PGS Windows 10 gaming handheld - GPD WIN competitor

[Exophase]

"We will continue fine tuning the emulators to perfection so as to wring maximum performance. "

Oh come on.

 

[Klumpen]

"We will continue fine tuning the emulators to perfection so as to wring maximum performance.

 

[Klumpen]

On streaming of a really old classic:
http://blog.pgslab.com/

 

[rygD]

On streaming of a really old classic:
http://blog.pgslab.com/

Anyone else still having issues with their site using mobile browsers? I guess if I had a PGS it wouldn't be a problem.

 

[levi]

If it helps, the video is here:
It's called 'PGS - Atom z8750 - Batman: AA (PS4 Streaming)' and is basically someone playing Arkham Asylum really badly.

 

[Klumpen]

Anyone else still having issues with their site using mobile browsers? I guess if I had a PGS it wouldn't be a problem.

Lots and lots of scripts, I had to use my alternative browser which doesn't have any blocking enabled.

News

Streaming


Nowadays, fewer and fewer games deserve to be called decent and really worth playing. We see the same CoD every year, everything becomes casual, everyone can check for review of every game on Metacritic, for instance. Even on game consoles the exclusives are becoming more and more mediocre. That's why we suggest looking back in time, as today we are going to show you one game to be streamed from PS4, it's a classical hit from 2009, which has been brought to the modern generation. Enjoy it.

By the way, many people already know that our portable console can receive streaming from PS4, Xbox One, and PC, which lets us play even when lying on the sofa. It's all for those who find themselves lazy, and those who can't part their home game console for a long period of time.

01.11.2016

 

[sm0kew0n]

"which lets us play even when lying on the sofa"

Yeah, 'cos every time I turn my console on I'm standing up in the garden, jeez!

 

[rygD]

Lots and lots of scripts, I had to use my alternative browser which doesn't have any blocking enabled.

Ha! My mobile browser has more stuff permitted than my computer ones.

About their comment regarding no good new games being made, I totally disagree. Maybe they only play AAA games (good luck playing those on the PGS), where there are still some decent games steadily trickling out. I an really looking forward to eventually playing Alien: Isolation. It may be a couple years old now, but still. Maybe it is misdirection.

Are games from 2009 already considered classics (or classical, or whatever)?

 

[MechaBouncer]

Looks like they just posted to their Facebook page an internal render:

The comments are pretty great already.

 

[rygD]

Whoa, people are still talking about this! Maybe they are really trying to make it. If so, they still need to get their shit together so the PGS doesn't become the next VGS.

 

[lukey]

Looks like they forgot the Battery...

 

[MJPIA]

Well its literally a start, now they just need a time machine.
I read on a Russian forum that the launch date has been pushed back to summer, guess he didn't announce that after all the guarantees it would come out in March.

 

[Klumpen]

 

[PowerGod]

What movie is this ? seems something I need to watch !!

 

[Alperoot]

What movie is this ? seems something I need to watch !!

Pretty sure it's an old Turkish movie, the man who holds the hand is Kemal Sunal, an important person in Turkish movies. If you search the name, I'm sure you'll find the movie. I doubt they are translated, though.

 

[PowerGod]

Pretty sure it's an old Turkish movie, the man who holds the hand is Kemal Sunal, an important person in Turkish movies. If you search the name, I'm sure you'll find the movie. I doubt they are translated, though.

Thanks, but... well... seems he did like 3/4 movies a year from 1972 to 99... without other clues could be impossible to find out

EDIT:
Found (translating "punch" to "yumruk" helped a lot)

Yedi Bela Hüsnü - 1982

 

[MJPIA]

Year end update woo!

800 000 $ Achieved

Soon after we decided to leave Kickstarter, with backers' money given back to them, we launched our own system of pre-orders. So far, over 800 000$ have been raised from pre-orders. Is it a lot? Not really, and if we didn't employ external investments, this amount of funds wouldn't be enough to bring the project to life. Is it deficient? No, it's quite a considerable result for the device at the early stage of development, and it also tells about high demand for such device.

We are happy to create something that people need, what is capable, in our opinion, to change the world of portable devices radically.

Issues in design and solutions


After leaving Kickstarter we expanded the staff and set to work on design. When someone creates something brand new, trying to think out every detail, they inevitably run into engineering problems.

The first difficulty we encountered was telescopic retractable thumbsticks. We considered many ideas and prototypes, and many were dismissed as we tried to reach a compromise between durability and proper tactile senses. And eventually we rejected all that variants.

At the same time we encountered difficulties in designing the side slider mechanism, which was meant both to slide and to change the angle. We managed to make such prototype, but it didn't possess high durability and didn't meet requirements of good user experience. Since we do not accept such compromises, those solutions were also rejected.

The third difficulty hides in various details. As you know, PGS is intended to become a hybrid of a portable gaming console, smartphone, and portable PC. At the very beginning we announced the DualBoot feature - which is to be able to switch between operating systems. Unfortunately, such method doesn't allow both systems to work simultaneously, with the reboot being necessary to switch to another system. Our community wasn't against such solution, but we found obvious that in order for the device to be mass-market, both systems must work simultaneously, with only one button to switch between each other.

To solve the aforementioned problems, as well as to improve a number of other consumer properties, we decided to rethink the project and start from the beginning, keeping the original concept but eliminating weaknesses and faults.

We have made it and we are proud of results. Now the original drawings have been reworked, same with the models. The PCB design and component layout have also been reworked. Main components have been designed from scratch. Speaking in technical language, the tooling of PGS Hardcore has been finished. The main modifications are as follows.

That seems to imply they actually had a pcb design in the first place.

When creating our version of sliding mechanism we were inspired by solutions found in other high-tech devices. By modifying the existing excellent design solution, which is highly durable and comfortable to use, we have come to our own solution, which satisfies us completely. One minor disadvantage of this solution is inability to change the angle of a display when the device is unfolded. We don't see this as a considerable disadvantage. Focus group of beta-testers have unanimously agreed that the display at a slope of 25 degree is perfect for comfortable, continuous use of PGS.

Isn't beta testing supposed to be the final round of testing right before a product is about to be released?

As you could notice from the animation above, the slider part skirts round the control elements along the arc when the device slides in and out. By using small dimples on top and bottom parts of the casing, we have managed to fit high quality stick models into the device. Their moving radius is little, almost no dead zones, and they are precise enough to comfortably operate a pointer in Windows. L3 and R3 are now also incorporated in the sticks. And the most important, there's no more need for them to be telescopic to fit into the device. Long live the reliability!

This is the "killing" point of our device, a revolutionary feature potentially capable of making a revolution on the mobile market.

Someone may ask: 'how can Windows and Android work at the same time, is it possible?'

As you know, the core of our device is a highly efficient PC-compatible Intel Atom Z8750 chip. It can work with Windows and Android, but not at the same time. In order to circumvent this problem we have decided to integrate in PGS Hardcore a second ARM system. This is a power-efficient, yet high-performance processor, which has 10 cores, it is intended to work with Android, but incompatible with Windows. It's not a problem, since the Intel SoC works with Windows on our device.

The two chips working in tandem allows both systems to operate simultaneously, and in case you don't need one at some moment, you can shut it off or put to sleep separately from the other system. You don't need constantly working Windows, do you? On the other hand, Android, being always in standby mode, may prove to be useful, at least you won't miss a call or a message.

For instant switching between the two systems, we have decided to use a universal toggle switch. It provides two positions, and also can be be pressed in each of them. In the first position screens and control elements are managed by Windows, while in the second one, Android takes control.

Most device components can switch between two systems on the fly. Audio speakers can even work with both systems simultaneously. It means that when Android stays in Standby mode, and you switch to Windows and play a game, in case of incoming call you will hear a ringtone coming from the main speakers. And with a slight finger movement you are switching to the Android to accept the call.

What disadvantages do we have here? None at all. In the standby mode the chip operating the Android consumes only about 8% of the battery charge per day. Cost of the ARM SoC including all its components doesn't greatly exceed the cost of a separate LTE module supported by the Intel SoC. And the ARM SoC has LTE module included by default.

It's a unique feature that we will promote by all means in the following year.

Since the aforementioned changes made us rewrite all sketches from scratch, we have considerably improved the appearance of our device. First, it no longer resembles a large brick, but now matches the dimensions of a large smartphone. The device became a bit narrower, a bit shorter, and a way thinner. In addition, we have managed to slightly enlarge the diagonal screen size which now equals 5,9 inches.

In order to get the idea of how the device fits into a hand, think about iPhone 6/7 Plus by Apple. It is closely identical to our device in length and width, but considerably thinner than ours.

On the lateral edges of the device the stereo speakers and the microphone are placed. On the front edge there are volume buttons and a mute mode switch. Here is also a grid for the air flow from the cooling system, which we will discuss later. On the rear edge there are L1, L2, R1, R2 buttons. Pressing stroke is short and accurate. During playing process these buttons are normally placed under your index fingers. We tested tens of various versions of trigger buttons layout, but have eventually found the solution shown in the sketch as the most convenient.

Also, the rear edge has the universal button for powering on and switching between OSes.

In the center of the rear edge a USB-C 3.1 port is placed. We haven't implemented the 3,5mm audio jack for several reasons. Hence we put a special 3,5mm-USB-C tiny adaptor in the box together with the device. Above the rear edge is the special port combining MicroSIM and MicroSD functions. The latter supports all existing memory cards of such type, up to 512Gb. Taking a look at the bottom of device, we can find the main camera, a flashlight LED, and the grid for the air flow towards the active cooling system. The front side includes a standard set of elements: ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, front camera, main screen, and the call speaker. By sliding the device out you will find an additional display, analog sticks, D-Pad, game action buttons, Start, Select, a button to switch off the additional display, and a button to switch between control modes Xinput-Mouse Emulation. All necessary included and nothing extraneous.

I was okay with their actors, I was okay with their dubious updates, I was okay with some of their nonsense they came up with, I was okay with them milking money out of people without having a device nor a solid plan but no headphone jack?
THIS IS WAR.

As we mentioned before, despite the reduced body size, we have managed to enlarge the display size to 5.9 inches. The diagonal size of the additional screen has been reduced to 3.2 inches, which is a necessity resulted from the new slider mechanism. However, it can hardly be viewed as a disadvantage, because the smaller the physical size of the matrix, the less power it consumes.

We have decided to not implement separate modes of the additional display functioning (virtual keyboard or a touch screen), because it requires one more controlling chip to integrate. Moreover, Windows from the box provides its own realization of such functions.

We have heeded the critics of excessive resolution of the main matrix (QHD), and changed it to FHD. Initially, we recommended HD as a gaming resolution, since when the matrix is QHD, the downscaling to HD is performed square-wise, in other words, instead of 4 physical pixels we get 1 virtual. Such scaling prevents possible scaling artifacts. Along with changing the matrix resolution to FHD, we have added to GPU driver a nonstandard resolution 960x540, which is a quarter of FHD, and also allows to perform downscaling without artifacts. The image on a 5.9 inch display in such gaming resolution looks perfectly fine, while the GPU load compared to HD reduces about twice. And we get the desired high Frame Rate. In such resolution even such performance demanding games as desktop version of Batman Arkham Origins (which was a game to test our new resolution mode) run quite smoothly.

As before, both matrices are based on high quality IPS technology, they have high limits of brightness and contrast, and high viewing angles.

Cooling system


The important part of PGS Hardcore that we are proud of is a modified cooling system. This is kind of a turbine with a highly efficient fan and an air cooled ribbed heatsink. Such cooling system is capable of removing even up to 15W of heat. Given that our system produces 4-5W of heat, the cooler becomes almost silent. Rotation rate is adjusted automatically, according to the load. Excessive efficiency limit of the cooler allows us to release the full potential of the Intel SoC. It means the stable 2,4 GHz for CPU and 600 MHz for GPU, values unreachable (without overheating) on other portable devices with Intel Atom on board.

The ARM SoC is located in the upper part of the device, and it doesn't need active cooling.

Smach Z team should totally partner with PGS for designing their cooling system.

Starting from January 2017 we are strengthening our marketing activities and changing the vector of promotion drastically. PGS was once thought of mostly as a gaming console for PC games, with all other functions in the background, but now things change.

PGS should be viewed as a multipurpose device, combining an advanced smartphone, portable gaming console, portable PC, as well as a media center. It will be a device capable of replacing the old-fashioned PC tower at home and at office, thanks to the feature of both wired and wireless connection to monitors and any other peripherals. In other words, it's an evolution of the smartphone as a concept, it should become more functional and versatile, and able to serve as the main gadget of a potential user.

... They were marketing before?
I'm pretty sure Nadir is also designing a compact PC tower so I find it amusing he's saying this'll replace them.

We have managed to find a supplier of LiPol batteries with capacity of 6800 mAh (two elements). It's quite a lot, which is good in any way. When using the device solely in Android mode, only to make calls, it can live up to 12 days. In case of gameplay session in Windows, you can expect 3-6 hours of continuous game session, depending on performance requirements of a particular game.

Not a good news, and we tried our best to avoid it. Alas, a lot of hidden traps along the development path, multiplied by desire to create a perfect, flawless device, influenced the schedule. We have nothing left to do but postpone the release of PGS Hardcore from the first quarter of 2017 to the second quarter. We feel sorry about that and hope for your understanding.

The main reason is, for sure, a constructive modifications and improvements that we mentioned earlier. All of them are undoubtedly beneficial for the end result, but unfortunately, they also postponed the date of production launch.

There is also one reason for the delay, which we actively working on. The investing foundation that we worked with, encountered legal issues, which forced them to quit.

Luckily, we've gotten back the stake of our company previously acquired by the investor, with giving to the project all investment solutions performed earlier. Currently, we are negotiating with a number of foundations being interested in the project, and we hope we make a very important investment agreement in the near future.

Of course, we could use the funds acquired from pre-orders, and it would be sufficient at first production stages, but we won't do it.

Pre-order funds are not to be used until the release, that's what we decided, and this is an honest way of dealing with customers’ money.

Yes, legal issues.
Sure.

Upon release the price will be set at 379$ for the Hardcore version. Raised production costs force us to raise the pre-order price to 319$ and discontinue the promo codes. Changes will apply after the New Year's night.

Everyone who makes a pre-order before that, will get the product at initial discount price.

Well at the very least this train ride has provided a fair bit of entertainment.

 

[levi]

That sounds like a set of steps in the right direction, but I still think they're being a mite optimistic to fit all of that hardware, a cooling turbine, a keymat and joysticks and a mahoosive battery in that little shell.

 

[Klumpen]

to fit all of that hardware, a cooling turbine, a keymat and joysticks and a mahoosive battery in that little shell

 

[vcoleiro1]

Look at the pics below, spot the issue. Look at the the top action button and the top of the D-pad - and the bottom edge of the screen. This is something I said in the beginning, how are the going to come up with a slider mechanism that will slide open leaving almost all of the bottom section exposed so that the controls can be used. Now that they couldn't do that, it seems the top action button and up direction on the d-pad may be a bit challenging to press

This is what it initially was meant to be below , with a slider that opened so that almost all the bottom section was exposed.