Pandora, details of a genuine Z killer! Options

[Capn_Fish]

I donn't care if it's ugly, but that keyboard looks horrible!

[Chero]

This one already looks a bit better :
The black version

Now
- integrate bluetooth (which will never happen)
- use the psion or the hp-jornada-720 keyboard
- make the screen bigger (borders are too thick)
- use another cpu

for those who are interested : gpe for gp2x already exists

[ZDevil]

The first impression of the pics:

Terrible keyboard layout.
There seems to be almost no key travel.
The number keys are curiously separated from the rest of the keyboard by the gamepad. It would be inconvenient to keep stretching my fingers (which?? ) and moving my fingers back and forth between the number and the letter keys.
Not enough function keys (ctrl, alt, shift, meta, etc)... How much can you do under Linux? It is still very awkward to use even if the game buttons can be mapped to make up for this.

Look:
Not sexy at all. It's looks more like a cocktail of many things but doesn't look very tasty. The "Wow" factor is not there.

Attractive hardware specs do not automatically give you a good design.

How big would be the difference if Sharp was making it instead?

[adf]

The first impression of the pics:

Terrible keyboard layout.
There seems to be almost no key travel.
The number keys are curiously separated from the rest of the keyboard by the gamepad. It would be inconvenient to keep stretching my fingers (which?? ) and moving my fingers back and forth between the number and the letter keys.
Not enough function keys (ctrl, alt, shift, meta, etc)... How much can you do under Linux? It is still very awkward to use even if the game buttons can be mapped to make up for this.

Look:
Not sexy at all. It's looks more like a cocktail of many things but doesn't look very tasty. The "Wow" factor is not there.

Attractive hardware specs do not automatically give you a good design.

How big would be the difference if Sharp was making it instead?

If sharp were making it, we'd know that it would be almost entirely unsupported. With Pandora, we at least don't know that yet

[tg]

It does not matter how well it is supported when it looks like some kind of a sick mix between a gaming device and mini laptop wannabe for visually impaired (otherwise why such ridiculous keyboard with huge letters).
Successfull pocket devices must be functional but also attractive (because geeks and early adopters have more taste than average Joe Sixpack) and the best way to achieve this is to go with some type of minimalistic design. Sharp really nailed the form factor with their clam devices and it is a crime they screwed up on the software side and eventually bailed out of this competition. Nobody since clam Z series has come even close to producing a good pocket laptop/pda. Even today, if Sharp would only add evdo (or something similar for always on fast internet) to the most recent Z clam device the result would be light years away from everything else that is on the market.

[cycle_55]

I've been watching this discussion for a few days and have been trying not to comment. Sorry guys I have to say it.....anyone who thinks this is going to replace a Z has never seen or used a Z
. All the best for the New Year.

[nilch]

The Looks vs Functionality debate is a very old one. There's one camp who will go for function over form and there will be the 2nd camp who will favour looks over function (Vertu camp ?).

But thankfully there's a third camp - the majority, who want a harmonious balance of form and function together in one 'sexy looking' and 'powerful' device.

So there goes, this Pandora caters to only the 1st camp. And thats why I think this will be a niche device, not even for geeks like most Zaurus users.

[speculatrix]

the pictures are rendered from a CAD drawing, so I would guess this is still vapourware; however, I hope they release it, and if it is ugly then make a refined version or new case! any new device that's an affordable linux-hackers' paradise is to be welcomed.

[geeko]

The specs are awesome, but the keyboard looks terrible.

[the_oak]

Looks could be improved greatly by just making all buttons and keys same color as the case, so they don't glare out. And perhaps shrinking those 2 huge buttons.

Tab key looks like shift+E. It really needs control and alt keys too. Something that the Pandora has, but I have always missed on my 6000 is a \ and escape key. (Is that a \ over the V key and a / over the Y key? A right shift key would be a nice addition.

Other than that, the size looks like a little bigger than a Nintendo DS (good). Maybe a little squarish, but looks like a great start to me.

Attached File(s)

 pandora_white.jpg ( 46.44K ) Number of downloads: 45

 

[desertrat]

I can put up with the crappy look of the keyboard, but without a "full" keyboard (ie at least as many keys as the Z) then it's not a Z replacement.

[relei]

Hello,

that is a device for gamers it comes from the gp2x scene. I knew one of the guy, how has made this device and I must say it is a very interesting project. The techniques specification are very good, bud you must realise it is not plant as a replacement for the zaurus. Also you must recognize it is the very first rendering of this device, nothing is fix. For interesting people look for German on forum.gp2x.de and English www.gp32x.com.

Greed’s

Rene

PS: Sorry for my bad English.

[relapse808]

I personally like it. I dont think the actual hardware layout is very attractive, but I do think the specs are. I also like the built in gamepad and personally I buy a lot of these handheld devices for emulation and gaming purposes.

[Frederic Bergero...]

Not a Z replacement as you cannot even type the letter Z on this funny keyboard :-)

[teh.sean]

I think it looks pretty awesome as a GAME platform. As a PORTABLE LINUX COMPUTER, it is severly lacking. The best point made here was to use the 'no space' keyboards of the psion and later jornada. You would think that they would have figured that out by now. Other than the keyboard spacing, I think it looks nice (the black model). I'd be interested to see how well this markets. This would be a nice replacement for my PSP, as I currently use that for most of my classic emulation. I haven't set up my Z to game yet, but I tried out the right side navigation buttons, and they didn't seem very usable.