GPD Win (x86 Computer / Palmtop)

[Agricola]

This is getting a bit off topic. Me likey!


But to get a bit more in the right direction: Maybe I'll get a GPD WIN when it's released, but right now with the design not being final and the representants of GPD (kendy zhou) not really answering questions, I stay the hell away from it. Plus, the Pyra is a lot more interesting just because of the community, eventhough this thread is not really the best example of it with these small console wars going on...

 

[vcoleiro1]

Looks like they have reached 200 backers on Indiegogo

Strange campaign so far, rather than slowing down from a fast start as campaigns normally do. It actually had a very slow start and has accelerated steadily. At this rate , if it holds , they will reach their target in about 3 days time.

It hasn't really got much press, however, as it got more funding, I noticed it rose u to being on the first page of tech projects on Indiegogo

 

[Mr_Loon]

Strange campaign so far, rather than slowing down from a fast start as campaigns normally do. It actually had a very slow start and has accelerated steadily.

Just thinking that before, surprised they've not made more about the decent level of performance of the Z8500, for instance turns out you can run Portal 2 pretty well (HP Tablet.2GB Ram Z8500). Not bad for a $22 SOC.

It'll be interesting to see what happens when they have a prototype to back up the promises.

 

[EvilDragon]

Okay, I did some more testings.
Actually, I creating a mockup of the GPD Win, so I could check how well the keys can be reached.

It doesn't feel as uncomfortable as I feared, but it's also not that good (at least not in my opinion).
And if you got small hands: You WILL have isuses.

Reaching the keyboard buttons in the middle wasn't easy.
And as I feared, the reach the gaming buttons and sticks, I had to hold the device at both sides, not resting in my palms anymore.

I know some actually always play like that and love it, but I'm not one of them, so it's a bit uncomfortable for me.
I could use it, but I wouldn't want to do that for a longer period of time.

I then let my wife try it.
She is using the Pandora, and while she barely reaches the keys in the middle, it works pretty fine.
(She needs to lift one hand a bit to reach the middle keys).
Like most women, she has shorter fingers than most men.

Here are some pictures of her holding the GPD Win mockup:



She can't comfortably reach the middle buttons - or nubs and DPad / Buttons. She'd need to slide higher with her hand, which means she would have to hold it sideways.

And the Pyra:



She can barely reach the key in the middle, but she can.
The nubs, DPad and buttons are in a comfortable position as well.

Here is another shot with the GPD XD:



Reaching the nub is without any issues, they're in a nicely placed position (the controls of the GPD Win are placed further up)

Oh, and let's hope the GPD Win has some other way of pressing Fn (not just one button), as it will make pressing F1 - F6 pretty awkward :/

Well, as you know, another concern I had was the touchscreen.
A capacitive one cannot be used with a normal stylus, so the accuracy is not that good.

As a test, I used RDP to connect my GPD XD to a Windows 7 machine, basically simulating running Windows there.
And it was as I feared:
Using Photoshop is impossible, as hitting the right button or menu with the capacitive screen is more luck than anything else.

Windows 10 has a tablet-optimized UI, so that will work good, but any programs or apps you might want to run on there will suffer from that touchscreen.
You can use the stick for them, but I can't imagine working a graphic program with sticks,

This will also be an issue for games that use a normal menu or small buttons (optimized for mouse usage).

So the GPD Win will probably be perfect to play PC games like CounterStrike, Portal 2 and more.
But for anything where you need to access the menus, smaller buttons, etc., you need to use the sticks (touchscreen won't really work).

So for me, it's more a Windows gaming machine, but not that good for doing productive work.

That's nice, but a totally different use case than the Pyra (which is good)

 

[SNESFAN]

my thumbs touch on the xd while holding it and both devices 15.5 cm wide. I was more concerned about the length of the device, being about .9cm longer than the xd, but it looks like that won't be a problem.

Thanks for the reference photos though.

EDIT: ESP those pyra shots

 

[Faust]

It won't be easy to reach the shoulder buttons on the GPD WIN, plus the power button position scares me a bit.

 

[FaeMinx]

So will ED be the only guy with a transparent Pyra?

 

[rygD]

So will ED be the only guy with a transparent Pyra?

We can still try for a really dark red.

 

[Mr_Loon]

Okay, I did some more testings. ....

Thanks for that ED, interesting stuff.

The KB layout of the GPD Win is pretty baffling indeed, why they didn't split the keyboard and have the buttons that are currently on the right hand side in the middle (perhaps with a slightly oversized space bar on both sides) is a real mystery.

Good points as well regarding the capacitive screen. It is possible to have an accurate stylus with a capacitive screen (see Shield Tablet) but some extra hardware, or possibly software?, seems to be required to make it work (The Shield tablet stylus does not work on other capacitive screens). Not seen any sign or mention that the GPD Win will have an accurate stylus which as you say is a real boon for desktop stuff.

 

[EvilDragon]

Good points as well regarding the capacitive screen. It is possible to have an accurate stylus with a capacitive screen (see Shield Tablet) but some extra hardware, or possibly software?, seems to be required to make it work (The Shield tablet stylus does not work on other capacitive screens). Not seen any sign or mention that the GPD Win will have an accurate stylus which as you say is a real boon for desktop stuff.

That's hardware. AFAIK it's made by Wacom, the screen is AFAIK a graphic tablet, so it works with that stylus.
Can't be added in software though.

 

[vcoleiro1]

Looks like I was a little off on my previous estimate, it looks like the GPD WIN will reach it's $100K funding goal before this time tomorrow.

A lot of the backers are Japanese, it seems it got onto the Japanese version of Engadget thus the surge in the last few days. Looking at the backers list, at least 2/3 of the backers, ie the majority are Japanese.

 

[FaeMinx]

^ Well that is no real surprise.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Tapatalk

 

[EvilDragon]

Isn't Windows big in Japan as well?
I remember that no one in Korea uses Linux, even their servers run mostly Windows (remember how unreliable the GPH servers were? )

That would be the perfect market

 

[rygD]

I thought I read that Windows was really popular there. It is in the US too, and there are many people with disposable income, so I would expect more US orders/funders. Maybe the key factor is that palmtops are, as far as I know, still somewhat popular in Japan.

 

[fusion_power]

I then let my wife try it.
She is using the Pandora, and while she barely reaches the keys in the middle, it works pretty fine.
(She needs to lift one hand a bit to reach the middle keys).
Like most women, she has shorter fingers than most men

Cute little hands indeed.
Well, maybe GPD should really think onto splitting the keyboard, the space for that is there actualy. I personaly wouldn't have a problem with lifting the hands and stretch the fingers to reach the middle keys but OK, maybe some people want to write more in a comfortable way on such devices.

Using Photoshop is impossible, as hitting the right button or menu with the capacitive screen is more luck than anything else.

Nobody want's to use Photoshop on a mobile device like that. I like PS but I would never ever use a Pyra/GPD/whatever for serious graphic software. Maybe with mouse over a connected big screen or so but nothing else.
By the way, there are Stylus pens for capacitive touchscreens, not as precise of course but suitable for most touchscreen optimized apps. I'm sure there are even touchscreen optimized graphic/painting software that would work on such a small device. I bareley used the Touchscreen at all on my Pandora (except for Freecell. ) so for me, the kind of Touchscreen is not even that important. More important would be an accurate and precise mouse emulation over the Analog-Nubs which I used on my Pandora all the time...until the left nub broke completely.

 

[levi]

Well, I'm considering using GIMP with the UFRaw plugin (which ships with Dave Coffin's excellent DCRAW decoder), to convert my RAW photos to finished JPEGs on the train ride home using my Pyra without having to lug my laptop around with me. I guess I don't tend to use any of GIMPs in-built tools to do that, so I don't need to faff around in the toolbox much, and the controls of UFRaw should be workable using the nubs, even if they are on the small size for being hit on a moving train (which I guess is a feature of the GPD Win too, with its mouse/joystick nub switch).

Have they published what battery they're going to ship with the GPD Win by the way? I don't expect it to match the Pyra's projected runtime, but provided it runs for an hour or two it might do that specific job as well as my Pyra will.

 

[EvilDragon]

The battery will also have 6000mAh, so it shouldn't be much different.

And yes, I also used stuff like GIMP on my Pandora, as well as games like Albion where a touchscreen is awesome to have (but controls are too small for a capacitive screen).

There are touchscreen stylus with a huge soft blob at the front. They're a bit better than using your fingers, but still inaccurate.
The only proper solution is something like the Galaxy Tab, etc. which basically have a Wacom tablet built in, but I don't think that's included in the GPD.

 

[PowerGod]

Here are some pictures of her holding the GPD Win mockup:

View attachment 27970 View attachment 27971

She can't comfortably reach the middle buttons - or nubs and DPad / Buttons. She'd need to slide higher with her hand, which means she would have to hold it sideways.

Interesting comparison, also this "device" is still flat... with the proper size the thumbs should be even more distant

 

[Alperoot]

Now I don't know what to hype... Pyra or GPD Win? It's set to october and Pyra will release even more late? Oh, I've got plenty of time to sell my Pandora ^^

Edit : I will be able to run some Windows apps that are not very demanding on graphics and has a simple gui, right?

 

[vcoleiro1]

The GPD WIN reached it's funding goal of $100K just now. 342 backers in less than 7 days , about 70% of which are Japanese, probably due to the Japanese Engadget story.