Next pandora (competition model)

[Mr Rob]

A non-foldable Pandora with a capacitive touchscreen and no keyboard? Doesn't that seem like a backwards step?

With a tray for punch cards. Try wrapping up a punchcard based Fortran program up in a PND.

 

[Binky]

Any Pandora2 will be taking a radical approach to things as big as the original Pandora design was.

How similar to the Ptm are we talking?

• 10 - exactly the same, just better CPU
  
• ...
  
• 1 - completely different hardware, just the same versatility+games concept
  

Also, how heavily patented are methods of screen flipping? Is there any chance that we could come up with a new one?

 

[craigix]

The current inputs and the laptopishness will remain the same.

 

[Binky]

When you say radical approach, what is that relative to?


The P1?


Modern smartphones?


Any examples of the said radicality?


(sorry to be persistently annoying :unsure: )

 

[fusion_power]

And the final product shouldn't be named "PANDORA 2" - sound just boring. ^^


How about "Pandora neXt" or "Pandora Pro" or something like this?

 

[Pickle]

The current inputs and the laptopishness will remain the same.

awww, thats not radical ;-)


Now in all seriousness how can any internal change be radical. Your going to have some kind of linux based soc, which will contain the typical cpu/gpu/io. In my mind the only real question is the peripherals you choose to include. Meaning wifi, haptic, etc. But really none of those are radical., they are just fluff features.

 

[Prometheus]

And the final product shouldn't be named "PANDORA 2" - sound just boring. ^^


How about "Pandora neXt" or "Pandora Pro" or something like this?

It's the first time it's been truly appropriate in this field, though, as far as I know.


Pandora II was the granddaughter of Pandora.

 

[Binky]

This is more interesting:


Has anyone patented it?

 

[craigix]

You will just have to wait and see, and that will only be if it ever happens.


But I assure you, the device will be totally different from anything on the market or ever seen in MP.

 

[diligentcircle]

This is more interesting:


Has anyone patented it?


View attachment 1378

I don't know who wrote it, but the FAQ on the wiki says it is:

This is actually a patented idea. Pandora could not have a hinge which either flipped all the way back or rotated without substantially increasing the cost (licensing fees) or risking a patent infringement lawsuit.

 

[sepp256]

You will just have to wait and see, and that will only be if it ever happens.


But I assure you, the device will be totally different from anything on the market or ever seen in MP.

How about Pandora 3D? If the next Pandora LCD uses the same technology used in the 3DS, then it could be a could be great open platform for watching your 3D movies, playing 3D games, etc, on the go!

 

[Binky]

Hmm... I wonder how much the licensing fees would be?


1$ per unit?


5$


10$


It will be difficult finding out who made that wiki edit, as that entry was in http://pandora.bluwiki.org/go/Pandora_FAQ which no longer exists.

 

[scoobydoo]

Hmm... I wonder how much the licensing fees would be?


1$ per unit?


5$


10$


It will be difficult finding out who made that wiki edit, as that entry was in http://pandora.bluwi.../go/Pandora_FAQ which no longer exists.

Well find out then. It's not that difficult -_-

 

[Mr_Loon]

To expand a little on the idea for small LED displays to be embedded in the ABXY buttons :


The LEDs would be of the size and possibly type, of those found in that marvel of late 70's technology, the digital watch, as per this one. Paying a rather nice homage to the retro aspect of Pandora gaming IMHO.


You would probably need a grid of a minimum size of 5 by 5 LEDs in each button, this allows a surprisingly nice font to be displayed, of course the bigger the grid the better the variety and definition of the characters displayed. But I can only imagine that costs would rise considerably for larger grids of LEDs in such a small space.


Imagine you were playing a play station emulator and the buttons displayed the traditional sony icons when in game and then when you exited to the menu the appropriate buttons would change to enter and back either being represented symbolically by the carriage return sign and a back arrow or by scrolling letters of text, go back to the game and the buttons change again.


Devs could incorporate custom buttons in games and applications or choose from a standard set.


The brightness of the LEDs could be adjusted to suit the level required by the user.


The LED displays would be overlaid with clear plastic as per an XBox 360 controller or Dingoo, the positioning of the LEDs in the grid would have to take into account any refraction from the curvature of the clear plastic covering.


I have no idea what 4 grids of 25 LEDs small enough to be embedded into a control button would cost but my gut feel is that it would not be prohibitively expensive, guess we'd need someone with a bit of knowledge relating to this sort of thing to chip in here (earth calling M Weston, come in please ).


It is appreciated that this is 'blue sky thinking' to use a horrible management speak type phrase, but as Craig was hinting it can only be hoped that Pandora 2 when released is as innovative and ahead of the game as Pandora 1 was when it was supposed to be released & available off the shelf.


@ Craig : Hope the community will get a say in the design of a device that is "totally different from anything on the market or ever seen in MP", colour me intrigued.


One overall consideration would be the level of market penetration desired for Pandora 2, is it to be a niche product like Pandora 1? (think ZX80) or a mass market device? (think ZX Spectrum). Price will play a hugely significant factor in this. But that sort of thing is for the future, lets keep the brainstorming side of this thread going, who knows we might just come up with something great.

 

[diligentcircle]

I don't get it. What's wrong with a small monochrome LCD? Digital clocks use them these days, so what's wrong with using it in the Pandora 2's buttons? It's not like they need to glow. Am I wrong about which is cheaper? I'm not very familiar with electronics, but I tend to think a ton of tiny LEDs would be a lot more expensive than a simple, low-resolution LCD at almost no benefit.

 

[Mr_Loon]

I don't get it. What's wrong with a small monochrome LCD? Digital clocks use them these days, so what's wrong with using it in the Pandora 2's buttons? It's not like they need to glow. Am I wrong about which is cheaper? I'm not very familiar with electronics, but I tend to think a ton of tiny LEDs would be a lot more expensive than a simple, low-resolution LCD at almost no benefit.

If the LCD solution was cheaper and could be made viewable in a wide range of conditions i.e. darkness to daylight then I'd have no objection to using LCDs whatsoever. Like I say I'm no hardware expert, haven't really got a clue what these sort of things would cost. But I do rather like those red LEDs, guess I'm just showing my age .

 

[Mr Rob]

Imagine you were playing a play station emulator and the buttons displayed the traditional sony icons when in game and then when you exited to the menu the appropriate buttons would change to enter and back either being represented symbolically by the carriage return sign and a back arrow or by scrolling letters of text, go back to the game and the buttons change again.

This is where it would win; I wouldn't mind paying an extra $50 for this feature. I can figure out PS1 keys if I think hard enough, but am always at a loss trying to remember which buttons were which for the SNES (very important to know for some games; Chrono Trigger for example (poor Lucca's mother)).

 

[Prometheus]

I know the SNES' buttons instinctively (as well I should - it's my favourite console of all time ), but some other systems do briefly cause a pause to recall what's where.


I would absolutely love to see this feature if it were possible to do it in an affordable fashion.

 

[Grench]

Personally - I would REALLY like to see a Pandora with a 5" PixelQi dual-mode screen with equivalent to 1024x600 resolution - yeah, I'm aware that these don't exist - yet.


Still - it wouldn't hurt to have someone - say EvilDragon - send them a note asking about the technology to see if it would be good for a Pandora. Who knows - maybe they're working on one.


In that scenario - we'd loose room for speakers in the lid - maybe just go to two smaller ones on each side instead of one big one?


Faster CPU and more RAM are always good ideas.


I have an idea for a new friction-lock hinge. How about one with -no- locking positions, but with a slider on the screen side of the hinge that when shoved over wedges into the hinge to hold it put?


Fun stuff.

 

[Exophase]

I have an idea for a new friction-lock hinge. How about one with -no- locking positions, but with a slider on the screen side of the hinge that when shoved over wedges into the hinge to hold it put?

I really like this idea, even if it does add a bit of extra work to the process. I really feel like having the hinge locked at different positions depending on what I'm doing. I wonder what kind of design effort this would require?