Next pandora (competition model)

[FaeMinx]

Imagine if that was one of the major selling points for the P2? First console ever to have fully customisable *physical* controls?


That, and make sure it has software enabling it to function as a universal controler.


All of a sudden, everyone (not just us) wants one.


EDIT:

We need to make the mainstream look pathetic because they dropped physical controls back in 2010.

I'm sure this would do the trick!

 

[Caine]

All of a sudden, everyone (not just us) wants one.

Yeah right. Mainstream audiences want it to look pretty more than they care about usability and/or efficiency, it seems.


Out of curiosity, what would you want to have configurable? I don't see myself carrying around a lot of attachments with the unit (my current jacket doesn't have enough secure pockets for it). So far the only thing that comes to mind for me is the option to swap out a nub in favour of a trackball for better mouse control.


The game-controls just compensate for the missing buttons of a full-sized keyboard and I cannot imagine using the unit without the keyboard (or the game controls for that matter).

 

[Prometheus]

So far the only thing that comes to mind for me is the option to swap out a nub in favour of a trackball for better mouse control.

Though I get on fine with nubs-as-mouse, I would very much want that. (I won't suggest a TrackPoint, however much I love them, as I'm pretty sure that they're expensive to license, which is probably the real reason that you don't see them so much anymore.)

 

[kuru]

- Backlit instead of glow-in-the-dark: I don't want to have to plan ahead when I might use


it in the dark. Plus those GITD colors look yellowish in daylight, don't they? Not on my


Pandora if I can help it, no sir.


- No l2/r2 buttons. If they are good to use they either look like on the wii classic controller


and take up too much horizontal space, leaving too little room for connectivity options


or


an organic shape is required to fit l2 over or under l1 and at the same time not make


the device a huge block _or_ make the buttons too small to give good controls.


Plus organic shapes are seldom comfortably pocketable compared to things with a flat surface,


imagine xbox pad in pants pocket.


- OMG hell's most evil demons stripping the flesh off living pink bunnies please _no_ detachable


escape pod nonsense. The Pandora is a mini computer with gaming controls. It is no MASK figure.


I'd love to see more ideas on how to improve quality and save space instead of expensive


gadgetry to put on the PCB, which is often available in some USB-equipped incarnation anyway.


--


Sent from my pandora using a browser.

 

[Binky]

What about a 2" (3x4cm) e-ink screen on the back of the lid?


By default (and on shutdown=when off) this could show a Pandora logo on a black background


It could also act as:

• A battery meter (when charging)
  
• A clock display (with sidelighting?)
  
• A now playing screen for media functions
  
• A way to tell people to go away because you are busy playing S.G.D.
  

 

[kuru]

What about a 2" (3x4cm) e-ink screen on the back of the lid?


By default (and on shutdown=when off) this could show a Pandora logo on a black background


It could also act as:

• A battery meter (when charging)
  
• A clock display (with sidelighting?)
  
• A now playing screen for media functions
  
• A way to tell people to go away because you are busy playing S.G.D.
  

Cute, I own a samsung phone which has a 2nd display like that, but then again:


This would make the Pandora unneccessarily more complicated and expensive.


Plus, we have a clamshell to protect the screen. Pasting a 2nd screen on the hull


only exposes vulnerable parts of the machine.


We have a battery indicator, the LEDs, which could be made to blink or pulse in


order to reflect the charge level.


If you absolutely need to know what song is playing atm, just open the friggin' lid.


The pros are in no relation to the cost and work involved.


###############################################################


One of the best suggestions so far was turning the back itself into the battery


instead of a compartment, to either be able to fit a bigger battery or indeed make


the pandora smaller. The latter is what I would prefer.


As batteries grow more and more effective over time, and hopefully so will the


software to allow for proper powersaving functions, we will get more lifetime out


of the Pandora battery. And heck, I mean friggin' 4000mAh - this is just barely


less than the giant-ass 8-cell battery in my Laptop (just ignore the voltage for a


moment) - and we already get a good 8-10 hours from one charge.

 

[Binky]

Points noted. I am just throwing ideas around, that one doesn't stick. :unsure:

a. Have you heard of transparent plastic?

b. Where do you put the stylus?

<_<


How about:

Enough LEDs

as standard

that the user can configure them to display whatever they want (5 on each side seems reasonable)

Built in 2Ah battery in a similar compartment to the one in the P1

Stackable 2Ah battery boxes that fit underneath.*




* OK, not a lot of people would need more than 6Ah (2 extra packs) (especially with improved power management) but why take away the opportunity?

 

[Exophase]

And heck, I mean friggin' 4000mAh - this is just barely
less than the giant-ass 8-cell battery in my Laptop (just ignore the voltage for a


moment) - and we already get a good 8-10 hours from one charge.

That 8x voltage difference means an 8x difference in capacity.. mAh are a pointless rating for battery life..

 

[kuru]

Points noted. I am just throwing ideas around, that one doesn't stick. :unsure:

a. Have you heard of transparent plastic?

b. Where do you put the stylus?

<_<


How about:

Enough LEDs

as standard

that the user can configure them to display whatever they want (5 on each side seems reasonable)

Built in 2Ah battery in a similar compartment to the one in the P1

Stackable 2Ah battery boxes that fit underneath.*




* OK, not a lot of people would need more than 6Ah (2 extra packs) (especially with improved power management) but why take away the opportunity?

Hmm


a. The phone has a transparent cover, too. It just looks like it takes up quite much space compared to the overall thickness of the phone's lid. But yes, plastic has evolved quite a bit, that argument of mine about scratching is rather moot.


b. Oversize the hinge and put it there XD


nah... I haven't yet visualized this in detail to be honest, saving space sounded like a great idea.


Edit: And If anything I'd want to put tube speakers in the hinge's ends.

And heck, I mean friggin' 4000mAh - this is just barely


less than the giant-ass 8-cell battery in my Laptop (just ignore the voltage for a


moment) - and we already get a good 8-10 hours from one charge.

That 8x voltage difference means an 8x difference in capacity.. mAh are a pointless rating for battery life..

14,4/8 = Pandora battery has1,8V?




This is confusing. When comparing two identical-voltage batteries with different Ah, the higher Ah will run longer, won't it?




Apart from that I wanted to say that we're in the upper class size-wize, compared to other devices, like a laptop.

 

[Binky]

This is confusing. When comparing two identical-voltage batteries with different Ah, the higher Ah will run longer, won't it?

For any given current, yes!


Ah = Amps * hours = amount_of_current_taken_by_device * battery_life


so the 4.2 Ah battery in the P1 will give

• 4.2Amps for 1 hour
  
• 2.1Amps for 2 hours
  
• 1 Amp for 4.2 hours
  
• 0.3Amps for 14 hours
  

 

[Exophase]

14,4/8 = Pandora battery has1,8V?

This is confusing. When comparing two identical-voltage batteries with different Ah, the higher Ah will run longer, won't it?


Apart from that I wanted to say that we're in the upper class size-wize, compared to other devices, like a laptop.

You said 8 cell. 1 cell is supposed to mean a single 3.7V Lithium Ion/Polymer battery. I assumed they were then ran in series, but they probably run four parallel pairs in series.


All this goes to further illustrate how incomplete giving an Amp-hour rating is when comparing two devices that draw currents at different voltages. Watt-hour rating is much more meaningful for this discussion. Bottom line is that Pandora's battery is no where close to the level your laptop's is.

 

[kuru]

Uhm yeah. I shouldn't have thrown around those number and units carelessly. I'll get the vacuum cleaner...


Considering the low power consumption of the Pandora, I very much like the comparison to my laptop. If a good new battery can give me like 7 hours on my laptop and the Pandora gives me about 8 with all bells and whistles on, I say the Pandora battery is more than sufficient and clearly in the upper class.


Mehdit: I only wanna go there: No need to make it bigger.

 

[Exophase]

Your laptop consumes grossly more power than the Pandora. I'm sure its battery is also a hell of lot heavier.


I don't want a bigger battery either, but we don't know if Pandora 2 will really have the same power draw as the current one. I'd be pretty surprised if its peak power draw wasn't significantly higher, even though it'll be at least one and possibly two process generations ahead.


Personally I think Pandora's battery life is higher than it really needs to be, although a lot of people disagree with me. I'd trade some battery life for a lower cost, and to a lesser degree I'd trade some battery life for a thinner unit. A minimum of let's say, 6-7 hours under heavy load would be pretty good. No idea if OPT would entertain something like this, or if they'd even put out polls to see how people think.. enormous battery life has always been a focal point of the device.

 

[Binky]

Maybe provide something like 3Ah battery packs to compensate for higher peak drain?

 

[kuru]

Alright, I'll stop talking about my darn laptop. As you said it's all about hours of use.


How low can you go?! True, a lot of people wanting to break some imaginary boundary and I'm not saying I don't enjoy the battery life as it is, but a little moderation has benefits. Then again, everyone weighs those differently. Hard to balance it out when you have to compromise things like that.


Increased peak consumption.. we get more oomph for higher draw. At the same time, due to being more advanced, more stuff will happen for that amount of draw.

 

[Binky]

If power management is up to it, we might be able to get the same average power draw by doing things fast and then undervolting/clocking the SOC while waiting for the next processor-heavy task. Or does that not work?

 

[Mr Rob]

If power management is up to it, we might be able to get the same average power draw by doing things fast and then undervolting/clocking the SOC while waiting for the next processor-heavy task. Or does that not work?

I think ARM processors (if not most modern processors in general) already do this.

 

[kuru]

If power management is up to it, we might be able to get the same average power draw by doing things fast and then undervolting/clocking the SOC while waiting for the next processor-heavy task. Or does that not work?

It might not be possible to undervolt (coming from standard voltage), not all chips are of the same quality and might become unstable. The n900 runs at variable clockrate but stable voltage for example. Featuring undervolting to set amounts would lead to varying experiences. It would already help if we had dynamic clockrate, I guess.

Then again the most can be achieved by, as I understand it, shutting down parts of the board/thingies on it. Which sounds awfully more complicated.

 

[Exophase]

I wouldn't really worry about the peak draw too much. You get what you use, and most people aren't going to be running the most demanding stuff they can all the time. Hopefully the power management software will be better too, including lower draw at idle.


The cutoff is so subjective.. if OP is willing to even consider different battery life points I'd really encourage a broad poll on these boards and go with whatever minimum say 90% or so are happy with.


SoCs do tend to have different voltage domains. OMAP3 does and OMAP4+ probably only improves this. That means that they're tested and guaranteed to perform at some frequency range for some voltage class. So n900 for instance would be safe dropping the voltage if the right clock limits are observed.

 

[Spectralist]

What about moving the controls?


View attachment 1398


Would this be a improvement for touchscreen-centric games?


Maybe some really cool use could be made of the space left on the lower section...

I like it. Though only because I almost never use the nubs but find their position much more comfortable than the dpad and action buttons so I'd love to see the dpad and nubs moved inward like that and don't care what happens to the nubs.