There is no "alternative" to the Pandora that ticks all the important check boxes at
any price. There is nothing that is pocket-sized, has gaming controls and a keyboard, is an open platform, and lasts for 8-10 hours on a single battery charge. There are lots of devices that hit one or two of those points, but nothing exists (or is even known to be in development) besides the Pandora hits them all.
That pretty much covers it as far as I'm concerned. Frankly, it's the gaming controls that clinches it for me. The Pandora likely won't be the best choice for editing spreadsheets or databases on the road, but whipping out a full notebook for a game of Super Mario Bros, and using the keyboard for controls (or dragging along a USB gamepad) is pretty weak in my opinion.
Also, using an x86 has it's obvious benefits, but also has some definite downsides:
- The ARM series of processors has been targeting portable, low-power devices for a long time... this is a foreign concept for the x86. Recent implementations like the Atom and Geode are getting there, but are still lagging behind. (I'm still curious to see if the Pandora will be able to live up to it's battery life claims, as they seem too good to be true).
- ARM processors are readily available packed into a single chip with all manner of support hardware, while (to my knowledge), x86's still require several support chips... this means larger circuit boards, more power drain, and more heat to dissipate... not to mention a more complicated design process, involving more parts, and more expense.
- While you might like the idea of being able to use random software without needing a native port, how well is that going to work in practice? Will it run in a friendly resolution, or will it be stretched and scaled? Will it rely on keyboard keys that you don't have? Will it suspend cleanly when you close the lid? Will it hammer your SD card with tons of unnecessary writes that will reduce it's life span? Will it require a whole Windows XP session running in the background?
There will be less software available for the Pandora... but if it's anything like the selection that was available for the GP2X, then I'll be happy with that. It's also comforting to know that all the software that DOES come out will be specifically designed with the Pandora's capabilities and limitations in mind. There are a lot of excellent programmers on these forums, and I look forward to seeing what they can do with the system.
--Zero