Out of curiosity, i just tried once again to hold the Pandora in a way where i look on the LCD right from top (90°) with the lid ad 180°. First of all: I am not saying that this whole issue is a complete mess. It's just something that for my personal playing-style and anatomy could be improved. The three most common situations i can think of that _i_ would be using my Pandora are:
- sitting at a table with my arms resting on it
- sitting without a table with my wrists resting on my leg
- standing with my arms resting on my chest
My wrist is straight when sitting at the table and slightly angled downwards in the other two situations. With the lid at 180° the most comfortable way of holding the Pandora is to put all fingers (except thumbs) more or less flat below the Pandora, which works as long as i do not have to use the shoulder-buttons (although it still is not as comfortable). In this setup i have to press the d-pad and control-buttons with the tip of my thumbs close to the thumb-nails. However i prefer to use the part of my thumb which is closer to the flat part of my thumb, more or less opposite of my nail. In order to this i have to 'bend my thumbs' straight since my thumb is not straight in the resting-position. In case i want to use the shoulderbuttons, i have to move the forefingers away from the back, which gives me the feeling that the Pandora might flip over because of the weight of the lid. This still works, but overall the whole setup is for me not as comfortable and doesn't feel as much of a secure hold than i am used to it.
With the lid having the position right before it snaps to 180° (and it does snap to it sooner or later for me after playing for a while), i could hold the Pandora with the keyboard-part slight pointing down while sitting without a table and while standing, which is more relaxing and enables me to use the part of my thumb that gives me good control over the buttons (i have rather large hands, middle-finger-tip to 'hand-end' is about 21cm). Even when sitting at the table it is more comfortable, because i can make my whole side of the hands rest on the table and not only a small part of my wrist. And last but not least the lower corners of the keyboard-case-corners are resting against my thumbs/ball of my thumbs and doesn't give me the feeling anymore that it might flip over because of the screen.
This is the most accurate way i can describe it. And again: I don't say that it isn't working at 180°, just _for_me_ not as comfortable/relaxing.