I didn't read over all 40+ pages of comments (I apologize in advance if already covered), but has anyone bothered to hack their Pandora setup yet?
If you open up your Pandora encloser, you should find that all the data is being read from a micro SD card. If you plug that into your computer, you'll see two partitions: FAT32 (Boot), and EXT3 (Linux). A lot of configuration files can be edited there as well as what front-end/emulator you want to use. Many of these all-in-1 solutions in China are built on the same hardware, but use software configuration to display different front ends and games.
For Pandora 4 setups for example, the SD card also has files for "The King of Air" and "mame player" on it as well. If you modify your config files, your Pandora 4 will boot up like you purchased one of the other devices.
EDIT: From what I recall, Pandora 4 uses FBA for emulation. "The King of Air" might use something else, which is why some games work better under specific front ends.