Pandora Stress Test

[Cervante]

Can the pandora be stress tested? I dont want the clam shell design be plauge by the DS lites design.

 

[Nintendo]

I've never had any problems with my NDS lite hinges.

 

[icurafu]

I've got three in this house, and most of my friends have them. A couple of them have problems with the slots, but no himge problem?

Are you sure this is a design flaw? There must be a thread about this at a nintendo forum is that is right.

 

[javaJake]

When I saw the NDS Lite released, I wasn't tempted at all. My instincts paid off, it seems.

The Pandora will be tested as much as possible within reason considering their size. As a recent example, Craigix told us they're currently testing the ribbon design between the bottom and top halves, so that they will be sure it won't rip, snap, break, tear, short-circuit, peel apart, or spontaneously combust*.

* So there's no confusion, I was kidding about all except the first.

 

[quasist]

My black DS lite survived many falls and two resistor's replacement. No rift on the shell yet.
I believe one batch of white DS lite's were made of remelted plastic of GB's

 

[brandonorban]

My hinge has a crack just like that but i think it might have been the rolling down wood stairs or the multiple drops over the last year

-Brandon

 

[AireTamStorm]

I believe in stress tests, but PLEASE, no videos of Pandoras being thrown or run over. I don't think the community is mentally prepared for that kind of thing quite yet.

 

[Tinnus]

They can stress test a case with sand inside or something instead of the actual electronics

 

[Kyo]

you need to stress test the electronics too, though.

 

[KRH]

We know that the actual electronics are fairly tough, After all they survived the U.S. postal Service!

 

[CronoTriggerfan]

The hinge problems on the launch DS Lites were a design flaw. It happened to mine, unfortunately. Nintendo did end up fixing the issue for free, at least, because it happened to so many people.

 

[.Gogeta§§J4BR.]

I believe in stress tests, but PLEASE, no videos of Pandoras being thrown or run over. I don't think the community is mentally prepared for that kind of thing quite yet.

lol

 

[Chip]

I'll tell you the same thing I told the last guy who brought up this question:

You can't really tell the long-term reliability of a device until it has been out in the world for a while. Big companies do (at least they should do) HALT testing to see how various components hold up. You can't possibly expect a small group like the Pandora team to shell out for something like that.

I'm sure the designers did everything they could to produce a reliable design, and there's a pretty good chance they succeeded. However, you should be prepared for the small chance of an unknown engineering issue cropping up. That's just the way stuff like this works.

In the unlikely event that there is an issue with the ribbon cable or anything else, Craig will take care of it.

 

[PoisonedV]

You want a stress test? Make it visit its mother in law.

 

[darkbiship]

Oi my DS Phats hinge has broken in half on one side, so sometimes the screen decides to be crooked.
Please do not let this happen with the Pandora.
@distressed stress testers
I can't wait to see the Pandora on "Will it Blend?"

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

It all depends on where the stress is, I have seen many laptops (They suffer from the same stress) breaking at the hinges because they use the case as the main hinge. The actual hinge screws into the case making the plastic the stress area.

The systems that don't suffer from this are the ones that use metal hinges and surrounds (Making it a bit heavier) but the case bolts on to this.

What the built quality of the Pandora is I can't comment on until I get one.

 

[nexferret]

I treated my post launch Lite like a baby, although I did open it a lot, and it broke in just over a year. Nintendo didn't want to know, so I got a third party case and that broke in little over a month (cracks appeared as the screws were put in) and the whole thing is rubbish. I wish I had stuck with my Phat.

I hope the Pandora will not suffer the same fate. In terms of electronics stress, may a cooling fan be necessary for that 600mHz processor? My old 500mHz pile of junk got hot enough to warrant a fan. An uncooled 600mHz chip sandwiched between PCB and Lithium Ion? Sounds like a disaster recipe to me.

 

[Prometheus]

I'm guessing that your "old 500MHz pile of junk" used an x86 processor, though? The Pandora uses an ARM-based SoC. Cooling isn't an issue.

I know that Chip has written about this numerous times...

 

[magicman5421]

the hinge of my ds phat broke a while ago. good thing i had my lite. my lite is a launch version tho, and I haven't had any problems with the hinges.
*knocks on wood*

 

[icurafu]

My uncle showed me a program about 10 years ago that maps the stress on plastic even when you move it or drop it. It's a very important program for engineers to know where to put the contact points in the plastic.

I'm sure this is already done by the Chinese team when they were asked to create the molds. But testing on the hinge is much more complex. Probably why nintendo screwed up.