A physical Dummy, Power Usage and MIPI

[Zarkon]

Very informative post ED.

Curious as to one of your statements:

Based on my measurements, the OMAP5 uses less power than the OMAP3 for the same processing power.

So basically, you could limit the Pyra to be the speed of the Pandora and the battery should last longer (this could be some low-power mode).

If you set one core of the omap 5 at 600mhz would it be faster then the omap 3 the original pandora used anyway due to architecture improvements, and would it draw the same amount of power or less?  Can the second core be fully disabled or put in an uber-low power mode in some way?

 

[TrashyMG]

^ I've done some benchmarks on the Ti omap5432 EVM dev board.. I can't compare it to current draw on the Pandora as I haven't tested that yet.. but I do know when setting both the a15s to 500mhz the omap5 can compile a program faster than a 1Ghz pandora set at 1Ghz.

 

[edgex004]

How about making a bigger battery compatible with existing latch holes?

That way people not wanting to lug around that bigger battery can also have a compatible case.

Also if a better battery technology becomes available at the same size its a quick swap and possibly some firmware changes away from working.

Becoming a mipi member is where my quest into things mipi ended. Membership would make sense for testing new screens in the future too.

The height of the Pandora is already at the limit of being pocketable for me I would definitely appreciate the option to have the device be as short or shorter than the Pandora. If it needed to increase, I'd prefer it increase in length (more distance between the hands when gaming). Unfortunately that could make thumb typing more difficult... I'll just leave it to ED and enjoy the Pyra however he makes it.

 

[fusion_power]

^ I've done some benchmarks on the Ti omap5432 EVM dev board.. I can't compare it to current draw on the Pandora as I haven't tested that yet.. but I do know when setting both the a15s to 500mhz the omap5 can compile a program faster than a 1Ghz pandora set at 1Ghz.

 Cool. So the rough "Per-MHz-efficience" from the OMAP5 is really much better than the one from the Pandora SoC, very nice. I guess its also because of the Multicore of the OMAP5? 

The height of the Pandora is already at the limit of being pocketable for me I would definitely appreciate the option to have the device be as short or shorter than the Pandora. If it needed to increase, I'd prefer it increase in length (more distance between the hands when gaming). Unfortunately that could make thumb typing more difficult... I'll just leave it to ED and enjoy the Pyra however he makes it.

If we could fit in a bigger battery, the length of the Pyra could indeed a little bit increased, it would still fit in the pocket and with a more "streamlined" design even better than the "brick like" Pandora had ever fit. I also could imagine a clever Battery Design where the Pyra Battery is longer and more powerful than the old Pandora Battery (same measurements except the lenght). If done right you still could fit a normal (shorter) Pandora Battery within the Pyra if it supports both lenghts. Of course you could not fit a Pyra Battery in the Pandora but I guess this is a tradeoff we can deal with.

 

[Annales]

Try to keep the Pyra as small as possible. It's one of its core selling points (and difference).

 

[WizardStan]

Are we to take it then that you've completely abandoned the EXT port?

Not that anyone ever really put it to use, but it made me happy knowing that I could have serial, IR, or just a bunch of random buttons and LEDs.

I know there are some people that are seriously going to be miffed about the lack of line level audio out.

What about these hackable features? Will there at least be pads for addition GPIO or serial lines if we don't mind doing some soldering? What about the GPIO behind the LCD?

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, serial over usb should still work, and whatever we don't use will be added as contact points somewhere.

 

[Natsu]

I'm ok with using screws to hold the battery in place.

I'm pretty sure most are not.

 

[TrashyMG]

I'm ok with using screws to hold the battery in place.

I'm pretty sure most are not.

Eh It doesn't bug me.

 

[Klumpen]

I'm ok with using screws to hold the battery in place.

I'm pretty sure most are not.

Eh It doesn't bug me.

I wouldn't care either, it actually would be a good solution to fix the problems we have with the tilting bottom side or loose batteries.

Ship the needed screwdriver with the carrying case, or put it somewhere inside the stylus (screw off top half, get screwdriver) or even make it the back of the stylus (neither fashionable nor cheap, but practial solution) and everyone is happy.

 

[bzar]

^ Me neither

 

[Natsu]

Or just make sure the case enclose it better or have some kind of spring or materiel to keep it in place.

Also the stylus we are using isn't the XStylus Crayon?

 

[TeDaDeS]

Having a upgradeable 3G module might come in handy, as 4G uses less power and is faster.

When the Pyra is finished 4G will be more accessible in areas.

And it looks like they will drop 3G in the future to be replaced by 4G, leaving 2G as backup (meaning this 3G module will work but only with speeds about <50KB/s).

 

[N3Cr0]

The AllWinner A80 sounds very promising: Octacore with 4 Cortex 15 at up to 2,5 Ghz and 4 Cortex 7

I would be very happy with this chip

 

[Klumpen]

The AllWinner A80 sounds very promising: Octacore with 4 Cortex 15 at up to 2,5 Ghz and 4 Cortex 7.

I would be very happy with this chip

Even if it drains your battery in a few hours, fries your device from the inside and completely dies in a few months?

I read stuff like that about allwinner chips in some chinese trash electronics.

 

[N3Cr0]

OK, that's an argument. I guess the Pyra would need air (or better: water) cooling and a heavy battery (or a small nuclear plant).

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nezImUP0w

 

[Natsu]

Even if it drains your battery in a few hours,

Just like the OMAP5? It's not like we have to use the cores all the time.Plus we might have a bigger battery.

fries your device from the inside and completely dies in a few months?

I read stuff like that about allwinner chips in some chinese trash electronics.

This is blatant fear mongering.

 

[fusion_power]

I'm ok with using screws to hold the battery in place.

I'm pretty sure most are not.

Million happy NDS users don't mind the screws for the battery cover of their devices. I still like the idea to include a matching (sonic-)screwdriver into the Pyra Stylus.  So the tool to also dissable the Pyra is already included, that would give a straight 10/10 from iFixit!  B)

 

[Trip]

Battery technology has come on quite a long way in the past 5 years. You could look at using some of the newer advances to improve the existing batteries instead of making the battery bigger. That way it would be backward compatible with the Pandora and be good for both.

I remember reading about someone (at Hull or York university I think?) adding a thin layer of graphene into a normal battery to improve contact and lessen the internal resistance. They found that they could charge the enhanced battery at 20 minutes instead of 2 hours (or something like that) and it didn't need any major changes to the manufacturing process and still kept the cost low enough to be worth it.

Something else for you to think about. Not that you don't have enough on your plate already

 

[ExquisiteCorpse]

very excited. I trust there will be a model without a sim card slot and 3g module? I'd rather have WiFi only and longer battery