My Personal Ideas

[pisiiki]

I have used the original pandora mostly to play with gentoo linux. This is my feedback after I think 1.5 years or more:


The case quality and look is my biggest complaint. My battery cover broke I think on the 1st day, it has 2/3 clips broken however it can still hold the battery. The plastic looks horrible. The screen joint is too loose. The top buttons simply don't work well, I can't even feel the "push", however both also work but I doubt what could have happened if I have used the device to play games. The nubs simply can be better and you know it well.


On the other hand, besides looking horrible I like the keyboard feeling. The screen fine too, however it is frustrating when a screen doesn't cover close to 100% of the area a device. So yes, I would move the speakers and reduce the device or I would use a bigger panel.


The software support has been awesome besides the problems to keep up with the latest linux kernel. I would try to be carefull about what hardware I would pick for the pandora 2 to be sure that it is "supported".


I think you should release the pandora 2 with one or two "big" linux distros working out of the box, then let the user install the distros in a standard way. ARM is everywhere now, I don't think you should invest so much time on a custom OS. I would suggest gentoo and debian. With gentoo you will be able to install just anything and people would not need to "port to pandora" and the same applies to debian to some degree. If android "just works" that would be fine too, I don't care about that but I supose most people will. Don't try to sell an "experience" this is suposed to be a niche product, people want to hack it and do crazy experiments with it. You need to find the easiest path to support the product out of the box with minimal effort and to keep the software up to date.


I would improve cpu with a fresh chip with 4 cores and a gpu supporting the highest ogl version you can, I don't know too much about arm cpus but if 2gb of ram is possible I would go that way. If it is possible to build different units with different SoCs I would absolutely do that. Just two choices, the cheap version and the expensive version. HDMI is a must. I don't care about one, two, big or small SDs, but it needs at least one micro sd slot, and it needs to work, I have a 64GB SDXC card that still doesn't work, even with kernel 3.2. Two usbs would be nice too.


Hear this: Why not to be able to use the screen as a monitor? I don't know if it is possible but I have allways wanted a feature like that in a lot of devices.


Regards.

 

[JeFF]

2gb of ram in a HandHeld? Personally, I never saw a high-end smartphone with such a big amount of ram. Also, imagine the cost of this new device : 899$? Would you pay that much?


I say : If there's a P2, let EvilD and Craigix do their job, they'll do something nice for us.

 

[Null]

2gb of ram in a HandHeld? Personally, I never saw a high-end smartphone with such a big amount of ram.

The Pandora 2 isn't coming out til 2014 at the earliest though, 2GB of ram will probably be standard then.

 

[Grench]

2gb of ram in a HandHeld? Personally, I never saw a high-end smartphone with such a big amount of ram. Also, imagine the cost of this new device : 899$? Would you pay that much?


I say : If there's a P2, let EvilD and Craigix do their job, they'll do something nice for us.

The US version of the Samsung Galaxy SIII comes with a dual core CPU and 2GB of RAM.

 

[Nintendo]

^ Wow! I didn't know that? Is that a first?

 

[Exophase]

At least 2GB of RAM is a given. Craig is talking about 8GB of RAM >_> I expect the screen will take up more of the case because they want a bigger screen and smaller unit. I expect there'll be more effort to keep the kernel from lagging behind tremendously - they've updated to 3.2.. notaz did a very good job getting that straightened out but I'm sure he'd like not having to make such a big jump any time soon. Offering different models with different SoCs would be a nightmare for all sorts of reasons.. you have to base much of the design around the SoC, you can't just replace one with another one and expect it to work (except in cases where the SoC manufacturer offers different versions of one). Don't hold your breath for a lot of OpenGL support either, vendors aren't enthusiastic about writing those drivers if there's not a lot of market demand for it.


Being able to use the LCD as an external display directly is not likely.. you MIGHT be able to do something like that through a camera interface, although I'm still skeptical. Even if you could, there'd be a non-trivial amount of extra hardware to add, for something very few people would be interested in.

 

[Nintendo]

In 2014...even 8GB of RAM will be overkill for a mobile device.

 

[craigix]

In 2014...even 8GB of RAM will be overkill for a mobile device.

But what about 2015, 2016?


ARM Laptops will surely have 4 or 8 GB.


If we can get 8GB and our SoC supports it we will use it.

 

[Nintendo]

Maybe 4GB is enough, imo.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

I'd prefer 4.2G.

 

[ShleeDragon]

Anything less than 12 GB is pointless

 

[mcobit]

Yes, because rendering pixar movies and doing economy simulations on a device in your pocket is cool!

 

[slaeshjag]

1 GB would be nice.

 

[ShleeDragon]

I think the pandora 2 should become a giant globally isolated super beowulf cluster.

 

[pisiiki]

I am probably wrong but is it possible to move >4GB with a 32bit ARM? 64bit ARM sounds too risky for 2013. I think it was mozilla who recently noted that firefox can't link with a 32bits system very well because of that.

 

[Grench]

Being able to use the LCD as an external display directly is not likely.. you MIGHT be able to do something like that through a camera interface, although I'm still skeptical. Even if you could, there'd be a non-trivial amount of extra hardware to add, for something very few people would be interested in.

Actually, I don't think that is so far fetched.


Video capture over a USB host isn't exactly new tech.


Video playback to the screen is pretty well known.


With a multi-core SoC doing both very fast may be possible - effectively resulting in the Pandora 2 becoming, essentially, a USB monitor for another device - with adequate card capacity (GB) over USB 3.0 it could also handle high def video recording off of an appropriate capture device (web cam/camera/etc...).


I could actually see this as being quite valuable for free lance field journalists where device weight & bulk is critical - but they still need to record and edit the story prior to posting.


Or heck, it might be fun to have a hand held video editing station to clean up those vacation shots before posting them to your favorite social networking site.


External hardware wise - it shouldn't take much more than a USB patch cable from a device capable of feeding an external USB monitor. Converting from HDMI to USB would be a bit more of a trick. There are LOTS of adapters going the other direction (USB to HDMI) though - and they're cheap little dongles.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119460


I haven't seen one yet that will do a 1080p DVI or HDMI source to USB device, but they're available if you go one step down from there:


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/626680-REG/Ion_VIDEO2PC_VIDEO_2_PC_MKII.html


So - I'd say the hardware is the trivial part - it's all 'out there' already.


The software - that would require someone VERY interested in doing this one thing with the Pandora II.

 

[Exophase]

There'd be a non-trivial amount of extra hardware to add, for something very few people would be interested in.


Yes, you could perhaps do it if you add the extra hardware yourself. I don't think that's what he was asking. Yeah, those USB to HDMI dongles are cheap.. I wonder what the frame rate is? How much does the intense compression deteriorate the image? Read the reviews. I've yet to see a USB2 display adapter that offered an acceptable that was useful for more than slideshows. Maybe USB3 would help, but of course doing fast digital conversion is expensive.


If OPT were to spend even a few extra dollars on extra internal hardware to support this I'd be fairly disappointed in them.

 

[Grench]

Maybe USB3 would help, but of course doing fast digital conversion is expensive.

It isn't THAT expensive to go from USB 3.0 to HDMI.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812240020&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA


Going the other direction isn't cheap - but not unobtainable.


http://gizmodo.com/5517765/blackmagic-intensity-shuttle-slurps-hdmi-over-usb-30


By 2014 those will both probably be more common and half the size.


I think people underestimate the power that a USB 3.0 host port on a Pandora 2 - and the CPU to back it up - would give the little device.

 

[Exophase]

So what are you arguing for exactly? Do you want Pandora 2 to have a native HDMI-in for its screen or not?

 

[Grench]

So what are you arguing for exactly? Do you want Pandora 2 to have a native HDMI-in for its screen or not?

If the Pandora 2 has a USB 3.0 host port and the capacity to communicate through it to an external monitor (USB 3.0 to HDMI) OR in from it to act as a monitor/DVR (HDMI to USB 3.0) - then I see no need for any other special adapters built into the unit.


It could eliminate any need for a video out cable, audio out cable, microphone input, for example.


That one port would, in theory, have the flexibility to run all of that plus networking, etc. Just maybe not all at the same time.


I would 'leave out' many things that could be solved through USB+dongle/box if their use would be to hook up to other larger static equipment.


Examples:


If you're going to attach a professional microphone, use a USB to XLR mic adapter.


TV out - use a USB to HDMI converter box.


Wired networking - USB to 1000/100/10 ethernet adapter


Video input - HDMI/Svideo/composite to USB adapter


External DASD - USB to SCSI/IDE/SATA adapter


Things that should be -in- the unit are generally items where the entire end to end purpose is within the Pandora. CPU, memory, card slots, video, GPS, tilt/accel, battery, keyboard, nubs, etc... the things that make a Pandora a Pandora. Connectivity to most larger external hardware applications can be handled via adapters through USB.


It's the two full sized SD slots and USB host ports (yes there are two) on the Pandora that caught my interest in it. That is where it's hardware flexibility is rooted. Forward 3 years and it's high capacity and high speed SDXC and USB 3.0 that will make the device shine.