My Concepts For Pandora


Joppu

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A made some concept images for "PSP/GP2X type" and "UMPC type" Mobile computers. And yes, they are just some mine concepts and not "LOL i want this kind of Pandora". Tell me what you think

They are both sliders.

http://i32.tinypic.com/23kqn2h.jpg
 
they look like sony vaio u-50's!

I'm sure you have worked reasonably hard on these, but they make the actual pandora design look even better now!
 
x68000 said:
I'm sure you have worked reasonably hard on these, but they make the actual pandora design look even better now!
Yeah thanks alot!
 
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Can't say I'm a fan, I'm afraid. Whilst these designs are closer to the current mainstream, they don't really add anything that early concept designs in the Big Pandora Thread (you know the one) didn't. They also ignore things like space for a decent-sized battery, and that sliding keyboards are patented, so making a device with them either boosts the price a lot, or get you sued out of business by the big boys (depending on whether or not they're even willing to license the technology to you). In addition, I can't see the analogues being especially comfortable positioned as they are, though seeing as I don't expect to use them overly much anyway, that may not be an issue.

Also, sorry to moan, but it's concept, not consept. Editing the big image might be sensible, if only for professionalism's sake.
 
Tobriand said:
Also, sorry to moan, but it's concept, not consept. Editing the big image might be sensible, if only for professionalism's sake.
I'm sorry because of the fact that english is not my first language. And thanks for your positive feedback
 
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Looked a lot like an Oqo to me, and looks like nasty gaming controls. (ie: not enough, awkward location so cause hand cramp, and so on.) Its a tough design to be good for gaming and also have a keyboard, and also not weigh too much, imho..

Sorry, in a rush :)

jeff
 
Joppu said:
x68000 said:
I'm sure you have worked reasonably hard on these, but they make the actual pandora design look even better now!
Yeah thanks alot!

i'd rather be honest with you, instead of telling you it looks great even when it doesnt!
 
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Joppu said:
A made some concept images for "PSP/GP2X type" and "UMPC type" Mobile computers. And yes, they are just some mine concepts and not "LOL i want this kind of Pandora". Tell me what you think

They are both sliders.

http://i32.tinypic.com/23kqn2h.jpg


I think that looks quite uncomfortable personally and requires that the slide out keypad be out all the time to be able to balance the weight in your hands while playing games.

Back to the drawing board. :)
 
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MWeston said:
I think that looks quite uncomfortable personally and requires that the slide out keypad be out all the time to be able to balance the weight in your hands while playing games.

Back to the drawing board. :)
Indeed. Human factors engineering is a tough one to get right. I would like to see something more
tablet/PDA-like happen, but I'm not sure if you'd end up making a keyboard clumsy going that route.
I can see a PSP with a slide-out, but I'd think that it'd make it more cumbersome than it currently is
to get there from here.

Doing a tablet like device may cause it to be too bulky or cost you screen real-estate because of button
placement with the Pandora.

Doing it with a snap-on controller means you've got to make the connector robust and since it's a UMPC,
the blasted thing will have to be carted all over the place or you'll do without.

I suspect that for the intended range of purposes, it might be that you have to do it the way they're doing it.
 
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Joppu said:
And thanks for your positive feedback
Ask people what they think, they're going to tell you, unfortunately. Sometimes tactfully, sometimes, not.

They look "cool" but they're not as functional as one would hope they would be.

Using another platform as an example: I'd rather have a bluetooth portable keyboard like the N770/N800 require
than to have the slide-out from the N810. It's nice to have the keyboard there all the time, but it's not the same
thing as my Stowaway- I can actually touch-type on it and for the times where I need text input and don't have it,
the tap-board function under Maemo works well enough and close enough to a thumb-board in practical use that
it's only "nice". Couple that with the sacrifices they made to get that keyboard (Trans-flash as opposed to SD/MMC
support- this means double/triple or more on the cost of the secondary storage...grrr...), it's a mixed bag at best
to bring it to that device. Nokia was looking for "cool" and looking to bring something to the table for Sprint's 4G
phone network- the N810's close to that device, really. And, for a phone, it might not be a bad compromise since
the bulk of the drawbacks are there for you on those devices anyhow. For a webpad/PDA, though, it's obnoxious
in some definitely negative ways.

In the case of one of your designs, the thing is made much more bulky along the sides of the device- this means
it's harder to want to carry the thing around or you're going to sacrifice screen real-estate or make it less robust
by shrinking land space for the controllers. Something you don't want in a consumer device- and if you lose
screen real-estate, you lose part of what makes a Pandora 'cool'.

In the other idea, you made it lop-sided with a stress concentration and lever point down at the bottom that wants
to tend to pull the device out of your hands unless the thing is featherweight (not likely) which will make you want to
not play with it over extended periods of time.

As MWeston said...back to the drawing board. I suggest looking at what they've chosen to do for the Pandora up to
this point and understand WHY they chose this route. I also suggest looking at what Sony did with the PSP and
Nintendo did with the DS, SP, and GBA packaging for ideas of what will work out nice.
 
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Svartalf said:
I suspect that for the intended range of purposes, it might be that you have to do it the way they're doing it.
That is pretty much the case. There were lots of alternate design ideas thrown around. Everybody had a different idea of how it should look and what features were necessary, and there are a couple hundred pages of discussion on those details. A lot of people think the current design is ugly or crowded, but the absolute fact is that there is no other way to get all the features we want into a device that small for a price we're willing to pay.

It has all been discussed already. A little searching will answer every "Why doesn't it have XXX feature?" question.
 
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Joppu said:
A made some concept images for "PSP/GP2X type" and "UMPC type" Mobile computers. And yes, they are just some mine concepts and not "LOL i want this kind of Pandora". Tell me what you think

They are both sliders.

http://i32.tinypic.com/23kqn2h.jpg


Sorry - but yuk, those controls are tiny! How can you hope to play a fast - paced game with such a dinky dpad?
 
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come on pandora, please show some tact - Like i did in my reply!

I never used the word 'yuk' once! You nasty bstard! ;)
 
Svartalf said:
Indeed. Human factors engineering is a tough one to get right. I would like to see something more
tablet/PDA-like happen, but I'm not sure if you'd end up making a keyboard clumsy going that route.
A Linux tablet device is always going to be a kludge, until someone ports/develops/steals good HWR for Linux.

And I'm talking PenOffice or Newton good here...
 
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Karel Jansens said:
And I'm talking PenOffice or Newton good here...
PenOffice, perhaps, is already there. Newton...Heh...Nothing was quite as good as it was- it's sin was being ahead of it's time.

As for having hardware FOR Linux tablet use...

What do you call the Sharp Zaurus?
What do you call the Nokia N770, N800, N810?
 
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Svartalf said:
PenOffice, perhaps, is already there. Newton...Heh...Nothing was quite as good as it was- it's sin was being ahead of it's time.
PenOffice uses the ParaGraph HWR engine from the Newton platform.
(Apple's Inkwell is a slightly evolved Rosetta, the other HWR engine on the Newton. Yes, Newtons had two HWR engines!)

QUOTE
As for having hardware FOR Linux tablet use...

What do you call the Sharp Zaurus?


Dead?

QUOTE
What do you call the Nokia N770, N800, N810?


Increasingly annoying; increasingy focused on bling; buggy; really not knowing where it's going.
 
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Ugly, not very user friendly, and uses patented ideas to explode the price (if they even let you do it at all).

Also, your image was huge, so I removed it and replaced it with a link. It also means people don't quote the entire image either.
 
x68000 said:
come on pandora, please show some tact - Like i did in my reply!

I never used the word 'yuk' once! You nasty bstard! ;)
pah! Tact?!? You're just too soft. ;)
 
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