Pandora 2 is Modular


Pre-order an iCP2 now, to ensure the 2nd Pandora gets built.


Hell, you will probably even be able to UPGRADE your iCP2 to a Pandora 2, if I'm wading in the right lake.


Cross posting for your joy, since we were commissioned to go out and "spam the interwebs" I thought I will start here at home!
 
Pre-order an iCP2 now, to ensure the 2nd Pandora gets built.


Hell, you will probably even be able to UPGRADE your iCP2 to a Pandora 2, if I'm wading in the right lake.


Cross posting for your joy, since we were commissioned to go out and "spam the interwebs" I thought I will start here at home!

I do suspect indeed that you will be able to send in your ICP2 to have it turned into a full blown Pandora 2.
 
Odd that it doesn't prompt for pre-payment of shipping.


So I put in for $95 pledge and requested the $75 reward - hopefully I did it right.


Cheers!
 
From a personal viewpoint I really like the sound of that (modularity), it seems like an innovative approach which will help P2 stand out from the crowd. :)

I think what this means is that Pandora 2 will be a top-spec regular Android phone,


perhaps re-cased and pre-release, paired with an iCP2, and running both the Pandora OS and Android.


It will sort of stand out from the crowd since iCP is not a common phone accessory; but it might not be as distinctive as the Pandora 1.


On the whole I think it's a good approach. We can upgrade the guts of it just by plugging in any new rooted android phone.


It will be good to have the cell device, and other regular smartphone features such as gps, compass, gyro and all that.


PC hardware wins over mac and other custom hardware for the same reason, it's an open standard with parts available from many manufacturers.


Even mac is based on PC hardware now, although admittedly it's locked down and tweaked up with some "special" Apple stuff like retina display.


All the alternative computing platforms such as Amiga, Atari ST, Acorn, SGI, Sun have died. (Consoles don't count!) So modular is good.


Assuming I am on the right clue here, I have some suggestions for the dev team:


1. We all like the 2x SD card slots and full-size USB of Pandora, but no phone has or will have this.


So, let's put these necessary features in the bottom controller part;


Can we put a USB hub and full-size port, and the 2x SD card slots, in the bottom iCP2 part of Pandora 2,


and plug the phone in to this using a very short microusb cable? I don't mind if the cable is exposed.


This would I suppose be a variation from the normal iCP2 device.


2. We all like the Pandora's peerless awesome audio, it is better than any phone and almost all portable media players.


Can we maintain this excellence in audio with Pandora 2? We would need to make sure the phone part gives a nice clean signal,


and put an amp with hardware volume control in the controller part.


3. We like the Pandora's battery life. Can we put a big battery in the iCP2 and pump up the phone over the usb link I mentioned above? Can we do this efficiently so that we don't waste power with charging the phone battery unless it's really needed? I.e. just feed the power from both batteries into both devices?


4. I like that the Pandora's screen is firmly attached to the base / controller! So I suggest we keep the option of a full clamshell / hinge for Pandora 2, and also the mini-clip as used in iCP2.


I don't want to see the Pandora 2 losing any of these great features we love about the first Pandora.


I would also like to request that we use a phone part with a nice screen.


I don't care about the resolution, but the following are necessary:


5. it absolutely must be matte, not glossy


6. it must do 60Hz without ghosting


7. I think the top phone part should be styled with brushed metal to match the controller part. It really looks awesome


8. A 3D screen would be awesome, but it's not a must. There are phones with 3D, so why not?


Damn, I hope it's not too late to get it right and do this stuff.
 
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You guys are running too wild with this speculation that iCP2 will be upgraded into Pandora 2. I've said it before, but:


1) Craig said Pandora 2 will be a clamshell and look like an updated version of the original


2) iCP2 is not a clamshell


3) And iCP2 wouldn't be adjusted to be a clamshell, because according to OPT if you put a main PCB behind the display it becomes too top heavy to be a clamshell in this form factor. Yet that's exactly what this design would have to be. Worse in fact, because the battery would need to be there too.


And Craig has also said that while they may be looking into data capability on devices (3G) they're not interested in making phones. A wise decision - the reason they can sell Pandoras at $699 is because they're not just another Android phone. Would have one hell of a hard time selling a Pandora 2 phone unit at $649 (iCP2 is only $65, so that'd be about what it'd cost for $699 on the whole thing)


And PC hardware really wins because it had companies like Intel at the helm.. and now tablets and phones are reversing that sort of trend. Hardly expect that model to suddenly gain domination on mobiles.
 
Because of the mobile market exploding with technology... I doubt the tech will be a problem.
 
Exophase said:
You guys are running too wild with this speculation that iCP2 will be upgraded into Pandora 2. I've said it before, but:

I think they were joking ; )

Craigix said:
The modular system essentially allows us to charge you less for upgrades (no more buying a whole new system to get a Mhz increase) and keeps us at the potential cutting edge of hardware indefinitely.

We could see situations where we say 'we can get the engineering sample of that 4Ghz chip due out next year but it's $500... who wants one?' and we could make a small number of modules (say 100-200) with that ES chip for people who want it AND make a profit.

I don't see how this sort of modularity is going to be accomplished but I'm not an expert... Would be nice if you could switch the screen too. I'd pay a lot for lets say an IPS display with wacom pen technology or an e-ink screen! ; )
 
The Problem whit the Modular System is: For mee as a Noob in Handheldhomebrewgaming its divicult to choose between the diverent Pandora 2 configs on the Preorderside,


But a Pandora 2 Smarphone would be great because i have my Xperia Play since Summer 2011, and then i have whit the Pandora 2 the next Gaming Smartphone when my Xperia is to old to use it everyday
 
Exophase said:
They're not joking, some people really anticipate this.
yeah, duck tape and cables included xD

matzesu said:
The Problem whit the Modular System is: For mee as a Noob in Handheldhomebrewgaming its divicult to choose between the diverent Pandora 2 configs on the Preorderside,
Thats no real problem xD you'll do fine ; )
 
yeah, duck tape and cables included xD

Not at all, they think Pandora 2 will be a phone or iTouch like unit that doesn't have physical controls, such that iCP2 connects to it like any other thing it connects to.
 
I'm guessing that the P2 base will contain an iCP2 board, and a pandora2 motherboard. The lid will be clamshell and contain a 1080p screen
 
Exophase said:
Not at all, they think Pandora 2 will be a phone or iTouch like unit that doesn't have physical controls, such that iCP2 connects to it like any other thing it connects to.
sounds like an iCP2 attached to an Android phone with a Pandora sticker on it. xD


back to topic: I'm still very curious how they plan on doing that. Its not like they have a lot of space. Maybe like this:


_________________________________________PCB________________


######################### ______________PCB________________


######## battery #########


######################### ______________PCB________________


or with 2 instead of 3 PCBs


This way they could probably use AAA batterys (4 or 6 of them). Would that make any sence?
 
They'd got positively flailed if they moved to AAAs.. how much capacity can you really got on a few rechargeable AAAs anyway?
 
depends on quality and such but I've seen 750mAh up to 1100mAh. Depending on how large the PCB is, you get 4 to 6 in it, which means 4500mAh or even 6600mAh xD


Edit:


eneloop batterys are testet to be very good. They keep their charge over a long time (91% after 10weeks)
 
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depends on quality and such but I've seen 750mAh up to 1100mAh. Depending on how large the PCB is, you get 4 to 6 in it, which means 4500mAh or even 6600mAh xD

Perhaps, but I think that'd put you way over the 3.7-3.8V a Lithium Ion cell puts out, so you'd probably have lower efficiency on the regulator. At least for the stuff that wasn't using a boost regulator for higher volts.
 
It should be possible getting it down to 3.7V using a DC to DC converter. Then again I have only basic electronics knowledge..
 
It should be possible getting it down to 3.7V using a DC to DC converter. Then again I have only basic electronics knowledge..

Of course, I'm just saying that the higher the starting voltage is the more you tend to lose in inefficiency (someone else feel free to correct me on this, I'm not anything resembling an EE). The PMIC would generate a bunch of voltages off of its input from there, for the various SoC rails, but probably only a couple of them will be off of switchers instead of LDOs.
 
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