Design F for P2

[Drammurt]

The previous design E had some flaws. So after some tinkering here's a further developed design. Again, the P2 needs some geeky features to stand out from the crowd. The concept consists of two products: a 5.0 inch HDMI-capable LCD-screen and a headless ARM-PC. Combining the two gives a clamshell mini-PC.
 
The detachable LCD-screen has a micro HDMI slot, a USB-touchscreen, a 1500 mAh 3,7v battery in the back, infrared reciever, on screen settings to adjust brightness, saturation, etc. and a 1/8 inch screwthread in the bottom. This can be used to firmly attach a cold shoe, a tripod, a stand, etc.  I've seen two IPS-screens with nearly the same dimensions: one 1280x720 HD-screen and a  1980x1080 Full HD-screen. I'd rather had 16:10 but that ratio seems difficult nowadays.
 
Uses: as a primary monitor for a PC, Raspberry Pi or another P2. Or as a secondary monitor for a PC or a P2 with touch-functionality. With a cold shoe attached, photographers can use it as a fieldmonitor. Just connecting the USB-touchpad to a PC can turn the screen into a mouse- or drawingpad.
 
The base consists of a full 61-key QWERTY-keyboard, D-Pad, 4 face buttons, 2 analog controls, 3 game buttons and 4 shoulderbuttons on the back. On the front there's a 40-pin header for all connectivity like GPIO, UART, SPI, I2C, LCD, TV-out and all the other interfaces the chip features, a microSD slot , a full SD slot and two audio connectors for headphones + mic or 2x headphones or 2.1-speaker set. On the back there are two full size USB slots, a micro USB slot, a mini USB slot and a full size HDMI slot. Also there's an infrared transmitter and a reciever. With the reciever/transmitter combination you can easily turn your P2 into a replacement for any remote conttrol. The batteries (3000 mAh, 3.7v) are not replaceable because it would add about 6 mm in thickness.
 
The dimensions are 124 x 87 x 23 mm which makes it perfectly pocketable which is a very important feature. Current Pandora is 140 x 84 x 29.
Battery life is 4500 mAh 3.7v which is a little bit more than current 4000 mAh. Basically it are 3 of the same batteries (103,5 x 47,5 x 3 mm), 1 in the screen, 2 in the base to make production easier.
The screen has a locking mechanism. There's a little slider on the back of the screen to lock the screen in place. The metal sliders keep the pressure off the connectors.
The cables don't have to go through a hinge, making it possible to use rather thick (and reliable) flatcables.
It's still a boxy design, but a lot more rounded than design E. The only way to be able to put it in your pocket is by using this sober design. Adding ergonomic features adds thickness and hurts portability which is important to me and imho a key feature of the Pandora.
In my sketch I forgot to draw the grills for the speakers. They should be in the left and right raised part of the base.
 
Here are some pictures. I was testing a rendering plugin for Sketchup and I'm not so happy with the results. The scheme supposed to be dark blue with silver (metallic) shiny buttons. The renders are pretty bad, but hey, it's only a concept. The Pandora-logo should also be sprankling silver. Of course this scheme is only for the first 100 premium versions for a premium price.
 

 
And here are some more pictures with the screen detached and from the back of the device.

Spoiler

 

[FRZ]

Looks good but, too many USB ports maybe? Otherwise, that could work.

Sent from my N860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ekianjo]

Rather than making the screen detachable, having a screen that can fold over the keyboard, for Android operation for example, would be more interesting. Detachable screens are not THAT practical for anything. 

Besides, your shoulder buttons are way too small. 

On the front there's a 40-pin header for all connectivity like GPIO, UART, SPI, I2C, LCD, TV-out and all the other interfaces the chip features, a microSD slot , a full SD slot and two audio connectors for headphones + mic or 2x headphones or 2.1-speaker set.

Who wants to have a 40 pin header on the FRONT of the console?  If anything it should be on the side or in the back. Imagine how unpractical it would be if you connect anything to it from the front. 

 

[SNESFAN]

switch the usb ports location with the 40 pin header. Would be more natural for a "pandora dock" to plug in that way

I only use my usb port when it's on my desk and plugging a mouse and keyboard into the front instead of the back would just be more convenient 

 

[Mr_Loon]

Hi Drammurt,

Your concept really seems to be taking shape, wish I had your CAD / rendering skills, or any CAD / rendering skills whatsoever for that matter.

I've got some specific questions :

1) Do you have any idea / goal of the likely cost to the customer for the different modules, i.e. screen & base?

2) How thick is the lid? Is the lid depicted on the render thick enough to hold the screen, battery & casing?

3) I like the look of your method for connecting the lid & base, but don't fully understand how it would work. Is this based on an existing design? If so then what? If it is your design than how does the slider in the lid mechanism work?

4) How does the hinge lock at an angle desirable to the user?

5) Good to see you included the tripod connector in the screen, why not go one step further and also include one in the base? This allows for multiple additional usage scenarios, in car as sat nav etc 

A general point / question for one and all

I'm not sure I'd have any use for the screen as a 'dumb' second screen, do other people feel differently? It's a nice feature to have but not one that would justify the additional expense / complexity of development IMHO. If other people feel differently then I may well incorporate HDMI in into my concept / design.

My overall perspective had not changed in that you'd gain more from having the PCB in the lid & a removable battery that could be attached to the lid or base as required, perhaps the battery could be attached / detached using the same method you have suggested for the screen (the hooks would be attached to the battery case).

 

[monty]

Generally good looking design, but I'm afraid I really don't see the point of a detatchable screen. It makes the design much more complex. Good if you have a tablet which is primarily used for casual media consumption & angry birds, but sometimes does a spot of desktop work. But why would you ever detatch the screen on a device which is primarily used for game emulation & desktop? Where would you put the keyboard when it wasn't being used? On your desk like a comically small dock?

 

[Farox]

Interesting design.. but there are some details that didn't like (IMHO).

A) Dimension : i think the (61 key) keyboard will be very very small and less practical to use ...instead i really like the current dimension of Pandora case, maybe we could try to fit the 61 key keyboard on the current case dimension.

B  ) Detatchable screen is only usefull if you implement a dpad a the 4 button to play like an android handheld (but this needs a motherboard inside ..unless we implement some sort of wireless connection to be able to send the video signal to the detatched screen... i know i'm a lazy dreamer).

C) place the USB one on the retro and one on the front and place a more small connector (of 40 pin or what is needed) on the retro of the case.

D) the rear buttons needs to be improved.

Anyway i really admire your sketch ability.

 

[Jerom]

I know it's a detail, but I would love to see a backlit keyboard on the new pandora, it's the only thing I miss on the current one.

 

[Binky]

^ the iControlPad2 has a backlit keyboard, so its very likely that the Pandora2 will also.

----

I really like this design. The changes I'd make are:

• batteries should be replaceable by unscrewing the case and unplugging them if a convenient hatch was too complicated.
• The clips for the upper part look too weak in that render
• Make it wider and shorter - width is the main problem with the pandora's pocketability - 15x8cm would be a better size
• Put the dpad/abxy/nubs in a row to make better use of space (this should be perfectly possible with a 15cm wide unit)
• The 40-pin header is great, but put it at the back
• I'd have two headset sockets on the front
• the microSD slot on the back
• and a couple of USB ports on the front
• I'd use microUSB not miniUSB

More to come later

 

[comradekingu]

stack the usb ports duble, also, the shoulder buttons are too narrow, if you are to get anything out of having them that small on the side there needs to be additional ones farther in for fingertip actuation.

I like the dual shoulderbuttons though, good idea.

The hinge seems like it will break easily when the screen is not docced.

 

[overgauss]

First of all that shit's epic yo!

Second I don't have the time right now to really dig into why I think the twin usb design is needed and how I envisioned it (I may go into it later if there is interest).  But really it's not about my design but rather yours.

So I'll limit my scope for right now and mention that it struck me that (if I'm not mistaken) reversing the orientation of either the left or right coupled usb pair should allow one to flip the screen around so that it lays flat on the keyboard and enters tablet mode.

 

[Grench]

I like the idea of using multiple smaller batteries - though that gets into some interesting issues with charging/discharging them.  Maybe have the base unit's batteries insert from the sides?

I would be inclined to skip trying to cram a battery into the lid - the lid needs to be thin.  Making that battery user serviceable would be a bit of a nightmare as well.

Maybe this part - for the sake of simplicity - should be reduced to a single battery inserting from one of the sides so that it locks in place?

Having the 40 pin header coming out the front is fine - so long as we have a blank/patch to plug it for the other 99% of us who would never use it.  For the instances where it would be used, it's going to be sitting on a bench with other equipment too - so I don't see an issue with it.  The giant 40 pin IDE style connector is probably a bit much though - maybe instead use the more condensed 44 pin PATA laptop HDD cable header that was used in 2.5" pre-SATA HDDs?

Overgauss had a very good idea there.  If the electrical connectors and connecting pins for the screen/base attachment were two sided and symmetrical, the screen could be detached, flipped and connected into a tablet mode.  That would actually be pretty cool.

If given a choice, I'd rather have a 2nd full sized SD slot than a 2nd full sized USB host port.

I don't see a volume wheel on the render - is that on the right hand side then?

I like how this is progressing, but it might be time to simplify and condense a bit.