ED P2 successor notes - and a suggestion.

[Hồng Thất Công]

Sorry, I'm not too technical but just want to throw out  my wishful thinking.  If P2 is modular then it would be nice.  Take out the screen and you have instant 4.3" mini tablet for things like email, browsing and such things that noobs do these days on the iphones and other small tablets. So the screen will have it's own battery and CPU/GPU to power whatever it needs like, say, the S4 now.  The screen would be able to attach to the base in either horizontal or vertical  The base would have another battery, GPU/CPU, keyboard, gaming controls, etc.  You know what I mean.......  It's kind of if you take 2 S4's, lay them on top of each other and make a clamshell design out of it with, it wouldn't be that thick....It acually look very sexy and powerful  

 

[Grench]

Great discussion.

Thinking way outside the box...

Would there be any advantage to using 2 (or more) mid-powered SoC modules and compiling Linux Beowulf to make a cluster of it?  (pun intended)

At this point, keeping an open mind, I recommend ED talk to any and all SoC manufacturers that will listen - including Intel,  to see if they have something entering production that would fit the requirements.  I know... X86 blah blah.  Explore all possibilities, dismiss them when they are exhausted.

ED, you might want to try bugging Samsung again too if they have an SoC that you're really interested in.  Unless they're going to enter the Pandora's niche - which is possible - it may be just a matter of finding the right person to say, 'yes'.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

...and if big names like Samsung or Intel supporting P2 then the it would have an easier chance of entering mainstream.  Talking about mainstream, sticking a phone capbability to the top screen would do it!   Once you have that phone capability, noobs won't complain that 800 is expensive    

 

[ShleeDragon]

For me. I love that the Pandora with an 'outdated' SOC is still a powerhouse of functionality. The amount of awesome releases that are pushing the old SOC to the limit but still offering us excellent usage is impressive..

That's why I think most of us are willing to aim for a SOC that isn't state of the art - We just need to prove that to the mass market and people chasing benchmarks

Id love to have a A15 big.LITTLE but we don't need it... let's just aim for it because we should be able to do amazing things with those suckers

 

[ekianjo]

For me. I love that the Pandora with an 'outdated' SOC is still a powerhouse of functionality. The amount of awesome releases that are pushing the old SOC to the limit but still offering us excellent usage is impressive..

I'm with you there. Someone else said that 'there's still lots of life in the current Pandora" and I cannot agree more. 

There's so much stuff you can run on this hardware, I don't see myself stopping using my Pandora anytime soon. And there's still tons of stuff to port for it. We are still half-way

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

I was just using 2 S4s as an example regarding the form factor not the SoCs on them. Whatever SoC Ed will end up using I'm sure it will be good and makes sense for P2.

 

[alucart1984]

I would say make the device as sleek and sexy as possible.

That will give it a larger market.

Assuming we want the same or better functionality, it's not going to be much sleeker (in the sense of smaller/slimmer) than it is now - the current design is pretty compact already, so not that much margin for shrinking stuff. Also for reasons of ergonomics, I wouldn't make the unit (at least its base) too slim.

But of course it can be sexy as hell

I don't think the looks matter that much, the functionality and how it feels in your hands are way more important. And I think most of the Pandora successor target audience also prioritizes functionality (which includes grip) over beauty. I'm not saying it has to look ugly, but beauty should be a secondary design goal that shouldn't reduce functionality in any way.

We definitely need to have a better hinge, no corners (pokes the hands while in use for some and even Nintendo learned that lesson), better nubs (3DS Nubs are really good and compact), better screen, and faster SoC. All while keeping the same basic clam shell design and I would be sold on it.....if the price is reasonable. One reason I think the Pandora doesn't sell like crazy is $600 USA dollars for old tech is hard to sell especially when you get 3 Tablets for that price or 2 Nvidia Shields.  I want to see the P2 sell like crazy so even more developers will want to put time and effort into development.  

 

[PokeParadox]

I would want a P2 to be backwards compatibile if at all possible.

A compatibility layer like GINGE would be acceptable if the HW can't by directly compatible like OMAP and whatever the 1GHz uses...

I agree with better hinge and nubs too.

 

[pmprog]

I would much prefer an old-style keyboard like this too. Rather than the "calculator" keys

 

[Timstertoo]

^^ I had one of those. One drop and the screen died.   Loved that thing. Need a hug now.

Oh, and yes, great keyboard size.

 

[levi]

Having something aping desktop keyboards in a palmtop is a bit too retro for me, and that's something I'd like to see rectified in general in a future ED project.  That said, chiclet or calculator style keyboard are even more retro, but at least they're back in fashion.

Anyway, haven't we got enough other keyboard suggestion threads already?

 

[Binky]

Maybe consider creating an invitation only 'advisory council' of whomever you consider to have the best ideas on here. Then put them under an NDA, and get some collaboration going?

While I strongly believe that decisions should be made by community discussion, not a secret circle of leet geeks, I do have a variation of this idea that might work:

Once those with the contacts and access to prototyping equipment have narrowed things like screen, nubs, keymat, case design down to a shortlist, a complete set (including a convenient way of driving each sample screen, reading data from each sample keyboard, etc) could be posted to a chain of knowledgeable volunteers.

On receiving the pack of samples each volunteer would try using them and write a report on each alternative, and stating which they prefer.

Once the samples had been sent to everyone, the reports could be posted to both ED and this forum for further consideration.

 

[vcoleiro1]

How about a Silicon-anode Li-Ion battery like the Ubuntu Edge is speced with.

http://techland.time.com/2013/05/23/amprius-begins-shipping-a-better-smartphone-battery/

 

[Bosbeetle]

I for one am satisfied with the current pandora's overall design. Updating the technology and addressing it's current flaws would be enough to have me sold.

I second this

 

[levi]

Personally I'm not too upset with any of the headline specs of the Pandora case etc. Don't mind the size of it, don't mind any of the controls. But aesthetically, it could be more up-to-date. I reckon reducing the depth of the lintel around the screen could help - that's only needed to keep the controls separate from the screen when closed, and that's largely that big because the keys are quite tall and the final depth of the keymat couldn't be estimated when the case was designed. Closer tolerances from understanding manufacturing tolerances could help, and moving to a chiclet/calculator style keyboard with flat key tops would help. Although as I've noted in the past, domed keys do help you hit they keys better when they're obscured by your thumb and you're going largely by touch.


I guess you might also need to flatten the gaming buttons, which I woulnd't mind - make them Genesis style, shrunk down, and the d-pad depth and travel, which I would probably be upset by. Not sure the best way to square that last circle. Although I suppose one of my favourite d-pads of all time - that of the original phat DS - had very limited travel, but was very clicky.