Why Pandora?

[Alpha2]

I think you are wrong about "[the acer] does all the things pandora does plus more". The acer doesn't fit in your pocket, it doesn't have this community, it doesn't have gaming controls, etc.

If you want a powerful (and power hungry) x86 based machine, buy the Acer. If you want a combined gaming and UMPC Linux based machine, buy the Pandora. It's really that simple.



yeah I think that's something no one has mentioned yet, 8 hours or more battery life beats out any x86 portable I've seen so far. And yes, having something you can play on a train ride that dosent require a lap or can be slipped easily in a pants pocket also trumps the opposition.


Ultimately its up to you, but it would seem rather silly to go for something else unless there's specifically somethng you want that this device simply does not offer. For almost every app you could get for a standard laptop there's likely some alternative that the Pandora will run for less money or for free.

The line for the second batch will probably start shortly after the first batch ships.

 

[puppydee]

Why not get both..

 

[God Ginrai]

Now now kyo-chan...

Ain't no chan. My name isn't supposed to sound Japanese, it just kinda does.


It doesn't help that your avatar's background looks like the rising sun.

-God Ginrai

 

[Svartalf]

Pandora - for those who just love waiting™

No different than the PSP, DS, or Nokia webtablets, really. You're "waiting" because they're being open about the development efforts. What you've seen is only unusual in that they're telling you about it and showing it as it comes up, etc. The same can't be said of Sony, Nintendo, or Nokia. It takes as long as you've seen in many cases, especially for a start-up (which is what this technically is...), to bring a new product to market.

 

[fahrstuhl]

Pandora - for those who just love waiting™

No different than the PSP, DS, or Nokia webtablets, really. You're "waiting" because they're being open about the development efforts. What you've seen is only unusual in that they're telling you about it and showing it as it comes up, etc. The same can't be said of Sony, Nintendo, or Nokia. It takes as long as you've seen in many cases, especially for a start-up (which is what this technically is...), to bring a new product to market.


Imo it's quite interesting that nobody ever draws a comparison to the OpenMoko project. Its FreeRunner took quite a while, too.

 

[Alpha2]

This is the first time I've ever looking into openmoko, I think it's been mentioned once or twice here though, but I found this to be the likely reason no one mentions it more often.

QUOTE
As the hacker's dream toy: it is fully functional. As a GSM phone: some people have been using it to receive and place phone calls and SMS for months, but with currently shipping software the battery life is only one day. As a GPS device: critical bugs have been ironed out and there is nice software to know where you are using OpenStreetMap. As an alarm clock, media player, internet browser, game console, email reader and contacts manager: software is not stable yet.


Simply put it's no where near as close to a complete consumer product as the pandora so it kinda falls away from the public consciousness.

 

[centralnoise]

Now now kyo-chan...

Ain't no chan. My name isn't supposed to sound Japanese, it just kinda does.

It doesn't help that your avatar's background looks like the rising sun.


Plus the character looks japanese as well (hairstyle...).

 

[lulzfish]

Cell phones confuse me. The contracts are always a rip-off and I wouldn't know how to get a Freerunner on a cell network if I did buy one. [And it's more expensive than the Pandora]

 

[MaxSteiner]

How the heck would you know if its a complete consumer product?
it doesn't even exist beyond the prototype yet!

OP should get what he thinks is best.
Some people carry bags instead of wearing coats with volumous pockets (some clever people wear coats with volumous pockets and carry a bag as well).
So the size issue might not be so great a concern for him.

The control issue? Wireless pads No wires (since that seemed to be the only preposterous complaint leveled against it this time... bnetter than 'oh but you would have to look over the pad to see the screen' )

Battery life. Well sadly we can't tell until we see one in the flesh. But it's at least as impressive as any of the Pandoras other achievements. I don't really see how the Nokia tablets running on VERY similar hardware with similar batteries, seem to produce about 5 hours less life than the Pandora is meant too though, but thats all part of the ride (I'm guessing a greater control over the hardware allows you to lessen the draw a bit).
it is worth noting that there are plenty of places you can plug a mobile device in these days though when your out and about (the trains down south have power sockets for you to use for instance, coffee bars, universities, libraries etc etc etc ).

Basically you have to decide if the reports of the Pandora's battery life, its size and having native gaming controls are enough to win you over into waiting X months till it finally ships.
If not, there are plenty of devices which will do what you want now (but you're going to have to carry them in a bag, charge them every day and all that jazz).

 

[renegadechic]

i had a horrifically long and tedious conversation with a guy regarding the pandora the other night. his arguement was that he has had smartphones with 3G connections and all sorts for ages and that between a netbook and a smart phone he doesnt think it is worth it. i found it pretty frustrating. he kept showing me the Nokia N810 comparing screen size and connectivity. in the end i decided he was being a dick for the hell of it but he didnt see the market for a pandora. i guess the gaming side would interest him less but the 3G definitely seemed to be the thing that got to him most, even with a dongle or tethering which he said he wouldnt want dragging around. still, i wish i could have done a better job talking up the device to the guy! certainly for the price power and functionality i am happier to have a pandora than shell out £500 for a top range smartphone and £200 for a netbook when the pandora is just awesome and amazing value and part of a great community.

 

[Tor]

>I don't really see how the Nokia tablets running on VERY similar hardware with similar batteries, seem to produce about 5 hours less life than the Pandora is meant too though,

My Nokia N800 has a 1500mAh battery, the Pandora battery is 4000mAh. If the Pandora OS could use the same kind of power saving features that Nokia added in later OS releases it should be possible to get even more hours out of it than what's been claimed so far.

EDIT: Argh, I hope someone on the board will fix that annoying apostrophe bug soon.

 

[MaxSteiner]

>I don't really see how the Nokia tablets running on VERY similar hardware with similar batteries, seem to produce about 5 hours less life than the Pandora is meant too though,

My Nokia N800 has a 1500mAh battery, the Pandora battery is 4000mAh. If the Pandora OS could use the same kind of power saving features that Nokia added in later OS releases it should be possible to get even more hours out of it than what's been claimed so far.

EDIT: Argh, I hope someone on the board will fix that annoying apostrophe bug soon.

Ah, I didn't realise it was quite that small, I guess when you scale that up, it does work out about the same as a Pandora doesn't it?

 

[Svartalf]

Battery life. Well sadly we can't tell until we see one in the flesh. But it's at least as impressive as any of the Pandoras other achievements. I don't really see how the Nokia tablets running on VERY similar hardware with similar batteries, seem to produce about 5 hours less life than the Pandora is meant too though

The Nokia probably won't be going with QUITE as robust a battery. My N800 gets about 3-4 on a 1500mAh battery. That's a 5.1 watt-hour battery. With the OMAP3 equivalent, you'll expect it to do about 2-3. The 10+ hours run was with a 13.5 watt-hour battery, which is actually a bit over the top for the industry. Costs a bit more so they'll probably go with something to shave pennies off their BOM and go with about a 6-8 WH battery with the N900.

Ah, I didn't realise it was quite that small, I guess when you scale that up, it does work out about the same as a Pandora doesn't it?

Yep. The main problem with people doing "comparisons" right at the moment is that they're not factoring in:

Battery sizes.
Power consumption to get the power.
Game playability.

Sure you can get a N9XX web tablet to play games (heh... It's got real muscle now, I'm planning on targeting it as well as the Pandora/Beagleboard for some of my projects...)- but it won't do it as long and you won't be able to play games on it as nicely as the Pandora will let you do it.

Sure you can get an Atom that's "twice as powerful", but with much less GPU muscle than the Pandora and about double to triple the power consumption and it's not anywhere NEAR as portable as the Pandora will be. (I know, I've got both in hand... Once my Pandora gets a case, it's going to replace my N800 in my tech gear outright... The eeePC will still be there to allow my GF to do her MIS Master's work in a pinch, etc... But it won't get drug everywhere like the Pandora will... )

 

[CCmachined]

Freaking Need For Speed Underground 2 doesn't run at ANY widescreen resolution.
And I can't convince the nvidia X server that my television is 1440 by 900 no matter how much I yell at it.

Software designers should really put it in a config file somewhere [apparently nvidia uses some autoconfig and I'm too lazy to manually edit xorg.conf] or just say 'type in your own damn resolution, we trust you'

try to set a Windows XP box to 1440x900 res for a HDTV on nvidia. My friend Nic has this problem, try to set it and we just end up with 1024x768 stretched (again) scrolling around a 1440x900 desktop. ugh. Ubuntu worked out the box with the proprietary driver just fine.

 

[noonioo]

Pandora - for those who just love waiting™

:lol: so funny

 

[lulzfish]

[quote name='CC_machine' date='Feb 12 2009, 10:37 AM' post='700411']
[quote name='lulzfish' date='Feb 10 2009, 06:51 PM']Ubuntu worked out the box with the proprietary driver just fine.
[/quote]

Well I'm using Ubuntu with the proprietary drivers, but apparently nvidia knows better than I do, and my monitor is apparently only 1024 by 768 or 1368 by 768 or some weird shit.

I wish I could just go somewhere and tell it the truth [freedom of software usage FGS] but apparently it's not writing these down anywhere like in xorg.conf.

 

[mali]

Sure you can get a N9XX web tablet to play games (heh... It's got real muscle now, I'm planning on targeting it as well as the Pandora/Beagleboard for some of my projects...)- but it won't do it as long and you won't be able to play games on it as nicely as the Pandora will let you do it.

Someone on ITT tried the Pandora SDK and apps compiled with it run on his N800. Chances are very high, that Pandora apps will run on RX-51 without recompile and vice versa Flash anyone?
Did someone test the Fremantle SDK, yet? RX-51+gamepad=Pandora

 

[Exophase]

I will never understand how almost no one seems to see a difference between a handheld with gaming controls and a handheld with a USB controller. You can't hold a controller and a handheld at the same time.

 

[cranker]

I will never understand how almost no one seems to see a difference between a handheld with gaming controls and a handheld with a USB controller. You can''''t hold a controller and a handheld at the same time.

I was wondering when someone was going to mention the gaming controls...................That is the ONLY reason I am buying the pandora.....it's all about the gaming controls. This is the biggest difference between pandora and the rest, and for gamers it's all that matters when playing all of our favorite classics !!!

 

[mali]

I will never understand how almost no one seems to see a difference between a handheld with gaming controls and a handheld with a USB controller. You can't hold a controller and a handheld at the same time.

I can, cause I'm a passionate modder