Test the keymat!

[Binky]

They went out of style?

Style? Who needs style?

 

[EvilDragon]

It's here! (Although it must have arrived yesterday, I just didn't get to check the mail. Sorry for that.)

Oh, wow, I didn't think it would arrive so fast - as I wanted to send you some details about it.
Especially about the DPad - as that is NOT the final one (the plastic part is being revised, as the keymat itself is good).
And I messed a bit with the glue, which made the DPad worse than it is in reality.

I'll still send some details to you later this day

Edit: I just realized: @EvilDragon , @SneHebNor , I don't have the address where to send it next. That would be useful

Planned to send it in the same email
The person is living in the same city - so maybe you contact him and meet him personally, if you like

 

[Mese96]

Will someone from Cologne receive the keymat to test it ?
If so i would like to meet the person in question to test it.

 

[ClockworkCoder]

I'm not sure if anyone in that list is from...

I sent a PM.

 

[harlequin]

So it seems the keymat will travel Europe, visit the USA and Australia, then hopefully get back to Europe. The last one gets to keep it, right?

As that would be ED, yes.

 

[fahrstuhl]

I have to do some other stuff first and will post more photos and opinions later this evening.

Stuff (i.e. moving the fridge to make room for a dishwasher in the kitchen) took a lot longer than I had hoped, so it's photos and opinions today.

What's in the box?

A Pyra without screen, battery, stylus, CPU board and speakers.
One bag containing the current keymat without keycaps and without color
One bag containing five older revisions of the keymat.

Controls:
I figured @EvilDragon wasn't happy with the DPAD on the current keymat, there's a better one on an earlier revision.
The nubs feel a lot better than on the Pandora. They're even clickable! But only in the center position, it seems.
The shoulder buttons are in pretty good positions. The mainboard doesn't seem to have the right buttons soldered, though, so I can't say how they click.

Keyboard:
As I said, I like typing on the Pyra keyboard. The keys are easy to press, have a click and you can easily move the thumb from one key to another but still distinguish every key. I really missed this on my smartphone.
(And while my fingers need to really press together, in theory I could touch type with 8 fingers.)
Also, I'm still in favor of a one-wide spacebar. I'll mod that the second I have my own Pyra

I took a few pictures holding the Pyra, Pandora and my Smartphone in typing position. Maybe that helps some of you get a better estimate of the keyboards:

All three devices with their keyboards:


5.5" Smartphone:


Pandora:


Pyra:


Thickness and pocketability:
Here's another height comparison:


The Pyra fits into the front pockets of my jeans, but not at all comfortably. The Pandora is a bit better, but both stretch my jeans a lot when moving.

That's why I've been running around with a Bögelsack belt bag since 2009. I originally bought it for the Pandora, but over the years it's housed notebooks (the pen and paper kind), an 8" tablet and currently a 5.5" smartphone.
It's a lot fuller with the Pyra, but it works:

(That's a thin notebook, a pen and a bag with my earphones.)

That said, I have the feeling the battery compartment could be half its current thickness, at the cost of either: A smaller battery or a screwed on battery lid.
The Pandora battery has a lot of clearance:

With a battery of that thickness, you'd have the thickness of the Pandora:


I've been thinking about having a battery of basically the whole area of the Pyra:

You'd lose the stylus and probably need a battery compartment that's screwed on instead of clipped on, but the battery would still be replacable. (I.e. not soldered in, but you'd need a screwdriver and 2 minutes of time instead of 20 seconds.)
BUT! It would be a pretty big battery in a thinner case. Maybe I'll play around with the case files and print a bottom case with this configuration.
I bet it sounds a lot easier than it will be in the end…

Conclusion:
Holy crap, @EvilDragon , this will be such an awesome evolution of the Pandora in so many ways! Congratulations for everything you have so far and all the best for what's left to do!
The best thing for me though: For every gripe I have, there's a feasible way of just modding it myself. This is exactly what I want from my devices.

 

[bennr01]

Stuff (i.e. moving the fridge to make room for a dishwasher in the kitchen) took a lot longer than I had hoped, so it's photos and opinions today.

What's in the box?
View attachment 30314
A Pyra without screen, battery, stylus, CPU board and speakers.
One bag containing the current keymat without keycaps and without color
One bag containing five older revisions of the keymat.

Was that just the very first unboxing of the pyra?

 

[Grench]

I knew that the Pyra wasn't going to be svelte. Seeing it though - that is one chunky handheld. Reminds me of the Thinkpad 770 laptop line.

Was that just the very first unboxing of the pyra?

No - this is just a demonstration case & keymat.

 

[bennr01]

No - this is just a demonstration case & keymat.

I know, but he still unboxed some parts of the pyra, which means that it was technically the first unboxing of the pyra, doesnt it? I originally planned on making a joke about many forum members wanting more videos, but the first unboxing being, of course, not captured on a video.
Maybe i should stop trying to make jokes on the internet. They always end up beeing understood as some honest/non-joke comment.

 

[EvilDragon]

The shoulder buttons are in pretty good positions. The mainboard doesn't seem to have the right buttons soldered, though, so I can't say how they click.

The mainboard is okay in that regards, but the case part with the shoulder buttons is a year old, so that won'r work

That said, I have the feeling the battery compartment could be half its current thickness, at the cost of either: A smaller battery or a screwed on battery lid.

Yes, that's my major complaint with the case.
Even with the Pyra battery, there's a bit more than 1mm space there that couldn't be fixed in the molds anymore, sadly.

So it can be made at least 1mm thinner by simply changing the shoulder buttons and the lower backside.
That's one of the first things I want to do once I got the funds for that. And it's really one of the easiest parts to change. Just unscrew the backside and replace it with the new one.
You don't even need to touch the PCB for that.

So I'll probably sell them later for 3 - 6 EUR, so anyone can upgrade

 

[second exodous]

Ah man, it is only on the first person, I like how ED included the evolution of the keyboards though. Can't wait till I get them!

 

[Grench]

So it can be made at least 1mm thinner by simply changing the shoulder buttons and the lower backside.
That's one of the first things I want to do once I got the funds for that. And it's really one of the easiest parts to change. Just unscrew the backside and replace it with the new one.
You don't even need to touch the PCB for that. So I'll probably sell them later for 3 - 6 EUR, so anyone can upgrade

That is the same piece I wish could be swapped to aluminum - without a battery door to make it even thinner.

Important distinction: User changeable battery (requires screwdriver) Vs User swappable battery (clip on door). Either works for me so long as battery death does not mean device death.

 

[Bernd]

[OT]
Don't forget the threaded inserts if the lid get screwed on otherwise, the threads get loose if the battery or the internal sd-card gets exchanged more often.
And screws with protection-rings or other things like clearance in the head area and a thread in the lid to hold the screws in the lid.

That are all additional costs which should not be forgotten.
[/OT]

Damn, I cant wait to get my hands on the finished Pyra.

 

[fusion_power]

Nice Review @ Fahrstuhl!

So it can be made at least 1mm thinner by simply changing the shoulder buttons and the lower backside.
That's one of the first things I want to do once I got the funds for that. And it's really one of the easiest parts to change. Just unscrew the backside and replace it with the new one.
You don't even need to touch the PCB for that

I also noticed that free space there. While making the Case smaller on that part, and if there is free space at the edges left in between battery and hull, the outer case could be also rounded or sloped a little bit more at the bottom, to fit the Pyra better in pockets and have a better grip...maybe?
And out of curiosity, can Batteries also be shaped with rounded edges to fit better in such places or do these kind of batteries have to be plain square?

 

[EvilDragon]

Nice Review @ Fahrstuhl!

I also noticed that free space there. While making the Case smaller on that part, and if there is free space at the edges left in between battery and hull, the outer case could be also rounded or sloped a little bit more at the bottom, to fit the Pyra better in pockets and have a better grip...maybe?
And out of curiosity, can Batteries also be shaped with rounded edges to fit better in such places or do these kind of batteries have to be plain square?

Battery cells are rectangular, they're not round.
So in order to round it, you'd need to put it into a bigger plastic case which would increase the size.

Also, rounding doesn't make things neccessarily more comfortably.
I personally find the Pyra more comfortable to hold than the GPD XD or GPD Win.
And definitely than the New 3DS (where my thumbs hurt after 30 minutes of playing because I have to cramp them to reach the buttons).
Might be better with the 3DS XL, but I haven't tried that (that one is too huge for me).

 

[fahrstuhl]

On the topic of rounding:
The Pyra is also pretty comfortable to hold, the lower edges of the keyboard area don't dig into your palms or anything.

@EvilDragon , @SneHebNor , I still don't have the next address o_o (Also sent you a PM)
I mean, I showed it to basically everybody I met at university, so that's a bit of free advertisement, but I feel like I should be sending it along

 

[fusion_power]

So in order to round it, you'd need to put it into a bigger plastic case which would increase the size.

I thought about that. Of course this may eat up the saved space again if the Battery was encased or part of the lower bottom.

I personally find the Pyra more comfortable to hold than the GPD XD or GPD Win.

Can't compare. As long as the Pyra is more comfortable to hold than the Pandora, I'm fine with every shape and size.

On the topic of rounding:
The Pyra is also pretty comfortable to hold, the lower edges of the keyboard area don't dig into your palms or anything.

Sounds good. ^^ Pandora gave me serious pain in the palms after a while but caused by the upper side edges, not the underside actualy.

 

[Grench]

On the topic of rounding:
The Pyra is also pretty comfortable to hold, the lower edges of the keyboard area don't dig into your palms or anything.

@EvilDragon , @SneHebNor , I still don't have the next address o_o (Also sent you a PM)
I mean, I showed it to basically everybody I met at university, so that's a bit of free advertisement, but I feel like I should be sending it along

While we're waiting for it to move on:
I noticed that it arrived with multiple keymats. Did you have a chance to do a comparison of the other versions? It shouldn't be necessary to mount them in the Pyra, just grab a hard cover book to set one on and see if you can tell differences between them.

I suspect that several of the alternate keymats won't actually fit properly in the Pyra case - I recall that there was a discrepancy between the keymat and the case dimensions.

@EvilDragon If the keymats manage to get scrambled along the way - is there a marking on the keymats to reveal which version they are? I.e. if someone does get creative with a screwdriver and install one of the alternates in the test case, how do we know which one is the right one to test on?

 

[Caine]

Loving these little tidbits of information.
Thanks for taking the time to test and review guys.

 

[matzesu]

But 1 mm is just a . (Dot) less, I can't imagine that it's worth the trouble making a new Mould..
i think i will re arange my Pants a bit, my Portmonait will take place in the back pocket again, and the Pyra maybe in the pocket where the Portemonnaie was..
that's under the pocket where my Pandora now is, and the Pandora off course will take Place in the Shelf of interesting Handhelds ..
I hope therefore, the Gameboy Emulator will be ready when I get my Pyra..

Also something I'm a bit confused whit the smiler caseupdate: in the Lowerpart of the case from the Pandora, in the Batterie Compartment, there is the Sticker whit the Serial Number,
And if you change this Part, than will the Sticker also stay on the thicker Part, unless you put it carefully on the new part..
That's important, cause I'm Number 27 or 28 which means it's one of the more special PrePreOrder Edition Pyras