Pandora 2 aluminum case

[Hồng Thất Công]

Should Pandora 2 (or whatever the next Pandora is called) be metal like aluminum or still should be plastic?  I, myself, would love to see aluminum case.

 

[fritata]

In my opinion, I would prefer plastic because the Pandora now is a bit heavy in my pocket with that giant battery.

 

[WizardStan]

Plastic is quite a bit cheaper than aluminum. Also harder to make work with wifi properly, and we've got enough problems there as it is without an intentionally reflective housing adding interference.

 

[EssoAir]

Basically, what those two said.


Also, since ARM puts off so little heat, it would never get warm. So it would be cold to the touch which I dint like.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

.....reflective housing adding interference.

This maybe true but are you sure?  Wifi on many gadgets out there with aluminum cases work fine.

 

[ekianjo]

It won't be in aluminium because aluminium is expensive to manufacture and work for small quantities. There's a reason plastic is popular. 

 

[ekianjo]

.....reflective housing adding interference.

This maybe true but are you sure?  Wifi on many gadgets out there with aluminum cases work fine.

Half-myth, probably. Aluminium can interfere with the wifi signal but it depends on how the wifi-chip is placed against the casing. It's perfectly possible to avoid the problem. 

 

[levi]

Most metal-bodied devices I've seen that do wifi generally have part of the case made of plastic or glass to give the signal an out.


Still, metal parts to the case would make sense to me. Particularly inside the hinge and battery cabinet it could reduce tolerances and tighten things up nicely.

 

[ekianjo]

Still, metal parts to the case would make sense to me. Particularly inside the hinge and battery cabinet it could reduce tolerances and tighten things up nicely.

Metal parts, I can certainly agree with that. A mix of metal and plastic for the structure would be great - just like what they did for the PSP : there's a metal frame but most of the cover parts are in plastic, and it worked pretty well. 

 

[ghostpatch]

metal parts for the frame seems to be a good idea

my N9 is made of polycarbonate (the plastic used for CDs). The cool thing is, you can dye it through or leave it translucent. It would eliminate the hassle with the paint

 

[fusion_power]

I guess a mix of Alu/Plastic could be a good compromise. This way there will be no issue with the WiFi Antenna. I also could live with a full plastic Case, as long as it has a better quality than the current Pandora. There are alot of durable types of plastic, would be nice if the next Open Handheld would have such an case. Rugged certified or more if possible.

I imagine some kind of "Toughbook"-like Handheld. ^^

 

[ShleeDragon]

Cost of R&D + cost of construction is too high.

 

[Grench]

Poured & formed or milled metals are very expensive.  -stamped- metal, generally, isn't.  Stamping can create fairly complex patterns, screw head bevels, holes, 1/2 rolled edges and cut the shape of the piece while retaining a relatively consistent material thickness.

Keeping it simple and working from the bottom up on a P2:

1.  Sheet of 20ga stamped aluminum screwed onto:

2.  Injection molded plastic C with one end open to slide the battery in (from the open side of the C with a door).  This layer also houses the stylus bay and slots to run the antenna wires back down into from the board layer.  Battery slot on left bottom - SD slots on top right ends.  Layers 3, 4, 5 and 6 rest in outer edge of and screw into this layer  This puts the top side of the C and the top side of the battery in direct friction-contact with:

3.  Heat spreader & radiator.  20ga stamped/folded aluminum sheet that screws down into the top of the plastic C - feeds out the front edge to then fold up 90* over front 180* then 15 or so 1mm deep ribs 0.5mm apart.

4.  Motherboard layer.  CPU and other 'hot' components on bottom in direct contact with the heat spreader.  Keyboard contact pads on top - much like existing Pandora uses.  SD slots exit on right side (through layer 2 side wall).  USB 3.0 host, microUSB 2.0 OTG, power, HDMI all go through the back center.  Four shoulder buttons, two per side - not floppy corners, but actual buttons, sit in the back right & left corners - on each side these beveled to almost look like a mini-rocker switch buttons sit one over the top of each other allowing the finger to roll up for L1, roll down for L2 or 'mash' the two simultaneously with one finger.

5.  Keymat - same rubber dome one from the Pandora.  Say what you will, I think it's a very good keyboard for this type of device.

6.  Stamped 20ga aluminum keyboard topper and hinge layer - screwed into 2 above.  Has a slot to feed the display cable through - no twisting, just a flat cable going from a loose slot in the base hinge plate into a loose slot in the display.  Hinges have no 'stops' all the way out to 200* or so (end of hinge) - instead position and tension using a knurled nut on the side of one of the hinges.

7.  Screen back, surround, mount and hinge - all as one piece.  This is a corrugated (for strength and rigidity) and folded 20ga aluminum 'picture frame' where the edges are folded all the way around to create a sleeve open at the facing side and one end to put the picture and glass into.  Screen is held 'up in' the sleeve by a plastic snap-in plug - and maybe a screw through the screen frame and the plug.

Throw in an aluminum stylus with a replaceable tip (is Sculted Stylus still around?) just for added class.

Now if I only had any CAD skills...

 

[Binky]

You could do a sketch on paper and then scan/photograph it...

 

[Perusa]

I am also for plastic. If it is cheaper and lighter. White Plastic.

 

[Tenka]

...I would prefer plastic because the Pandora now is a bit heavy in my pocket with that giant battery.

Plastic is quite a bit cheaper than aluminum...

...it would never get warm. So it would be cold to the touch which I dint like.

I love heavy things, I love cold things, and I don't mind paying more for something I'm only going to have to buy once.  Is there a silly name for people like me who honestly like things much better if they're strong, heavy, and cold?  I've been tinkering around with my personal ultimate dream case for the Pandora in my mind, it kind of has castle teeth along the edge that interlock when you close the case, so that it is impossible for it to be twisted and broken in the closed position, and more solid metal nubs on the back of the screen near the bottom, which hit the back of the Pandora between the USB and power holes, keeping the screen from bending back further than it should or further stressing the hinges with its weight.  My ideal Pandora could be thrown open with force and clank loudly when it snaps into place, without wearing anything down.

 

[_wb_]

I agree: stronger is better, even if it is more expensive. An all-aluminium case is probably going to be prohibitively expensive and hard to make, but something like the proposal of Grench looks good to me (disclaimer: I'm not at all a case designer, so I have no clue how realistic that proposal is and whether it would work).

Heavier is not better, but I don't think aluminum necessarily has to be that much heavier. As far as I understand things, it is stronger per kg and twice as dense than plastic, so you should be able to make something with the same weight while being slightly stronger and less thick. Or you could make something slightly lighter, much thinner and equally strong. Or you could keep the same thickness and make it much heavier and much stronger.

I would keep the weight constant (the weight of the Pandora is fine imo) but use aluminium wherever possible.

And if it gets too cold for your taste you can always run a cpu stress test and use it as a hand warmer

 

[thatgui]

As this is the spam forum, I would like to express my wish for a magnesium alloy that is coated multiply times in black -> Thinkpad style.

Back to real life, I'm all in for plastic. While plastic isn't scratch resistant either, I have no interest in a device where I have to worry wether there are some grains left on the surface where I want to put my Pandora down.

 

[Grench]

You could do a sketch on paper and then scan/photograph it...

Can't draw for crap either.  It's frustrating - I can picture the entire device in minute detail in rotating 3D in my head.  What is the easiest to learn and use free Linux based CAD software?

 

[_wb_]

You could try OpenSCAD if you're a bit familiar with programming.