) . │ 533MB/s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 1328MB/s . . . . . . . . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Flash memory (NAND) . . . │ 1GB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 256MB . . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Wifi . . . . . . . . . . .│ none . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ 802.11b/g . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Bluetooth . . . . . . . . │ none . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ Class 2, Bluetooth 2.0 with . .│
│ . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ EDR (3Mb/s) . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│USB . . . . . . . . . . . │ host and/or peripheral 2.0 on . . . . │ 1 OTG 2.0 port (peripheral, . .│
│ . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ special connector (probably?) . . . . │ host @ 100mA powered) 1 Host . │
│ . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ port, USB 2.0, 500mA powered . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Game buttons . . . . . . .│ dpad,dpad, 2 shoulders, menu, . . . . │ dpad, ABXY, 2 shoulders, . . . │
│ . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ start, select, menu . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Keyboard . . . . . . . . .│ none . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ 43 button QWERTY . . . . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Analog controls . . . . . │ none . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ 2 Analog nubs . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Video playback capability │ VGA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 480p, 720p, 1080i . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│TV output . . . . . . . . │ none . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ composite, S─Video . . . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Microphone . . . . . . . .│ internal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ 1 internal, 1 external . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Line input . . . . . . . .│ ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Line output . . . . . . . │ ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Headphone connector . . . │ 2.5mm (!?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ 3.5mm (with microphone . . . . │
│ . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ input on first ring) . . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│SD card slot . . . . . . .│ 1 SDHC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ 2 SDHC . . . . . . . . . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Battery . . . . . . . . . │ 2000mAh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 4000mAh . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Battery life . . . . . . .│ 5 hrs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 10 hrs . . . . . . . . . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Battery removable . . . . │ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Battery charging . . . . .│ through special connector on bottom . │ USB Type B cable or 5V adapter │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Internal speakers . . . . │ 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Volume control . . . . . .│ 2 buttons, software controlled . . . .│ volume wheel, hardware and . . │
│ . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ software (scaling) . . . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│clock? . . . . . . . . . .│ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Linux Kernel . . . . . . .│ 2.6.20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ 2.6.26 . . . . . . . . . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Open source coding . . . .│ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Homebrew gaming? . . . . .│ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Emulator capable? . . . . │ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Flash support . . . . . . │ yes, 7.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ Not at launch, possibly later .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Web browser/email/IM? . . │ no . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Commercial game support . │ Yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ Probably . . . . . . . . . . . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Stylus included . . . . . │ yes, stored in system . . . . . . . . │ yes, stored in system . . . . .│
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Physical size . . . . . . │ 121x61x18mm . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ 140x83x27 (clamshell closed) . │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│Price . . . . . . . . . . │ $180 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .│ $330 . . . . . . . . . . . . . │
└──────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────┘





EDIT: Hmm, there's supposed to be a poll here.
EDIT2:Nope, I can't add a poll after the fact, could a mod do it with options like Pandora/Wiz/Both/Neither kindof thing? Thanks



EDIT: Poll Added -Chip

EDIT 2: Big Bad Comparison chart added to help you decide - Chip

 

[peca]

As I'm not strong gamer, I'll buy only Pandora. I expect that major development cover all, Pandora, old GP2x and new GP2x Wiz, so I miss only a few titles only made for GP2x.

 

[gruso]

Pandora4lyf. I am interested in the Wiz though, maybe if my tax return is a fat one I'll get both.

 

[mindlord]

Pandora. However, if I can't get my GP2X fixed, I'll likely look into getting Wiz as well, Gods of wealth and luck permitting.

 

[emil10001]

Pandora only. There's no reason that I can find to buy something that will have a similar library, with inferior hardware. Not to mention the positive attention that we're seeing from commercial developers, as pointed out in the 'Closed Source Port' thread. And it will replace my n800 quite nicely.

The Wiz looks like it has some better hardware than the gp2x, but it's lacking some of the controls that make the Pandora really pop as a game platform, like the dual analogs.

This is all in addition to my wanting fewer, not more devices to lug around.

 

[Orkie]

Great forum to pose the question .

 

[joelll]

lovely PANDORA for myself only...WIZ looks like a "crap"...brrr

 

[mechanizeddeath]

Pandora here as well. Although the Wiz does look promising, provided GPH addresses most of the the flaws that kept me from fully enjoying the GP2X. And I think I'm not the only one who feels this way.

 

[sam fisher]

This should be posted in the Other Consoles forum or Off Topic for two reasons. One, it isn't what this forum is for. Two, everyone here is biased as hell due to the forum you've made it in.

 

[gibberish]

ill probably buy both.
but i'll be waiting a while after release, possibly for 2nd batch, before i do. this applies to both pandora and wiz.

 

[plopperz]

This should be posted in the Other Consoles forum or Off Topic for two reasons. One, it isn't what this forum is for. Two, everyone here is biased as hell due to the forum you've made it in.

I posted it here because I wanted to know if people who have decided to buy the Pandora have changed their minds.

 

[jaycee900]

If any of you were here when the Gizmondo was around and intend to buy a Wiz then you all are the biggest hypocrites ever, as all you ever said was the 'screen was too small' well guess what... its the same size as the Wiz's!
Imo though the Wiz won't take off, what with the GP2X F200 doing basically the same with a bigger screen and out now, what will be the point of the Wiz? I can't see the 3D hardware being used too much, what with the upcoming Pandora all the best devs want to work on the best possible platform...

 

[Spadoof]

I am a hardcore Gp Fan. I was so excited when I heard about a new Gph Device and couldn't wait to see it. When I saw it, I walk over to the wall and started smacking my head very hard off of it. Ok, I understand that this device is focusing on homebrew and I love that, but I like to occasionally play some of the classics. And even if they were focusing on homebrew, that has to be the poorest choice of design ever. Even if we wanted to just emulate snes, we wouldn't have enough buttons. I wish they could have at least set it up like the xgp mini......................................................Sry just had to get that off of my chest.

-spadoof :gp2x

Xgp mini design (for all who have not seen it): http://www.digitalworldtokyo.com/index.php...gp_aiming_high/

 

[WizardStan]

Considering it's just over half the cost of the Pandora, I think it'll do alright. Looks like an alright machine, but lacking wi-fi, keyboard, high-res screen, and video out, it's a no go for me. Even if I won't be able to play some Wiz only games, the Pandora will have enough that I won't really miss them, so I see no reason to spend my money on both.

 

[sindbad]

I'm only interested in the non-gaming capabilities of the pandora. The Wiz would be completely useless to me.

 

[second exodous]

I'll definitely go with the Pandora, the controls, wireless, bigger screen. But lately I've been listening to music on my GP2X, all day at work for the last 3 months. The only thing I don't like about GP2X and music is its size, big, so I might get the wiz for the size factor, it will fit in my pocket. It all depends on how much it costs, I don't see a problem with it if it's cheaper than the GP2X. I just wish they would put wireless in their hendhelds.....

 

[Spadoof]

I there anyway they can do so modifications before they start to sell? They would gain so much more support if they fix the controls (Maybe make 4 buttons instead of the the double d-pad and add shoulder buttons), and possbily add wifi or bluetooth. (Bluetooth for multiplayer!)

-Spadoof :gp2x

 

[Orkie]

I there anyway they can do so modifications before they start to sell? They would gain so much more support if they fix the controls (Maybe make 4 buttons instead of the the double d-pad and add shoulder buttons), and possbily add wifi or bluetooth. (Bluetooth for multiplayer!)

-Spadoof :gp2x

The Wiz already has shoulder buttons...

 

[oblivioner]

Pandora no doubt. Pandora fills many empty spots in the current umpc / portable gaming market, like there is no umpc with such explicit gaming design, no pocketable mid or umpc with keyboard for 250 euro, no umpc/mid with such an open platform with big community and development support and gaming focus, and nothing that integrates so well a powerful music player, video player, gaming console, internet device and mobility apps in your pocket. It only lacks hsdpa to be the ultimate portable device.

The Wiz is redundant. If you want homebrew console gp2x is already established with lots emus up and running and good price, plus psp and nds are also good options which also have many commercial games. I don't see the key selling point for The Wiz that will make it a success, besides the design is terrible. In the end, I think Pandora integrates perfectly in the market offering many things that no one else does at a killer price.

 

[icurafu]

Personally I think wifi would be a waste. For a gaming device that is really only for games... It's not like you'll be surfing the net or playing lots of multi-player games.

Wifi and mobile devices seem to go so well together, but at this form factor, I don't think it's realistic. (Looking forwards to Pandora with wifi)