Of cases and batteries

[Silent-Hunter]

I think clips are a bad idea. They aren't as robust or as long lasting as screws.

 

[m95]

German version of the post is available now. (Deutsche Version ist jetzt da)

Where can I find it?

 

[Inqui]

http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?t=17453

 

[EvilDragon]

My wife can barely reach the middle keys of the keyboard with her thumb. I'm sure there are other people who want to use the Pyra with smaller hands as well.


Increasing the width by 1,4cm would make it extremely awkward for them to use it.


Clips are not bad itself - they need to be done properly.


Most devices use clips. I've got a Nexus 7 and Droid 4, and the latter one has fallen to the ground multiple times already - from 1m height to the street, etc.


The battery compartment (clips) never opened or broke.


And that's without a fixture screw that the Pyra will have at least.


It's not the look of the screws that I don't like - but the large empty space they need.

 

[Saber]

Well, you learned about the PCBs and displays in the last post, time to update you on the rest.

 

Let's start with...

 

The case

 

I received an update a while ago which has been adapted to the display and all our other components (PCB, the battery, etc.)

It's nigh finished and the shoulder buttons received a new design as well (yep - they do look familiar. The idea for those came from the community - thanks for that!)

ShoulderInside.jpg

ShoulderOutside1.jpg

ShoulderOutside2.jpg

 

Very good. Respectful credit of course goes, not to this amorphous community entity, but to Saber(me) and Fusion_Power for taking it to where it is as is detailed from this post onward in the "GameCom, Shoulderbuttons" official news thread.

Always think it's better to not muddle the details and always always to give credit it's full due to the person(s) whom accomplished the deed. If not, It would be like saying a big thank you for DraStic, because it hatched itself from some unnamed source, from somewhere. 

My wife can barely reach the middle keys of the keyboard with her thumb. I'm sure there are other people who want to use the Pyra with smaller hands as well.


Increasing the width by 1,4cm would make it extremely awkward for them to use it.


Clips are not bad itself - they need to be done properly.


Most devices use clips. I've got a Nexus 7 and Droid 4, and the latter one has fallen to the ground multiple times already - from 1m height to the street, etc.


The battery compartment (clips) never opened or broke.


And that's without a fixture screw that the Pyra will have at least.


It's not the look of the screws that I don't like - but the large empty space they need.

I'm glad you aren't increasing the width/length. 

 

[Askarus]

Very good. Respectful credit of course goes, not to this amorphous community entity, but to Saber(me) and Fusion_Power for taking it to where it is as is detailed from this post onward in the "GameCom, Shoulderbuttons" official news thread. Always think it's better to not muddle the details and always always to give credit it's full due to the person(s) whom accomplished the deed. If not, It would be like saying a big thank you for DraStic, because it hatched itself from some unnamed source, from somewhere.

Exactly.

Everyone should get credits for his accomplishments.

And don't forget that there wouldn't be 4 Shoulder buttons for Pyra if I wouldn't have made it possible in my Pandora .

 

[matzesu]

So, this means, the 1,4 cm increase can be avoid by use clips instead of Screws??


Ok, than whe should use Clips


Also i believe the new Plastic is lot more toughter than on the Cheap Chinese Pandora Case, so Clips cant be bad at all.

 

[fusion_power]

My wife can barely reach the middle keys of the keyboard with her thumb. I'm sure there are other people who want to use the Pyra with smaller hands as well.


Increasing the width by 1,4cm would make it extremely awkward for them to use it.

She must have really small hands then. " Well I can imagine that this is an issue for some people. However, it's mostly the design of the case, not only the size. The Pandora is very "bricky" and thick, so you have more trouble to reach the buttons than you would have with a thinner case of the same size. More rounded edges can help there too, even with a slightly bigger case.

Clips are not bad itself - they need to be done properly.


Most devices use clips. I've got a Nexus 7 and Droid 4, and the latter one has fallen to the ground multiple times already - from 1m height to the street, etc.


The battery compartment (clips) never opened or broke.


And that's without a fixture screw that the Pyra will have at least.


It's not the look of the screws that I don't like - but the large empty space they need.

To be honest, the clip supported battery compartment of the Pandora is bad, I would suggest some screws there because it will went off if dropped. I can't imagine that the Pyra will be better there, if even the Lid will only be hold by clips. I actualy hoped for an more durable Case but it seems there will be more and more compromises just to not make it bigger, which was my worst fear. (again)  I have not seen much impressive stuff yet from this case design company, I hope they finaly start with some awesome improvements to make the case a real durable piece of armor.


Oh, and clip(py)s are BAD!!!

Very good. Respectful credit of course goes, not to this amorphous community entity, but to Saber(me) and Fusion_Power for taking it to where it is as is detailed from this post onward in the "GameCom, Shoulderbuttons" official news thread.

Ah, you were the one. I Did mention you when I offered the 3D design that was based on your 2D sketch, but I actualy forgot your name, sorry for that. I'm really bad with names. ^^"

Exactly.


Everyone should get credits for his accomplishments.


And don't forget that there wouldn't be 4 Shoulder buttons for Pyra if I wouldn't have made it possible in my Pandora .

So this mess is actualy YOUR fault! I would have been happy with a clean and simple 2 Trigger solution but noooo....

 

[DaMummy]

I bought a pandora, so the Pyra would  never be a thing possible if it wasn't for me. I believe a "thanks" is in order.

 

[Woody]

Thanks for the udpates.  The Pyra is gonna be awesome!!

 

[levi]

FWIW, I've had no trouble with the clips on my Pandora's battery compartment. Since I've packed my battery compartment to stop the battery moving, it's hard to open the compartment without breaking the tabs on the opposite side to the clips, but so far (touch wood) I've not broken them.


On the other hand, the clips that hold the two halves of the hinge together below the LCD have started fracturing the other side of the join. That's not too bad given the amount of times I've taken it apart to fix the LCD cable (and I've bought a replacement lid outer for spares for a very reasonable price), but I'd still appreciate an easier way to get into the lid for repairs on the Pyra (and it looks like it has one, with that screw at the bottom of the LCD).

 

[rygD]

My wife can barely reach the middle keys of the keyboard with her thumb. I'm sure there are other people who want to use the Pyra with smaller hands as well.
Increasing the width by 1,4cm would make it extremely awkward for them to use it.

This is important to keep in mind.  We have all these keyboard threads discussing layouts, but the best key placement is useless if a good portion of the people who would use the Pyra can't reach all the keys.  It takes a bit of balancing to get the size right, because too big makes it hard for smaller hands to use and too small makes it difficult for use with big hands.

Respectful credit of course goes, not to this amorphous community entity, but to Saber(me) and Fusion_Power for taking it to where it is as is detailed from this post onward in the "GameCom, Shoulderbuttons" official news thread.

Thank you both.

I bought a pandora, so the Pyra would never be a thing possible if it wasn't for me. I believe a "thanks" is in order.

Truth.

 

[Tenka]

It's not the look of the screws that I don't like - but the large empty space they need.

Does this mean that a later aluminum Pyra case would require a redesigned board and/or a wider profile than normal?  Or is there a plan to never have produced a metal case for the Pyra?

 

[_jr_]

Using all keys requires quite a lot of hand movement even now. For me the center keys T, Y, G, V, B and the outer keys, especially Fn, are not both in range at the same time and require slightly changing my grip while typing. Rounded corners wouldn't help, because when using the keyboard the base of both my hands are already touching the case somewhere at the height of the (X) button. This is different when gaming using the DPAD, but then only the three outermost rows of keys each are in reach. A 1.4cm wider case would make the keyboard nearly unusable for me. Thanks for looking into ways of keeping close to the current dimensions.

 

[slimeycat]

my nether regions are soaked with excitement!

 

[EvilDragon]

My wife can barely reach the middle keys of the keyboard with her thumb. I'm sure there are other people who want to use the Pyra with smaller hands as well.

Increasing the width by 1,4cm would make it extremely awkward for them to use it.

She must have really small hands then. " Well I can imagine that this is an issue for some people. However, it's mostly the design of the case, not only the size. The Pandora is very "bricky" and thick, so you have more trouble to reach the buttons than you would have with a thinner case of the same size. More rounded edges can help there too, even with a slightly bigger case.

No, normal hands

Making it thinner won't help though - if the thumbs can't reach from the edge to the middle, they can't do that with any device thickness.

To be honest, the clip supported battery compartment of the Pandora is bad

Yes. According to FormAction, this is because the plastic is not durable enough for that function.

On the other hand, the clips that hold the two halves of the hinge together below the LCD have started fracturing the other side of the join. That's not too bad given the amount of times I've taken it apart to fix the LCD cable (and I've bought a replacement lid outer for spares for a very reasonable price), but I'd still appreciate an easier way to get into the lid for repairs on the Pyra (and it looks like it has one, with that screw at the bottom of the LCD).

 You can remove the lid without having to disassemble the lower part of the unit.

 

[comradekingu]

It seems difficult to write anything on the buttons, like what they do and what they are called.

Also the added concavity and lines come into question, bring it to the test and see if it does anything useful.

I think the underside should have some grip to it, less sliding around on a table, and feels sturdy in the hand.

Edit: Its solutions like this that really make this a community device.

 

[fusion_power]

No, normal hands

Making it thinner won't help though - if the thumbs can't reach from the edge to the middle, they can't do that with any device thickness.

Blackberry could be one solution then I guess. People say the typing is great there

Yes. According to FormAction, this is because the plastic is not durable enough for that function.

I'm looking forward (together with the whole comunity) what plastic mixture will be used for the Pyra. There is some interesting stuff out there. I'm sure everything will be better than the stuff the Pandora case was made out of.

You can remove the lid without having to disassemble the lower part of the unit.

This will be a very nice feature, gives bonus points at iFixit for sure.I even could live with one single centered screw if the lid is done right. It may not look that great compared to 4 corner screws (better cover that single screw) but as long as it is well designed, it's fine. The big LCD does not leave alot of room around, no doubt.

 

[Letalis Sonus]

Clips have been used within cars for ages, the whole outer chassis contains hardly any screws nowadays. If you see how a car mechanic removes some of those parts without breaking any clips, one does start to believe in the existence of "good" clips...

 

[EvilDragon]

No, normal hands

Making it thinner won't help though - if the thumbs can't reach from the edge to the middle, they can't do that with any device thickness.

Blackberry could be one solution then I guess. People say the typing is great there

You know the blackberry has a width of about 6cm, which is about half the width the Pandora has, right?