182 replies to this topic

[Joost]

Wohoo got my Pandora today! It got here so fast that i haven't bought any sd-cards yet so the first order of business (besides calling in sick...) is to get me a pair of 16gb cards.

I bought a 16GB SD card for my Pandora two years ago already, LOL

[Bosbeetle]

My 8GB card is full have to get another. Thats how cool the pandora is

[Hooka]

Cool, more BC, Canada locals... I gotta say I'm thoroughly enjoying mine also!

The only thing that has bugged me on a consistent basis is the speed/disconnecting of wifi, other than that it's been a dream come true!

[Eisner]

Cool, more BC, Canada locals... I gotta say I'm thoroughly enjoying mine also!

The only thing that has bugged me on a consistent basis is the speed/disconnecting of wifi, other than that it's been a dream come true!

Agreed !

[morrissey2k7]

I got mine today -- but I wasn't in the queue. I just won it on eBay. Actually, I lost the auction, and the next day I was offered one of those "second chance" deals (since the original buyer apparently didn't want to pay).

But yeah, bought it on Sunday, it arrived today (the seller was kind enough to send it overnight Express Mail for free).

I really dig it so far. I haven't tried any games yet, but the interface is very sexy and everything's working as it should (I was a little afraid I'd end up with a dead nub, but both work fine). It took me a second to figure out how to install Hotfix 2 (since it says you can put the file in either /pandora/menu OR /pandora/desktop (I was using the full desktop mode [not minimenu], and I had the hotfix file in /menu, and I was wondering why nothing happened when I clicked... but when I moved the file into /desktop, everything worked just fine!).

[el_pango]

Mine just arrived after eight days of transit time and is currently sitting next to me charging. (I'm sure the letter carrier thought I was insane and the rest of the workday is going to be a huge letdown by comparison.)

Anyway, first impressions:
Gripes:

• -slight- curvature of the top half of the clamshell (not noticeable when the unit is open, though)
  
• slight bowing on the portion of the plastic bezel below the screen (been talked about to death already, easily sorted with a little epoxy)
  
• I don't really like the matte look or tactile feel the paint imparts (already discussed ad nauseam during the great Case War of '09, and I can easily sand down the stylus myself)
  
• Nowhere to attach a wrist strap...? (I didn't look hard enough, apparently - see below)

It may seem unfair that I led with so much complaining, but fear not, because I'm about to balance it out:
Greatness:

• Except for the matte finish thing (which is totally subjective), it really looks and feels like elegance incarnate.
  
• The analogue nubs have a very good tactile feel to them, just the right amount of resistance and heft. (Since mine is a one-nub, there are some problems with responsiveness on the left one, but I knew what I was getting into.)
  
• The display is incredibly sharp and vivid.
  
• The keypad just works, and the typing feels flawless. Other manufacturers could stand to learn from this. (I'm looking at you, Research In Motion and Samsung)
  
• It seems amazingly fast. Navigating around XFCE is every bit as responsive as I'd expect on a much larger, more power-intensive computer.

...but beyond all that stuff, I simply cannot stress how elegant this thing is or the cool factor of having the equivalent of 1.5 times my first real desktop in a pocketable form factor. Craig and company, stand up and take a well-deserved bow (and put me down for a second one out of batch two!).

I'll have more to say about it tonight when I've had a chance to play some games and start porting Allegro 4.

Edit:

I keep looking over at it and thinking 'Gosh, this thing is effin' awesome! I wonder if I can get it to do so-and-so'. I guess this should go under gripes - it'll screw with your productivity .

Edited by el_pango, 01 July 2010 - 12:17 AM.

[Mr Loon]

[*]Nowhere to attach a wrist strap...? (again, I can fix this myself, since I was already gonna void the warranty attempting to fix my faulty nub anyway)

Look on the back of the unit to the right of the usb port.

[el_pango]

[*]Nowhere to attach a wrist strap...? (again, I can fix this myself, since I was already gonna void the warranty attempting to fix my faulty nub anyway)

Look on the back of the unit to the right of the usb port.

You're absolutely right - I fail the 'observant or not?' test.

[Polossatik]

Been now playing around for 2 day's with my one nubber I got.

some random observations:

* much "bulkier" than I expected, the base alone is about the thickness of a DSlite, the screen adds quiet a lot of height to it.
For your pockets this is not so nice, but overall the size is "just right" , this thing fits just soo nice in my hands. Lovely
* it's also lot heavier than I expected, of course if you remove the battery then you know where the weight is coming from....
and battery life seams indeed to be astonishing ... so I can live with the trade off
* Charges quite fast if you put it into "lowpower" mode, it does make however some funny high pitch noise when charging ( not really loud, the pitch of the noise is just a bit bizarre - I think however most people won't notice it, I tend to hear quite high frequency's)
* the nubs are both nice and a pain. My "broken" left nub works quite ok (as mouse button)- the right one "feels" however much better. The main gripe with those nubs is the calibration in RAM. Sorry, but this is just bl**dy annoying, I hope there is fast a decent suspend mode, playing disk jokey after every power up is not my idea of fun.
* d-pad and the other 4 buttons are spot on.
* Keyboard is ok, not great, not bad, it get's the job properly done.
* the finish of the case gives a nice smooth grip and I like the fact it's not a shiny fingermagnet
* the screen is very very nice, it's even better than my N800 seen it's less reflective

the things I found not so good on the hardware side is mainly Q&A.

* I needed to open the case to "fix" the left shoulder button, the right one was already "patched" with tape around the pivot "pole" inside, needed quite a lot of tape to correct the left one. Was way to far drilled out. Now they have both a nice solid momentum and click, I hope the tape sticks...
* the finish/paint is not even, on several places there are bands in the paint (the lid has even a stripe not painted) and it gives the impression it will wear off quickly on the top of the lid..
* 2 of the screw holes even had still some plastic uneven thingy's sticking out and I found a scrap if plastic going around in the case.
* the battery was not 100% correctly placed when I got it, bending the battery cover (so the battery cover was not flush / even with the rest of the case) and forcing on of the 2 things that keep it in place. Gives a bad first impression..

I really hope Q&A will be a lot better in the future (have another one on order in the 2000 mark - so w'll see), it simply makes a very bad impression on a lovely design

* as said before by others the hinge needs a "in between" stop. It's simply so annoying to have the lid fall over. I know why this was not done but still... one of the only design flaws IMHO.

Software side, I must say I absolutely LOVE the pnd system for this kind of devices. 32 thumbs up. Really.
the fact the http://apps.open-pandora.org/ store does not work in the default browser is plain silly, but I know this will change
the biggest fear I have on the software side is all the pnd 's already lingering around in threads and blogs, I do hope it will not become as chaotic as the Dingo community where you just can't find half of the software there is without digging hours trough forum posts

Minimenu is nice, it's really a very nice single task launcher

In general the Xfce env is clearly not polished yet. This device would just need a really nice interface.
The "user experience" of my N800 is far better on that side, but I know it is still early stages stuff and the main thing now is laying the ground works.

So the overall verdict is a very nice device, now hoping there will be in the next moths a hughe improvement on the software side.

Ha, and make sure to add some bookmarks like the FAQ/user manuals in the next firmware default browser.

Edited by Polossatik, 01 July 2010 - 12:25 AM.

[el_pango]

I'd also like to add that, despite my laundry list of gripes, I am still very much in love with this thing and am happy it exists and didn't want to make it seem otherwise, and, having contracted for a firm that made children's handhelds here in the US, I already know that it's nowhere near as easy as it looks to the customer .

[quartercast]

Woohoo, I just got my panda! My first impressions are: effing gorgeous. I love the size, weight and matt finish. It was really bloody hard to get the stylus out at first, but it fits back into place with a reassuring click (my dsi stylus falls out just by looking at it). I couldn't work out how to access the wireless setup in xfce, it said click here to connect and then it gave up. After about 5 mins of looking through all the menus, yup Linux noob here, I gave up.

The gaming controls are really comfy, altough the Abxy isn't that smooth when depressed, I'd say mine has painted buttons. The dpad is a joy but the right direction is popping out, and it doesn't click when depressed, it doesn't give any physical feedback. I hope I can remedy this and that I don't have to send it back

panda's sitting there charging now, and I've gotta go shopping!

edit: yay i got wireless working, typing this from my panda!

Edited by quartercast, 02 July 2010 - 04:59 AM.

[dgame]

Got my Pandora today. Very nice. The pictures don't do it justice. Pros: Everything good that has been said before. Cons: The screen falling back all the time because of the hinge design. I find it more comfortable to hold it like a little laptop vs holding it while it is fully open. Will write more later about the software and such. Congrats to Open Pandora! All things considered you did a fine job.

[WombleGoneBad]

OK, reviews arn't my thing but Ive had a pandora for a week now so I felt obliged to post something....

In short, I bloody well love it. For me thats what matters. The keyboard is gorgeous to use. The buttons feel good and the keyboard layout all feels perfectly natural and logical to me. For a keyboard of this size it is amazing. The screen is crisp and clear so that you find you can cope with reading surprisingly small text. Movie playback is sweet, MiniMenu and xfce compliment each other and give me everything i need from an OS UI.

Its early days for the application software i think, for me that is actually a good thing, as it gives a lot of options for me to work on. My first compile of the early stages of a game initially disappointed me in terms of smoothness, but then i realized i was using 32 bit SDL surfaces with a 16 bit display . As soon as i fixed it it blew me away! it is very obvious that it has more than enough grunt for my project. and I'm really exited about coding it into something proper. I have always wanted to write games for a handheld, but i could never be bothered with the hassle of hacking psp/ds. I had a passme for the ds and it ate batteries until i gave up. The Pandora is more that I could ever wish for in a handheld device, and I am delighted with it.

I would just like to thank OPT for making a dream device come true. If this sounds like sucking up... well sorry... it is just how I feel.

[posted from my pandora]

[mcqfesijiba]

Got mine this past week and so far it is very good. I love the design, d-pad, buttons, etc. Software is still early, but I know it will quickly get better and better (some of it is already quite good). My only issue thus far is the nubs, which seem to be hit and miss for a lot of people. I'm still deciding whether I think mine are faulty or if it's in the software. Up and down hardly ever register at all for either the right or left nub. The calibration dance doesn't seem to help, but I'm going to try some more things to see if I can get them going.

[Alerino]

turn pandora on at 8 am, lid closed but wifi on all day, lid opened at 5 pm, ran background killer, played scummvm for a hour or so, played some Prince of Persia (winbox),
it's 10:17 pm, battery left 37%, 04:14, this is insane