Complete Pandora video, keyboard use, DS comparison and more.

[syst3m08]

Did google ever respond to your emails?

[wiishadow4]

i don't think this will sell so well. this was announced a few years ago, and i first heard of it just today.

[Spanone2]

@wiishadow4

there's less than 4000 on the first batch, they have all been sold

[Devourer09]

Lol. I like how you say you can take it for a walk and then you cut to footage where you are just in the middle of tall grass and you have a Pandora in your hands and it's playing music using Xine or XMPP or XMMS... X something. Lol.

[psptechnologypsp]

i did not know pandora is touchscren!

[geckojsc]

Ow, poor you... Anyway, this looks awesome, I just got into DS homebrew, and I also got an iPod Touch recently, but I must say, of all the gatgets I could ever possibly have, this looks like the best. Definitely something to put on my christmas list if it's out by then. :)

[LimitingFactor00]

This has been the "new" thing that i need to complete my life for about a month now,Give me one arrrgggg i want it!!!

[xoen6]

goddamn i lol at people talking about ayphone, cs source ports, eeepc, etc here.

all I can say - i see complete, AWESOME PDA on that vid.

omg, wow.

[radenmuaz]

Have they ported open source games like Teeworlds, X-Moto, Urban Terror, Cube 2, Glest etc.. on this?

[cyborgtroy]

X-moto is almost a given, it's already on PSP.

Urban Terror, probably.

Cube 2 / Sauerbraten will probably show up eventually, but nobody's working on it yet, so who knows.

[Hikij]

I'd be seriously pissed off if the final product of the Pandora was made in one small batch and then never made again. I probably won't be getting one for another 2 or 3 years. : /

[me1ne]

2 or 3 years? till u got the money or won't your parents allow it?

0.o

[Hikij]

Till I have the money. Until then, I have a Dingoo A320.

[osmarg92]

I don't care about taxe, a Pandora is a Pandora XD i want one, for that i can't w8 for the next pre-orders

[osmarg92]

Seriously, I'd kill 4 this thingy!!! is a complete PDA... no! it's getting all like netbooks!!!! aaahhhh!!!! so portable, so powerful!!! I want one, it's a shame I'm from Mexico, I want to know if Pandora can be shipped into Mexico, no matter the shipping cost, I just want that thing, the ultimate gaming-gadget.

BE AWARE IPHONE 3G PANDORA IS GETTING CLOSER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cyborgtroy]

I think they'll ship it just about anywhere, but if your country has annoyingly high import taxes, you might have to pay a little extra.

[loneguitaristyannis]

Craig, I'll give you my soul for that prototype.

Okay... my soul... and a bag of chips.

You drive a hard bargain.

[CCmachine]

by the way what song is it? the first one played in XMMS, I cant quite read the screen ... something by pet shop boys

[Kagnon]

Pet Shop Boys - Pandemonium

[bbourke85]

i fucking want one!!! please please market these well! play your cards right and you could jump handheld gaming into a new gen

[mistron]

To bad the white is just temporarily, I actually quite liked it...

[abdigon]

hairy leg you've got!

[Eyedunno]

Awesome. Looks like this will be a GP2X killer, if not a DS killer. But can it run Portal (somehow)? My WinXP EeePC cannot. Well, actually, it can on the lowest graphic settings, but as soon as I go through the first portal, it crashes.

[cyborgtroy]

No, Portal is x86-only.

[phred75]

The hardware in this is the OMAP 3530. As an embedded coder I've been working with this chipset on another device and I can tell you this hardware, when coded correctly, could blow a PS2 or XBOX 1 out of the water!

IT's even more powerful than an Intel Atom clocked at the same speed. Again.. coded right. :)

[m3141592]

"The hardware in this is the OMAP 3530."

They're fucking mint. For the amount of power you get per £ and per watt hour of battery they blow pretty much anything out of the water.

You could run an entry level desktop pc equivalent from it (like a beagleboard) on a cell phone battery.

And emulation efficiency? Forget about it!

[50MGG]

Great work! I will jump of joy when my pandora drops down in my mailbox!

[yacko6]

I cannot get wait to get one of these!

[NeilHonky]

i did enjoy the random running around

[Magnulus]

I have to say, I prefer web surfing on my iPod Touch to my 7" Eee PC, even though the Eee has a higher resolution, simply because web browsing in 800x600 is bloody annoying in a normal browser.

Looking quite good, though! I'm not in the financial situation for a Pandora, but perhaps I'll be able to get the Pandora 2 in the future! ^_^

[Cabroni2]

@Magnulus: so, dont buy it ;-)

[gbadoctor]

Also i forgot, the 7" of the 701 can be modded in touchscreen in like 2 minutes. It have a builtin webcam, its lightweight, it can be clocked over 1026mhz. Since it runs linux is also opensource as well. Even mame or cps3 runs perfectly, like epsxe and project64, not to speak about Final Burn Alpha. I need to see more convincing things about pandora, it seems another eeepc wannabe to me. Ill stick with my gp2x f200 for handheld gaming for now...

[cyborgtroy]

The Pandora is pocket-sized, it's in a totally different size class from the netbooks.

If you want a netbook, get a netbook. If you want a super advanced PDA / PMP / GBA replacement, get a Pandora. Or maybe an n810, they're sort of like cut-down Pandoras... similar concept, but not implemented the way I like.

[kipchak]

Thats the thing though-Its a device primarily built to play games and preform relatively basic computer tasks (video playing, web browsing, email, etc) well with solid controls, size, and battery life.

As far as size comparisons go, the dimensions for the 701 is 225mm x 165mm x 36mm, while the pandora's is 83, 140 and 27, which for some people makes it a lot less likely to be used by holding it in the air rather than setting it down.

[gbadoctor]

Ok, pandora does what exactly we eeepc users (4g 701) are doing since 2 years almost. The eeepc 701 doesnt have dual analog nor a dpad, but its an emulation monster, runs everygame from 2003 goin' backward, supports XP, Linux, OSx. What do i have to look in pandora, if i already have all of this since long time? I dont see anything more convincing than the asus product. Showing Quake running its ok, but im playing FEAR on my 701, so, its clearly more powerful and it cost like 190$ now.

[cyborgtroy]

Of course. And my 17 inch laptop can do more than either of them. The point is that it's only a little bigger than a DS. It's the mobility that makes it.

[gbadoctor]

Obviously, have you ever seen a 701? Its not super bigger, just a bit more than a DS. Also, the pandora looks more bigger than the DS phat but its hard to see a comparison with a video imho. What im talking about is COSTS. The 701 does all of that and it cost half the pandora. Its a complete pc so its a PDA/PMP/GBA replacement, if you consider that its a bit bigger.

[cyborgtroy]

If you don't think the cost justifies the excellent battery life and the small size, then don't buy one.

I think it does. x86 laptops, even the netbooks, have horrible battery stats, and they're too big to carry around all the time.

The Pandora is like my PDA. It requires no extra equipment to carry it, the battery lasts basically all day, and it's powerful enough to get stuff done.

The eee is obviously more powerful, but I don't care about that at all since it won't fit in a pocket.

[gbadoctor]

Well, you got a point. As for the use, i think that its purely individual. My 701 lasts around 5 hours at stock speed, and usually i dont use it all day due to my work. Maybe for my personal use, an x86 architecture is more handy, as a value add i do include games and emulators as well. Ill wait and see what pandora can do before getting one, im not judging it.

[cyborgtroy]

Yeah, I don't play games much, so I'd rather have a tiny ARM computer with good battery life and modest power.

I really can't believe that Nokia and Pandora seem to be the only people working on such small computers. With today's technology, they should be much more popular. I suppose there's the iPhone, but that's so locked-down that it's hard to call it a personal computer.

[gbadoctor]

Iphone is just a piece of good engineering, but like all the apple stuff its for apple fans. Its a great phone, with a great os, but its extremely limited and locked like you said.

The N810 seems cool, but it seems to end like an iphone. Althought the symbian platform is widely open and spreaded around,i doubt that it will be so "open".

[cyborgtroy]

I haven't looked into the Symbian. It's a cell phone, right? I really don't like cell phones, the companies always try to screw you somehow and the controls are limited since it's meant to be a phone, not a PC.

[gbadoctor]

Exactly my point. Symbian was cool back in times before they tried to block every user created content using a drm like tool, present in newer N series models. Anyway nothing to be compared to this or that, also its so damn OT :D

[lazarpandar]

gbadoctor, you're correct. If price and function are the only two things driving you to buy a product then buy a 701, nobodys going to try and stop you or convert you to a pandora fanboy.

Personally, I'm buying a pandora because of the size and functionality. the price is a compromise I'm willing to accept (albeit a small one, but thats my opinion).

Any other questions/comments?

[Optimus6128]

I have an eeepc too but I want pandora. It's a different thing. One is a pc, the other is a handheld console for homebrew coders and the community. You'd say, who needs pandora if it looks just like a portable pc but It's an entirely different thing with an entirely different feeling.

[m3141592]

"I have an eeepc too but I want pandora. It's a different thing.One is a pc, the other is a handheld console for homebrew coders and the community. "

One is a pc and the other is a pc PLUS an open source console.

You can get a pc/netbook/set-top box type motherboard with the same chip, but this is better because it gives you that and more.

It's like the littlest touch screen netbook with a games controller and media/3d tweaks.

[eksasol]

You are blessed with a womenizer voice.

[kinmanyuen]

Awesome....

[trevsweb]

lol you need a funny disclaimer in the manual: if parading round fields please becareful not to fall over. :P

with firefox theres a plugin that lets you scroll like an iphone called "grab and drag" works very well.

[ogatobranco]

LOL... yeah... when unpacking your pandora do not get over-excited and run outside like a crazy person (don't mean to offend Craig)

Thanks for the tip about the plugin ... a pen tablet enabled pc or touchscreen one can get an awesome web navigation with it ^__^

[whormongrmuzik]

I want one........ the pandora not the hairy leg

[Mordain607]

lol, I;m sure I recognise the field your spinning in! (I live in South Shields). But it could just be cause it's in Britain.

[dsraa]

nice vid. especially when u were spinning, dont know why u did that.....but I almost got dizzy too....

[QordaZ]

Ooh im so exited about this device! Nice video

Btw you should really find a new spot for your coffee, kinda risky ;D

[Consequence9]

Probably tea in all likelyhood, 'e is bri'ish af'ta all ;]

[ogatobranco]

This should go into mass production and be sold in all video game stores... asap... like... now... immediately xD

You don't need to kill yourself while showing the device... *pats on back*

[cyborgtroy]

It's going into mass production, but there haven't been any retail deals yet, probably since it's not technically in production yet.

[andobankai]

WOW, Pandora is Way Smaller than Virtual Boy!!!!!

Just kidding, I'll try to get one from 2nd batch...

[Garuda15]

IT CAN GO OUTSIDE?!

[MeetTheBeaf]

YES!

[Consequence9]

Craig or the Pandora?

lol, j/k craig <3

for some reason i imagined that comment with a golem voice...

[UhhSplat]

i dont know which would be worse an injured pandora or an injured pandora dev

[nightwheel]

OOOOOOO, Very Nice!!!!

Great to see a whole Pandora prototype with the finished keypad. Can't wait to see more!!

[rubix2007]

Thanks for the new vid!

[cyborgtroy]

So it's just slightly bigger than an original DS.

This is perfect, my original DS is just slightly smaller than the inside of my pocket.

[PARALAX1974]

And once again "Pet Shop Boys" with "Pandemonium". You seems to have a good taste. PSB forever!!! Thanks for the video! :-)

[EsoRimmer]

Yeah finally good music from Pandora's speakers can be heard. :)

[hitsquadcartoon]

Ok ok, so you've convinced me to set aside my hard earned money for this little beast. :D excited now

[WELCOMETOPIZZACAT]

fffff ow :/ hope your leg gets better soon

[WELCOMETOPIZZACAT]

OH YES

[MrBlais]

Sick! Agh, the Pandora is going to be insane. Thanks for that vid..

[cyborgtroy]

Real volume control as in potientometer?

That's one of my favorite features. Everything has gone to software buttons for volume lately, and it's ruined everything.

[craigix]

Yes it has a potientometer. It's shocking so few devices have them these days.

[cyborgtroy]

The last device I had with a pot volume control was probably my Gameboy Advance. That and the horrible CD player I got at Wal-Mart for a case mod.

My actual CD player has software buttons, and no aux in. My MP3 player has software volume and can't be mounted as a USB Mass Storage Device.

All little "extras" that end up being critically important once I actually use them. :(

[pelrun]

I hope it doesn't go crackly after a year or two - something I really don't have to worry about with software volume.

[irshell1]

I agreed. Volume control with potientometer tend to go wild after a couple of years of use, at least most of my devices with potientometer are like that. I would prefer software volume. Another nice thing about software volume is you can override the volume setting by user. For example, an alarm clock software can crank up the volume to max when the alarm is dispatced. For hardware controlled volume, this will not be possible.

[cyborgtroy]

I haven't had that problem with my GBA or NDS.

The problem I have is that software controls need the OS to be on, so if you're in the library and your boot noise is active and your volume is up... You can't boot.

These sorts of issues frustrate me to no end. Especially Knoppix's "initiating startup sequence"

[zodttd]

Great video! It's getting so close! Very exciting indeed.

[dslrocks10]

hell yea! i cant wait to get one of these things! btw hi zod XD

[kptkaracho]

hehe nice craig

sorry bout your leg ^^