Case Improvements and the keymat


Weekend is over for me now (6:13 am) :)
I continued the assembly and will post the pictures later today. We're getting there :D

Off to bed now, more later :)

Wait? ...(reads again) ... mumbl ... 6:13!
I hope you have good blinds on your windows.
Sleep well!
:)
 
You know, the time flows differently in Germany...
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You might not like it but that's not how you talk about some one's "creative" effort...

Hey, I didn't meant any offense to your efforts. It was just that combination of red and silver, plastic and aluminium doesn't look very good. May be it's just me.
However the black one looked better, but I still like pure plastic or pure aluminium better.
 
Do you literally sleep in your office? I used to work for someone who did that...
Nope, I'm doing the assembly and mods at home :)

BTW: The first round of case material samples has also arrived today, so I guess I need to make a video as well (AND upload the pictures from the assembly here...)

But first, I need to ship out all orders :)
Thanks to my trainee, we should be done with that within a few hours.
 
Well, I assume that if ED is shipping the production prototypes, they all tested out well.

How much longer until ED pushes the big red production starting button? I guess a little more case work is needed?
 
I'm not sure if an aluminium lid of the same dimensions would be more or less robust than the polycarbonate lid we're likely to get at present. Any time you drop it, you're more likely to dent aluminium permanently (until you take it to a car garage and get it beaten out from the inside at least), while polycarbonate has an entirely plastic stretch response until it fractures.

Some high-end Thinkpad had MgCast (magnesium alloy, really aluminum with magnesium) lids. And it was better than plastic. I haven't seen better material for that purpose (Thinkpad down base could be carbon fiber).

On other side it can be a good solution to cover aluminum edges with rubber (easier to fabricate than plastic, or even standard rubber with custom cut).
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So - about radio signals for the wifi, bluetooth, 4G...

There are high-end aluminum smartphones by millions and millions, and their wireless coms work without magic :)

A solution is simply: you left a very thin window for radio signals and cover it with rubber. Lots of aluminum phones had this solution.

Other solution is to add rubber pieces on aluminum edges, in this way you get shock protection and a way for radio signals, even better grip and even they can work as surface contact when using in a table.
 
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There are highebdh aluminum smartphones by millions and millions, and their wireless coms work without magic :)

A solution is simply: you left a very thin window for radio signals and cover it with rubber. Lots of aluminum phones had this solution.

Other solution is to add rubber pieces on aluminum edges, in this way you get shock protection and a way for radio signals, even better grip and even they can work as surface contact when using in a table.

You are promoting form over function.

What you are describing are 'work arounds' for having chosen the wrong case material. That results in compromised antennas and, "you're holding it wrong".
https://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/apple-responds-over-iphone-4-reception-issues-youre-holding-th/

A far better solution is to simply make the case out of a properly chosen material that does not block the very signals you are trying to use.
 
I think most phones with aluminium backs radiate their radio signals mostly through the glass or plastic at the front.
Behind the glass/plastic are a million or so color LEDs with micro-traces connecting them all to a multi-layer circuit board - often with the SoC and everything else behind it. Essentially we lock the phone's radio antennas behind Faraday walls.

Those aesthetics have resulted in very inefficient but high bling phones from manufacturers pursuing clueless purchasers.
 
... simplymake the case out of a properly chosen material that does not block the very signals you are trying to use.

You are too much simplistic here: things are not black or white.

Aluminum is worse for radio signals, and plastic is worse for heat. That is one blocks heat the other radio signals.

The best solution is not your simplistic one, but to choose mixed elements, some parts in one material and others in other material. You can have aluminum case with plastic windows for radio signals. Most smartphones in aluminum work perfectly because they don't take a simplistic way as you propose (only one material).
 
I often wondered then... How does the GPD Pocket "work" then? That has an aluminium body and no obvious plastic wi-fi spots (though it's been a while since i last took out my pocket to check)
 
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