Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

I was just wondering if we could get an idea of how many ITT users buying Pandora consoles. Also who? All votes are public :D

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Got a Beagle, may get a Pandora later.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

I want it bad but can't really afford another new toy right now.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

As cool as it looks, I wish they sold a none gaming model also..

I'm not much of a gamer, but I like the whole super "mini" computer thing. Now with the Pandora, the built in controller turns me off. I would consider it if it gets good reviews though...

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Hell, yes. Like my 800, but kbd, much faster, 10 hr battery, USB slave and master. I can't imagine why the game controllers might be an issue. At most, you ignore them (but prolly you use them for *something*).

The only advantage the Nokias have is the camera, and they never used them properly.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Hi,

I am rather new to owning an NIT but the Pandora does look interesting.

Not much of a gamer but am intrigued in the multimedia abilities more.

If the reviews come out and rave over the multimedia abilities, I might be interested so I voted for the wait and see the reviews first option in the poll.

If the reviews are less than stellar, I think I will wait for the next generation of the NIT.


David

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Only? How about having a real software distribution. ;)

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Yes I preordered the Pandora. And the gaming keys could come useful to bind to ctrl, alt, and other symbols lacking from its keyboard.
I hope to use it as a mini-laptop - I'm not interested in gaming at all.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

I've pre-ordered one; will serve as a useful testbed for code for the next Nokia device (rather than buying what will eventually only be a slightly cheaper Beagle board - after shipping, tax, etc.).

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

I'm keeping an eye on Pandora. I'll wait until the "N900" arrives and at what price point, then compare to Pandora. Also the software availability for each platform will be very important.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

They showed full-blown Ubuntu 8 running on it. If they don't want to implement an apt-get or whatever repository, I'm sure someone else will.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

what can you do with it out of the box? their website is intimidating, dont want to read it.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

I have been waiting for a "REAL" software distribution for 3 years, one that comes with a "REAL" window manager. Is there one coming?

I bought my 770 in Jan 2005, I'll buy a n900 when it comes out. I think however Pandora project is more along the lines of a handheld computer, than nokia devices. Don't get me wrong Nokia has done a great job, but its apparent after three years the only way I get computer functionality on Nokia devices is to do it myself. (cdrom/dvd access, cd/dvd burner, gamepad, KDE (or a real window manager). I am looking for a full distribution on a hand held (pocketable handheld)

Like U2 says "But I still haven't found What I'm looking for"

I've had lots of fun trying though

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

I love the form factor and the overall design, but I won't get a Pandora because the keyboard layout would drive me mad.

There's enough space to have provided a decent keyboard, but the dissonance due to the spacebar position, the lack of a TAB somewhere near the Q, and the lack of BackSpace somewhere near the P, would drive me crazy very quickly as I move between this and other keyboards. The keyboard, for me, is the dealbreaker.

Ideally there would also be an HSPA radio, but I understand why this isn't going to happen. Last weekend I was in an HSPA coverage area for the first time, using my N800 over bluetooth with an HSPA phone, and it was like having a whole new tablet. The difference in usability between HSPA and GPRS or EDGE is game-changing. I'm looking forward to the N900.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

I'm interested, but I gotta focus. I already develop for Symbian OS, various Linuxes, and Maemo... I jumped at a Neo Freerunner, and now it's sitting around waiting for a real software infrastructure.

So I'll watch how Pandora evolves...

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

bah, get one of those laptop cameras and attach it to the top of the pandora screen as needed ;)

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Same here. The absence of a right shift key is another problem, but one that seems to be common with mini-keyboards.

Funny, I'm not exactly a loyal fan of the Internet Tablets, and the N810 keyboard is far from ideal. Despite that, the N810 still offers the best combination of pocketability and a (sort of) useable keyboard that I've found. I'm ready to jump ship when something more to my liking comes along, but so far, nothing has. And I had such great hopes for Pandora....

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

i think the keyboard is designed for thumb typing, not touch typing.

as such the shift key may well be more of a temporary caps lock. that is, press shift then the letter you want, not hold shift while pressing the letter.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Of course the keyboard should be hackable as pleased I think. I am going to need ctrl, alt, and accented letters. At least, tab and esc and pgup and down are available as second functions. That is going to be a job for xmodmap?

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

That's my situation, too. I'd love to be able to drop the cash on it today, but with the holidays only two months away, I can't. I'll definitely order one, after my wallet recovers from Xmas. It will be a nice bonus that the software will be more mature, too, by then.

I have a GP2X and had fun with it. When I got bored with retro gaming, I picked up a N800 for media and internet. I'd been considering getting a Netbook to run a desktop distro, since I can't afford a typical UMPC. Then, the Pandora appeared. :D

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Same boat here - I already spent all my money on another "toy" - a townhouse ;)

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

I plan to simply ignore the keyboard completely! :D I'm only interested in those other buttons. When I want to type real text I will use an onscreen keyboard and a stylus, or a BT keyboard.

(What made me finally decide to get one was that they added BT (although late in the project.))

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

that is the whole point why I will wait for a more polished software solution. (but the hardware is exactly what I'm looking for)

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Well I see that I'm not in a majority position as usual, but that's OK, I can rationalize my way through :-)

I *am* tempted, as a former Psion and Zaurus user, by the clamshell design combined with state-of-the-art power, connectivity and battery life. Sorely tempted.

OTOH, I'm not really a hacker, not really a gamer, and a bit tired of being a beta-tester. After all I already have three tablets and a Zaurus, it's not like I *need* a fifth diamond in the rough to pass the time with...

So to save my sanity, and as an uncommon last resort, I try my hand at common sense :

* if there ISN'T a second batch, the platform will have failed, and I will have one less dust-gathering paperweight I can't bring myself to part with because I'm too weak...

* if there IS a second batch (and third, and...), which I hope for, at that time there will enough user feedback on what the gizmo is really capable of, what's available or not, where it's going, etc. Maybe even some uncovered glaring design error(s) may have been corrected in the new batches... I guess I can change my mind then :-)

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

1. I sincerely hope I'm getting one! If not, I promised certain British blokes an unpleasant visit from certain nasty, East European acquaintances of mine.:cool:

2. About the wireless radio remarks: Pandora has a fully functional USB port, so it'll only take for some OSS Linux drivers to surface for those sticks to work.

3. About the game controllers: I give it three months until some perv hacks them for interactive pr0n. That'll boost sales, especially from this community. :D

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

I'm familiar with this argument as a defense of lousy keyboards, and I don't doubt the truth of it. But it assumes that thumb typing and touch typing are the only two options, and that is hardly accurate. I don't expect to be able to touch type on a pocketable computer, but I do want to be able to type comfortably and rapidly enough to do some serious writing. Thumb typing is not adequate for these purposes. If I could use two fingers from each hand, on a keyboard that's reasonably close to standard arrangement, I could be happy.

In the past, there have been pocketable computers with usable keyboards. Psion and HP both made them. More recently, some models of the Sharp Zaurus came close, but (for me, at least) not close enough.


Sticky shift and other modifier keys can be helpful, especially on small keyboards. But not having the right shfit key is still going to slow down anybody who knows his/her way around a real keyboard!

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

It's to big w/o enough screen real estate. they should have used the entire top half for screen.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

I know I going to get flamed for this, but do any of you Pandora fans know if it will be able to run Windows XP?

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Consider yourself flamed, though I'm too lazy to do it properly. It's an ARM processor; Windows NT has only ever been released for -4- 6 architectures: MIPS, Power, Alpha, x86, x86-64, and Itanium. You do the math.*


*Yes, determining membership in a set is math.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

@migs: It's not x86, so no windows xp or vista. You should look at an MID if you're tied to Windows. I think the Aigo MID might get drivers for XP at some point...

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

The screen is bigger than the N8X0's. It is, in fact, the same screen that is used for the Archos 605.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

No, Vista only.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

You're talking about the "Psion Six Finger Type Style"? I used to be really good at it, being able to take meeting notes directly to my Psion Series 3a (back in the early nineties, when such a thing was still considered to be [eerie echo on] From The Future--ture--ure--re!!!!!).

Pandora's keypad is obviously no match for that of the Psion Series 5xx (the best ever!), but it might be on par with the Series 3xx, which is not too bad. And if the layout suxx, it won't be too hard to change it, requiring harly more than a config file, some stickers and a pot of Diamond Glaze.

If only I could transplant Pandora's guts into a Psion Series 5mx shell, I'd have something very close to my ideal computer-for-everything. Ahh-- dreams; the broken shards of reality slicing through your virtual feet...

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

I wouldn't know. I was an HP guy and never had the Psion experience. Given the fervor of the testimonials (not just yours), I accept that Psion keyboards (or some of them) were better. But I was able to do a lot of typing with the HP 200LX, and I would be very happy with a keyboard that good.

But if by "six finger type style" you mean four fingers and two thumbs, my style was similar.

[Note: Karel's color enhancement removed above]

How foolish of us not to have realized that we were then at the apogee of miniature keyboard development and the future offered no more than endless opportunities to lower our expectations. :D

If you say so, I'll be interested to see how you implement it. I just don't think the Pandora has enough keys to be turned into a usable keyboard.

I've wondered about the possibility of squeezing the N810 into a 200LX clamshell, retaining the HP keyboard. That could be a very nice palmtop computer! Somebody could probably do it, but I am not that somebody. And as I get older and grumpier, I'm becoming less interested in spending time making my computers usable.

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

I have almost pre-ordered the Pandora three times in the last two days. I have sat on the credit card information page for a very long time, staring at the words. But I have finally decided to take the same position as fpp:

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Hmmm... either of those would be killer, but I'm gonna have to go with the sawed-off Kaypro.

Seriously, wouldn't it be fun, a Kaypro with everything chopped about 6" behind the display, a slot-loading optical with a 5.25" floppy facade, and batteries for a 48-hour runtime? (And those lovely individual-switch keyboards. You know you could mod those, take keys off an old one, nibble out more room, and get extra keys... Not like the Pandora. :p Gaming controls, in the limited sense of an inverted-T cursor pad, were thus attainable.)

Really, the only problem with this is destroying a perfectly good Kaypro to build it. :(

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Common sense and geek need are standing on my head fighting while I have the order page open... its been a fierce battle for the last 40 hrs... now that the date has been extended to Sunday .....Wonder who will win :)

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

You, Sir, are a seriously disturbed (and disturbing!) individual. ;)

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

That's funny - somewhere in a dark musty corner of these forums there must still be an old post of mine, with a mockup picture I'd made of a 770 as the top half of a modern Psion Series5... It's true that as far as clamshells are concerned, it's been downhill ever since.
Oh, it's not just me then ? Thanks for that :-)

Re: Are you getting a Pandora console?
 

Here's my all time gold list:

1. Best pocket computer ever: Psion Series 3xx.
2. Easiest pocket computer ever: Newton MessagePad 2x00.
3. Best keyboard on pocket computer ever: Psion Series 5xx.
4. Sexiest pocket computer ever: Nokia N800.

(By "easiest" I mean: most user-friendly and least intrusive)