Best device for mobile Amiga emulation

[FOL]

Its old tech now.
Lots of things have bypassed it.

I agree price is crazy for something that was supposed to be mass produced (well they act like it is).

[Photon]

Originally Posted by FOL

Lots of things have bypassed it.

Can you name some? That run emulators and have good controls, I mean. I judge 'lots' implies at least a dozen or so.

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by Photon

Can you name some? That run emulators and have good controls, I mean. I judge 'lots' implies at least a dozen or so.

There are none. Nothing that has the DPad and keyboard, plus nubs... Which is the whole problem.

They can charge what they like for it, because there's nothing better. I bought mine for £200, and felt it was just about right at that. There's no way I'll be buying their Pandora 2 - the P1 is such a massive all-rounder that the P2 is pointless.

The 1GHz version isn't worth the extra money, and it's incompatible to boot - some games have texture errors due to bugs in the new gfx drivers for the updated SGX.

D.

[CodyJarrett]

Originally Posted by FOL

Its old tech now.
Lots of things have bypassed it.

I'm sure that there was another machine that was technologically outdated but that everyone still liked for certain reasons. I can't quite think what it was now! Starts with an A.

[stainy]

Originally Posted by CodyJarrett

I'm sure that there was another machine that was technologically outdated but that everyone still liked for certain reasons. I can't quite think what it was now! Starts with an A.

Still doesn`t have a D-Pad

[FOL]

Originally Posted by CodyJarrett

I'm sure that there was another machine that was technologically outdated but that everyone still liked for certain reasons. I can't quite think what it was now! Starts with an A.

Thats not the same thing.
Tablets are pretty decent now and out perform it hands down.
Draw back is as stated, does'nt have keyboard etc.

Its been a mess from the start, how long is it, 4 years on and people still dont have their systems. Now they are trying to peddle a new system, thats even worse considering people are still waiting for their original one.

[Photon]

Originally Posted by Dunny

There are none. Nothing that has the DPad and keyboard, plus nubs... Which is the whole problem.

They can charge what they like for it, because there's nothing better. I bought mine for £200, and felt it was just about right at that. There's no way I'll be buying their Pandora 2 - the P1 is such a massive all-rounder that the P2 is pointless.

The 1GHz version isn't worth the extra money, and it's incompatible to boot - some games have texture errors due to bugs in the new gfx drivers for the updated SGX.

D.

Bugs can be fixed, price tag should be around 200 GBP, objects roughly the Pandora's size exist that have faster hardware, unit delivery is disappointing, all this is true.

I reacted to FOL's post because I think the Pandora *is* something we might not see from another manufacturer, ie. more than the box of bits it is.

Who emulates Amiga or any other retro platform on the mighty Androids and Iphones? Nobody, because the screen is tiny and you can't do squat in the emulators, however good they make them.

I'm glad the emu devs got a good platform to update for, and this will help emulation on (loosely) ARM-Linuxish platforms in general. I hope for it to generate at least some portbacks to all kinds of similar handhelds, like the Gamepark handhelds - cos they're nice too

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Photon

Bugs can be fixed, price tag should be around 200 GBP, objects roughly the Pandora's size exist that have faster hardware, unit delivery is disappointing, all this is true.

I reacted to FOL's post because I think the Pandora *is* something we might not see from another manufacturer, ie. more than the box of bits it is.

Who emulates Amiga or any other retro platform on the mighty Androids and Iphones? Nobody, because the screen is tiny and you can't do squat in the emulators, however good they make them.

I'm glad the emu devs got a good platform to update for, and this will help emulation on (loosely) ARM-Linuxish platforms in general. I hope for it to generate at least some portbacks to all kinds of similar handhelds, like the Gamepark handhelds - cos they're nice too

Whos talking about phones, in my opinion, a phone is a phone, nothing more.
I would never use it for emulation, as you pointed out, its to small.

[Amiga1992]

OK so if I slap bang a controller to my 8.9" eeePC I get a better machine.
Seriously, there is nothing to defend the Pandora, it's overpriced and outdated.

[jbenam]

The chinese tablets can show how you can mass produce an ARM system with a Dual-Core 1,2GHz (something WAY more powerful than a Pandora) with controls and sell it cheap as peanuts.

The Pandora guys are making a HUGE profit on every piece they get out. Too bad they should just get real and start selling them at a REAL price (£150-200 should be good) if they want to sell them.

Nowadays you can just get a JXD (yes, I know, they have crappy support. I have one JXD S7100B myself, so I know what I'm talking about), you get touch screen, DPAD, analogs and ANDROID. The keyboard? Just buy a cheap tablet keyboard and you're set!

[FOL]

Originally Posted by jbenam

Nowadays you can just get a JXD (yes, I know, they have crappy support. I have one JXD S7100B myself, so I know what I'm talking about), you get touch screen, DPAD, analogs and ANDROID. The keyboard? Just buy a cheap tablet keyboard and you're set!

My point exactly, i slap a keyboard on my nexus 7 and away we go.
5 cores at 1.8GHz , just the job for portable emulation.

I think support is always going to be divided.

[pubzombie]

It's the qwerty keyboard on a handheld that really sold it for me. I couldn't emulate my fave games from the 80s and 90s without one. Simples
As in simply connected to it no fiddling around.... Clamshell design, nubs and keyboard.
Natural community evolution from gp2x too

[stainy]

Truth

[gunni]

Originally Posted by pubzombie

It's the qwerty keyboard on a handheld that really sold it for me. I couldn't emulate my fave games from the 80s and 90s without one. Simples
As in simply connected to it no fiddling around.... Clamshell design, nubs and keyboard.
Natural community evolution from gp2x too

+1
Does exactly what I wanted it for. I'm happy with it.
They've certainly had their share of disasters along the way and it's terrible that some people still waiting for a unit but given how much money they lost with certain companies in the production process its amazing that people are receiving units at all.
Outdated tech? Undoubtedly but as its purpose is to emulate even more outdated tech then why is it such an issue. Why would anyone fork out crazy money for an "outdated PPC" NG Amiga system? For the reason I got a pandora... not because it's cutting edge but because it checks certain boxes.
I really don't understand the level of aggression on this thread tbh.
Chill out guys...

[stainy]

My first Pandora was £207! that was the price initially... but that had issues with certain manufacturing companies that let them down. That pushed up the price...

You can moan about the price ( now ) but you have nothing to compare.. 8" tablet or laptop with a gamepad attached? good luck getting that in your pocket!

Yes, they are expensive... but there is NOTHING out there doing the same thing, thats anywhere near as versatile and for the same dimensions.

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by stainy

My first Pandora was £207! that was the price initially... but that had issues with certain manufacturing companies that let them down. That pushed up the price...

You can moan about the price ( now ) but you have nothing to compare.. 8" tablet or laptop with a gamepad attached? good luck getting that in your pocket!

Yes, they are expensive... but there is NOTHING out there doing the same thing, thats anywhere near as versatile and for the same dimensions.

This.

D.

[T_hairy_bootson]

I fully agree that the current price isnt doing them any favours but I can understand why they have done it.

You can find em used for reasonable prices, buy a set of case plastics from the german webshop and bingo. minty fresh.

I still use mine daily and its the 256mb version, it does everything I want except youtube and I could do that if I really wanted to download the vids first etc.... (I have a 512mb version as well but I only changed the case plastics on the 256mb one so far so I use that.)

The Amiga and PSX emulators really are awesome. PSX got a nice update recently, you can play games in higher resolution.

Put it up against any netbook/tablet/phone/android game console you want, it really is a totally different animal. Its like someone took all of those things and mashed them into one.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by stainy

Yes, they are expensive... but there is NOTHING out there doing the same thing, thats anywhere near as versatile and for the same dimensions.

The thing is, 95% of the people buying one is using it as an emulator platform. And as such pretty much the old PSP is equal. The new one is a good bit faster. And has touchscreen for a OSD keyboard. And easily fits in a pocket. For the last 5%, is the difference of a physical keyboard vs a OSD one really worth the much higher price-tag, and slower hardware? I don't think so, but it's their money.

[lilalurl]

Originally Posted by Mr B

The thing is, 95% of the people buying one is using it as an emulator platform. And as such pretty much the old PSP is equal.

Yes and no. I own a PSP and have been wondering about getting a Pandora for quite a while.

Consoles (up to 16-bit + PSX and GBA) and arcade (up to CPS2) are pretty well covered on the PSP.

ST, Amiga and DOS are not emulated well enough to my liking. True, you can play decently some games but it is not the most pleasing experience (frame skipping, sound issues, disk images not working etc...). And it is well advised to have everything prepared on the PC before tranferring things because changing them from the PSP side can be tedious.

And also good luck playing some games requiring a lot of keyboard input: ofc text adventures, but also flight simulations like Gunship/GS2000 which use far more keys that can be binded to the PSP buttons (or you would need a lot of combinations, good luck remembering all of them).


So basically, if you have no specific emulation aims and are ready to play a bit of everything retro, then you have a better deal with the PSP (or some smartphones).
However, if you want to play in a comfortable way - emulation-wise and even physically: for instance lying on your back in your bed - I don't see a better thing.


The high price tag has refrained me from buying a Pandora because between the DS/PSP/emulation on both/emulation on PC/other leisures I believe it would be a waste of money.
If I was offered one (or found a cheap one) I would probably use it quite a lot.

[T_hairy_bootson]

Originally Posted by Mr B

The thing is, 95% of the people buying one is using it as an emulator platform. And as such pretty much the old PSP is equal. The new one is a good bit faster. And has touchscreen for a OSD keyboard. And easily fits in a pocket. For the last 5%, is the difference of a physical keyboard vs a OSD one really worth the much higher price-tag, and slower hardware? I don't think so, but it's their money.

hahahahaha, 95% what a load of bullcrap, I love how you always come back to this thread and talk absolute crap.

PSP has a fullspeed AGA amiga emulator with HDF support now does it?