Mostly entertaining myself: used for retro emulation gaming, web surfing, remote admin over ssh, music (10h of battery), watching videos, tinkering with an exotic platform.
Being asked for input about what features it should have beforehand was very nice. 10 hours of battery is something I really enjoyed while on-the-go. Having a keyboard is convenient and a major upgrade from my previous handheld (gp2x), along with the ability for homebrew apps. The software repository is great. SDXC support, 2 slots.
It is a little too thick to my taste, the OS is not designed for a small touchscreen and feels awkward at times, I had an issue with the analog sticks sensitivity on the desktop (pyra has improved sticks).
Keep in mind that the pandora was not intended to be a consumer product but a limited run by a community member for a community of handheld enthusiasts of a device made to address perceived flaws in the GP32 and GP2X handhelds. The objective was to grow from a handheld gaming console to a fully capable pocket computer running on opensource.
Mainly, I use it as a tiny PC that I carry with me on the go. I use Linux at home, so I essentially have the same software on the Pandora as on my desktop. I can comfortably browse non-mobile websites, email, edit documents with LibreOffice, SSH, remote into work (my workplace uses a Java applet for remote access so can't do it with Android). I can also set a virtual resolution in X11 so that the screen acts as a panning viewport so that more things fit. And of course I can play games on it (although I'm not much of a gaming enthusiast.)
Like:
- Battery life: 10 hours is actual screen on, wifi on time I get
- Size: fits comfortably in my pocket
- Physical keyboard: much easier to enter symbols, doesn't cover the screen
