Icontrolpad Updates!

[craigix]

That's the design I've been referring to throughout my posts, and it's the one Craig was talking about too .

The interesting thing is, it's almost the same as the original iControlpad design. So I don't know why Craig thought his idea would work and theirs wouldn't :/.
Edit: Zodttd even showed a video of the original iControlpad prototype working a while ago, I really don't know what Craig means here.

Sorry, I thought craig's comments were directed towards the original Gamebone pictures - which they still very well may have been. I agree that I don't see why this design is impossible and iControlPad's isn't.

Well we tried it (the original icontrolpad used that design) and it's a total mess.

Just start to think about it - how do you hold the iphone in the design? How do you adjust for different iphones/touches? How do you get the signal from that dpad across the design to the serial port on the other side (2 PCBs? A ribbon Cable? A mess!), where will they put the battery?

The design does not work, if you forced it to it would be very expensive and assembly would also be expensive.

Also it's huge, does not have room for nubs, the shoulders are probably not there due to the PCB issues of the layout.

Etc. Etc.

It's a fake. Just look at the render - the buttons don't even line up, no way that's a CAD image - oh and I'd love to see the tooling costs of that design - you're looking at well over $100,000.

 

[quote]

Great, thanks for the clarification Craig. I guess that makes sense - as soon as Apple release another iDevice these guys are screwed .

Edit: And yeah, where the hell are they going to put the battery? I'm surprised I didn't notice that - they're making claims on the specs to add hype. A battery will never fit in that design.

 

[DisgruntleElf]

Regarding Gamebone, here's a recent update:

http://www.funkyspacemonkey.com/redesigned-gamebone-iphone-controller-support-c64-natively

Does that still look like an impossible design?

He didn't state that it was an impossible design but rather won't work. The iControlpad did go through a radical design change possibly for a good reason. What is interesting in that article is Gamebone is seeking Apple's approval. If the iControlpad releases without such approval(its design was intended for emulation on jailbreak devices)will Apple sue?

 

[Nova]

That's all well and good, but the Gamebone doesn't look like a wide GameBoy

 

[DaveC]

Just start to think about it - how do you hold the iphone in the design? How do you adjust for different iphones/touches? How do you get the signal from that dpad across the design to the serial port on the other side (2 PCBs? A ribbon Cable? A mess!), where will they put the battery?

The original iControlpad would have worked with a few tweaks. The problem is that it would only work for one device like the iPhone 3G.

As fast as Apple blasts out new versions though there would need to be a separate version for every device. This is where Gamebone will have trouble. It does look like a total rip-off of the original iControlpad. They must have seen the renders and stole the design.

 

[Nova]

Just start to think about it - how do you hold the iphone in the design? How do you adjust for different iphones/touches? How do you get the signal from that dpad across the design to the serial port on the other side (2 PCBs? A ribbon Cable? A mess!), where will they put the battery?

The original iControlpad would have worked with a few tweaks. The problem is that it would only work for one device like the iPhone 3G.

As fast as Apple blasts out new versions though there would need to be a separate version for every device. This is where Gamebone will have trouble. It does look like a total rip-off of the original iControlpad. They must have seen the renders and stole the design.

How exactly does the iControlPad avoid this problem then?

Cos I'm fairly sure Craig said there were different versions of the iCP..

Oh, and thank you all for doing our little survey, it helped us get a good estimation of how many of each unit to build.

 

[DisgruntleElf]

As fast as Apple blasts out new versions though there would need to be a separate version for every device. This is where Gamebone will have trouble. It does look like a total rip-off of the original iControlpad. They must have seen the renders and stole the design.

If the Gamebone is seeking Apple's approval then they will avoid this trap altogether. That 's more than likely they are using renders. They probably won't commit to a design until they get the OK from Apple and will be able to make the proper adjustments with each new Apple version.

 

[quote]

More info from Craig's twitter. This answers your point, Nova.

Yes, although at first only the 2G and 3G clips will be available. It will take another month or so to get the Touch ones.

So the part they change for each device are the 'clips'. These are the things on the side of the iCP which hold the iDevice in place.
It's a simple idea; when a new Apple product comes out, Craig will just release a new clip to grip it. Each actual iCP unit is the same.
I took the liberty of highlighting the clips in MS Paint, artistic skills to the max:

This design also means the unit 'folds up' pretty nicely when not in use.

Question for Craig: Is ED involved in this too? Or is it a personal/GBAX project?

 

[torpor]

I hope there will be clips for the Zii Egg ..

 

[quote]

Why would there be? I'm pretty sure this whole thing is designed from the iPhone serial .

 

[craigix]

I hope there will be clips for the Zii Egg ..

We plan to do clips for whatever devices have a demand.

 

[Illuminerdi]

We plan to do clips for whatever devices have a demand.

I demand clips for the Pandora!

 

[quote]

We plan to do clips for whatever devices have a demand.

But Craig, to support a device other than one made by Apple, you'll have to redesign the whole iCP, not just add some clips to hold it.

 

[Nova]

That's an extremely innovative idea, come to think of it!

Hey Craig, what's the chance of borrowing an iCP unit to review for the site? (I can provide the phone )

 

[craigix]

We plan to do clips for whatever devices have a demand.

But Craig, to support a device other than one made by Apple, you'll have to redesign the whole iCP, not just add some clips to hold it.

I don't quite understand what you mean? The clips are what holds it, the controller part will pair up to anything as long as it isn't too small, but even then the clips could be designed to accommodate.

 

[quote]

I thought that it worked by connecting to the iPhone serial (a cable coming out of the iCP). If you want to support other devices, how would you connect to them?

 

[Illuminerdi]

I thought that it worked by connecting to the iPhone serial (a cable coming out of the iCP). If you want to support other devices, how would you connect to them?

The iPhone clips have an iPhone serial (dock) connector. Different iControlpad clips could have different (device specific) ports on one end, with the same port on the other end - the part that plugs into the iControlpad base. In essence, the clips are just a dongle.

Since most "expansion/dock/ext" connectors on modern devices (iPod, iPhone, Zii, Zune) use USB for data transfer, all that the clips need to do is worry about is delivering USB signal to and from the device's specific port to the iControlpad. The iControlpad clips just provide the wiring for that to happen.

Really when you boil it down, it's the device manufacturer's fault - there's little to no reason all these devices shouldn't all be using mini/micro USB, since all these ports are are glorified USB ports. 95% of the time they're proprietary specifically so that Apple/Creative/Microsoft can take their cut of accessories sold for the device.

 

[quote]

Wow! The clips include the cable also? That's even more innovative than I had thought. Really clever idea, so the actual unit will have a little port to plug the clip's cable into you reckon?

 

[Illuminerdi]

Wow! The clips include the cable also? That's even more innovative than I had thought. Really clever idea, so the actual unit will have a little port to plug the clip's cable into you reckon?

I'm not entirely sure - and I could be misinterpreting, so take anything I say with a grain of salt - this is just info I've gleaned from what Craig has said, but this is how I understand it, yes.

Though "cable" is a bit of a misnomer - the clips will be hard plastic and will probably just have ports on one end for your device, and a port on the other end for the clip to plug into the iControlpad base - the closest you'll get to a "cable" would be the small amount of wiring existing inside the clips.

 

[craigix]

You are pretty much correct. It took a long time to work out the best way to do it, and I think we are as close to perfect as it could be right now.