Whoa, sounds scary.
h34r:
I've never used one of these Devices so I hope it is not impossible to make a durable Clamshell-Device. Maybe instead of a fragile, bending ribbon cable from the case to the lid, there could be some kind of sliding brush contacts inside the hinge to make a connection between the board and the LCD? (something like this, only in very very small
:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Astropei...eifkontakte.jpg ) Could be the most durable Solution in theory.
I hope the Hinge itself will be durable and stable. Maybe realized with a Metal interior, I can't imagine that a Hinge completely made out of plastic will be durable enough. (Is GBA SP or NDS (lite) hinge a pure Plastic construction? )
It's actually not that difficult to produce a durable LCD ribbon; the Psion Series 5mx aftermarket replacement doesn't crack (well, you can
make it crack, but it requires something beyond normal use); the eMate's ribbon itself is fine, it just gets puntured by sharp metal bits (which, to be fair, will damage any ribbon), the Psion Series 7/Netbook's ribbon was badly designed.
Brush contacts, while obviously the nec-plus-ultra of video connecting possibilities, would definitely be overkill, both in design and in price. What the examples I provided show is that bad design and/or ergonomics are as bad as sub-standard equipment.
