Let there be light!

[Kiga]

So combine 2 Pyras, use an USB infra red sensor and use it as Wii mote.

An IR emitter in the Pyra would be awesome, I want to use my Pyra as an universal remote control.

 

[Caine]

Hey everyone. I have followed the boards here for over a year ever since I got my 1ghz Open Pandor, but this will be my first post.

Hey Majin. Welcome to the boards, glad you decided to participate actively

I am very excited for the pyra, and am definitely getting one as soon as it comes out.

I have been curious, by any chance will there be any motion controls? I think that would be a neat idea.

I have to say that the Wii created some serious doubt for me regarding the real added value of motion controls, however I can imagine that some games benefit from having at least some accelerometers on board for tilt detection.So I support addition of those. That said, I don't see myself waving a Pyra around.

 

[SNESFAN]

Any thought into haptic feedback? It was a glaring omission from the shield. The GCW zero has it but they haven't implemented it yet which is unfortunate. The hardware works but only in a Dev firmware. If there is room, they're cheap, fairly small and can serve games well.

 

[Binky]

/me is wary of having touch gestures handled in a dedicated processor.

Mystery chips with closed firmware are a recipe for trouble - witness pandora nubs, pandora wifi, etc

 

[DeeGee]

Haptic feedback on touch screen only devices is nice (like on Jolla and it's predecessor N9), but on Pyra I don't really see the need. Unless the vibra(s) could be used for force feedback, but that would need support on games etc.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

I personally dislike any kind of vibrations in a device.

 

[bzar]

I personally dislike any kind of vibrations in a device.

Why? Mechanical reasons? How it feels? Power consumption?

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Mostly the feeling.

 

[_wb_]

I personally dislike any kind of vibrations in a device.

Sound is a vibration

Anyway, if you don't like it, just disable it. I don't particularly feel the need for it, but I guess it could be useful for silent notifications. If it's cheap and there is room for it, why not.

 

[SNESFAN]

I can't see it costing at very most a half dollar and 2 leads. Haptic motors don't need crazy closed source firmware, or even any firmware other than the OS. Its as complex as a led, you could even use the LED controller to turn the motor on and off, pulse it etc. Having it available isn't the same as having to use it. Those that don't like it or don't see the point, your opinions don't really matter when it comes to this as its not hurting anything at all when its off. Its like having a stylus built into the case and never using it. Who cares, its not consuming any resources. The cm of space and almost insignificant cost is what it comes down to.

http://m.alibaba.com/product/596185638/small_vibrating_motor_coin_type_and.html

 

[Majin Wamu]

Hey guys! Thanks so much for all the responses. I was actually quite surprised that bringing up motion controls would make such an interesting topic. I think just having motion controls in there (of course it wont be mandatory) is a good idea and can help with quite a few mobile games, perhaps switching between portrait and landscape, and some gameboy advance games. I am happy to hear that is it very possible, thank you EvilDragon.

EvilDragon you are an awesome dude, I appreciate all your commitment that you devote to these projects. Without you, this wouldn't be possible. I absolutely love my pandora.

 

[God Ginrai]

Motion controls are very probable, indeed.

They will be included when we got enough space left, and as they are pretty small, they will most likely be included.

 Looking forward to using that in homebrew stuff, could be fun. Would it be in the base or in the screen, or both? Maybe it does not make a real difference, but since the screen can move w.r.t. the base (unlike how it is in tablets/smartphones), it could.

Sounds like a recipe for broken hinges.

-God Ginrai

 

[N3Cr0]

Imagine you mount the device to your head, in front of your eyes (maybe with some lenses in between). - Virtual reality!

 

[ssokolow]

That definitely would be nifty. Especially since the captive portal on my WiFi exacerbates the time it takes to spin up an RF connection to control things over the LAN.

 

[Natsu]

silent notifications.

Pretty much the best reason.
I thought it was already stated that all the phone senors will be in it. Maybe I remember wrong.

 

[levi]

GPS yes (in the 3G models), accelerometers I think I heard being talked about officially, gyro no idea, and compass I've asked for but not heard anything back. Now phones are also getting humidity and temperature sensors and things, but I wouldn't expect it to have any of that.

 

[Natsu]

Now phones are also getting humidity and temperature sensors and things, but I wouldn't expect it to have any of that.

Not sure if I care about that. At least for the Pyra. Maybe the next one.

 

[Granitehead]

GPS yes (in the 3G models), accelerometers I think I heard being talked about officially, gyro no idea, and compass I've asked for but not heard anything back. Now phones are also getting humidity and temperature sensors and things, but I wouldn't expect it to have any of that.

What do humidity and temperature sensors cost? How do they connect to SoCs? They might cost only a few $ and be easy to connect and use via I2C or something. Position would ideally be on the outside when Pyra is closed and when it's open and it would need a little hole for air to come in. So it seems maybe it could go next to the microphone which has similar requirements.

 

[levi]

Dunno, but those things still lie on the gimmicky side of the fence to me. Just because the latest Samsung et al do it doesn't mean we need to. Those things are a good candidate for a plug in sensor I'd have thought - those packaged sensors don't exist at present, but if this turns out to be more than a fad there'll definitely be a few on the market (or we could build our own and hook it up to GPIOs internally - Pyra user mod #1?)

 

[FaeMinx]

What on earth would they be useful for?

Apart from idle curiosity...

'gee, it's hot today... wow 32 degrees, I'm not surprised.'