GPD Pocket 2 Announced

[EvilDragon]

Yupp, and EU companies like to rebrand chinese tech products with their own label while the same source device is used actualy. Even my not-so-cheap "developed in germany" -Gaming Chair actualy is an colletion of various parts that I've seen in many other gaming chairs, I'm sure all come from the same chinese company for gaming chairs. XD

Yep, that as well

But still an complex device compared to the "usual" chiense-stuff. Well, the Pocket 2 has no backlit keyboard and of course not an removable PCB. On the other side it has a complex active cooling solution in such a small device, pretty impressive. I'm sure they also could have made an removable battery without adding much more thickness to the case.

Don't confuse the amount of features built in a system with it being complex.
Sure, everything you add makes the thing a bit more complex - but adding a PWM and a few LEDs for keyboard lighting is nothing special.
Also, adding sensors via i2c or similar is simple as well. So designwise, it's nothing special.

What makes it complex is the size of the PCB. If we had designed the Pyra with a bigger PCB, the layout wouldn't have been complex. It would've been a lot easier and faster to design and produce.
Cramming all that additional stuff onto a small PCB is what makes it more complex.

All GPD devices have bigger PCBs than the Pyra with less features on them.
It's not the amount of features that are the reason for a complex design - it's the amount of features on such a small space that makes the layout complex.

Each part you include in a product has different requirements. Power usage, for example: If a parts needs a lot of power, the trace leading to it shouldn't have a too high resistance, so it can't neither be too long or thin.
Some parts (e.g. memory) need to be close to the CPU as otherwise the traces would be too long and you would have a too high lag on the signal.
Some signals need to be shielded from noise (again, the RAM, in our example).

If your PCB is large, that's an easy task, as you have space to move the parts where you like and make the traces as thick as they need to be.
The smaller the PCB is, the more complex this puzzle will get, so no trace will get in the way of another...

AFAIR, the CPU board of the Pyra has 12 layers full of traces and the mainboard has 6 layers... so yep, that's pretty much complex

True. GPD for sure stands out with their innovations, compared to other chinese companies. I like the evolutions of their devices, GPD Win 1 to 2 or Pocket 1 to 2. Solid engineering skills. And we know from them that there is a bigger market for tiny Handheld including the Pyra.

Yes and no. I like the innovations, but I don't like the short support span.
Over half of the batteries of the GPD Win failed after one year and they don't provide any replacement parts anymore.

That's a huge issue for every distributor within the EU, as they have to provide at least 2 years of warranty.

We're doing it differently:
Trying to support our devices as long as possible. Heck, we still repair Pandoras and offer replacement parts for them.

 

[MJPIA]

Yes and no. I like the innovations, but I don't like the short support span.
Over half of the batteries of the GPD Win failed after one year and they don't provide any replacement parts anymore.

That's a huge issue for every distributor within the EU, as they have to provide at least 2 years of warranty.

Have you ever brought up these concerns with Wade, the CEO of GPD?

Several months ago when their stockpile of XD ribbon cables started running low I approached him about it and possibly getting the design files so I could produce the cables myself for long term support and he said they could make a production run of them for me in exchange for buying the entire lot of 200-300 cables.
Fast forward to several weeks ago when they ran out and when I reached out to him to start the ball rolling on an batch of cables to split between me and various other distributors he changed his mind and instead told me he placed an large order of the cables and GPD would continue stocking them for distributors and sell them on their aliexpress store to provide them for those than need them.

I've been trying to lean on him and convince him to restart production of the batteries but having another distributor pressing him on this would be of help here.

Wade in general is disconnected from what is going on with distributors and parts support as several weeks ago he was quizzing me on how Sunda had shipped batteries to me in America and was completely unaware that GPD was using the same courier to ship me batteries since March.

But despite not being involved ordinarly he can step in and throw his weight around as I got him to undo a price increase the parts rep imposed on me, he got me added to the list of distributors on GPD's website when my parts rep brushed it off, he has expressed his willingness to reopen production of parts for older discontinued devices when needed and I've been feeding him feedback on issues I've seen and he has been receptive to that feedback and freely talks about changes they've made and what improvements they've done to improve reliability of their devices.

Their parts reps don't really care about your concerns but if you can start a conversation with Wade and express the problems you and other EU distributors face with the need to provide 2 years of support you may be able to get somewhere.

 

[fusion_power]

A lot of people would disagree with me...but IMHO, most of the times, the Chinese prioritise quantity over quality.

Yupp, this is still one of the problems. I personaly like to buy stuff that lasts long and is reliable, not limited to electronic devices by the way.

What makes it complex is the size of the PCB. If we had designed the Pyra with a bigger PCB, the layout wouldn't have been complex. It would've been a lot easier and faster to design and produce.
Cramming all that additional stuff onto a small PCB is what makes it more complex.

I guess the form factor of an devices plays a role there. the GPD's are overall wider and allow bigger mainboards, the Pyra is thicker and allows 2 mainboards and a big battery. The small CPU PCB ads alot of complexity for sure. No clue about how many PCB Layers GPD uses but the Pyra is very complex there for sure, after what you reported due the development.

We're doing it differently:
Trying to support our devices as long as possible. Heck, we still repair Pandoras and offer replacement parts for them.

That's the right philosophy and the more modular Pyra allows even better long time support, I'm sure.

 

[vcoleiro1]

How to setup dual boot of Arch Linux and Windows 10 on the GPD Pocket 2

https://github.com/joshskidmore/gpd-pocket-2-arch-guide

 

[BeMoreViking]

Any idea when these things will be available retail? Sounds like they are shipping to backers now, but I unfortunately missed that boat and am eager to get my hands on one.

 

[vcoleiro1]

Any idea when these things will be available retail? Sounds like they are shipping to backers now, but I unfortunately missed that boat and am eager to get my hands on one.

I'd guess late this month or the first half ofnext month. BIt hard to say given Intels supply shortage on 14nm chips and if that will effect things

 

[vcoleiro1]

Ubuntu Mate for the GPD Pocket 1 and 2

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/10...d-pocket-laptop/amp?__twitter_impression=true

 

[BeMoreViking]

This just went up for pre-order this morning on aliexpress. 10% off for the next 5 days.


https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32921141893.html

 

[vcoleiro1]

GPD have announced a cheaper GPD Pocket 2. This version is black and is powered by a Intel 3965Y
It's up for pre-sale on their Indiegogo store front with delivery starting Jan 10th

Price is $435

 

[Askarus]

How's the processor compared to the one in the Pocket 2?

 

[vcoleiro1]

It's basically the 7y30 but without the turbo boost and with half the cache

 

[pmprog]

Wonder what the black case is made of. Is it still aluminium?

How's the processor compared to the one in the Pocket 2?

It says on the IndieGoGo site
Product model Intel® Core™ m3-8100Y Intel® Celeron® Processor 3965Y
# of Cores / # of Threads 2 / 4 2 / 2
Processor Base Frequency 1.10 Ghz 1.50 Ghz
Max Turbo Frequency 3.40 Ghz Null
Cache 4 MB 2 MB

 

[ZXDunny]

OneMix (of the rip-off Yoga clone of the Pocket1) have released a new black 2S version, and a red version for pre-order. The red version ups the storage to 512GB SSD, by all accounts. Colour me tempted:

https://item.jd.com/38658720320.html

 

[pmprog]

It's interesting to watch these companies bounce off each other.

 

[fusion_power]

Impressive, how fast can these asian daredevils throw out such devices. We could need some of their speedy magic for Pyra & Co. for sure. World is so unfair sometimes. :/

 

[SNESFAN]

Impressive, how fast can these asian daredevils throw out such devices. We could need some of their speedy magic for Pyra & Co. for sure. World is so unfair sometimes. :/

In the early pages of this very thread ED attempted to tackle this topic

https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/threads/gpd-pocket-2-announced.82987/page-3#post-1437934

So, I don't think it's an issue of fairness. ED doubles down on that manpower, money and device simplicity is the pixie dust at work here.

GPD goal is to I guess in simple terms is to release devices, ED's goal hopefully by contrast is to make a better device. I hope the wait pays off.

 

[gunrock]

@fusion_power I wouldn't worry. The Pyra and certainly the Pandora before it, are niche products for enthusiasts. They were/are not mass produced and will never be. The beauty of them is that enthusiasts tend to stick around and if you look at the software support the Pandora still receives, not to mention hardware support from ED (in the form of repair services and spare parts), to see that the Pyra will outlive these other devices, even if the cpu upgrades never happen.

 

[fusion_power]

Of course it is a huge difference between such niche devices and mass products, especialy for such a small company. I would say, GPD also builds niche devices but still in a bigger scale than ED could ever do. But it is good to see that it is possible at all, to make a device like the Pyra, especialy almost only in europe. But it is also clear that there are reasons why almost all electronics are made in asia and we basicly don't have any high tec IT and hardware companies that produce in Europe. Which is sad.

 

[ZXDunny]

Let's also not forget that the Pyra will be linux ready, unlike every other device out there in the mainstream that's either running Android (for ARM devices) or Windows10 (for x64) with Linux as a DIY after-thought.

 

[Askarus]

The Pyra has 2 SD-Card slots.

Currently the Prototype boots from the left SD.
I miss it so much to have only one removable SD-Card left.
Why can't others not have 2 micro SD-Card slots? It's not that it would take up so much space.