The case of the case.

[WizardStan]

You can't patent what's already out there.

Sure you can. It doesn't matter if prior art exists to get the patent, all that matters is if the prior art is known.There's a lot of examples, note especially the man who patented the wheel. With just the right wording and a patent officer who can't have specific knowledge about every little detail that goes on in the world it wouldn't be too hard to imagine getting a patent on button placement, even if that particular arrangement already existed in some niche little device that almost no one has heard of.

That's why there's a website (which I cannot seem to locate right now) dedicated to pending patents so that anyone can submit prior art.

Now anyone awarded such a patent would lose it fairly quickly if brought against Dragonbox, but "fairly quickly" in the courts can still be months, during which a judge might place an injunction pending the conclusion of the trial, a major (possibly disastrous depending on timing) setback to be sure. It would serve no purpose but to be vindictive against EvilDragon. I don't honestly believe anyone would actually go through with it, but I've been surprised by humanity before.

 

[fusion_power]

But even if it would be wider, it would still be hit by the nub disc

Could the nubs be placed more towards the middle of the Pyra? A little bit should be possible without making dual nub usage to complicated (touching thumbs or so)

 

[TrashyMG]

^ If the nubs gets any bit closer together it may become a bit too uncomfortable for some. I mean I have monstrous sized thumbs not everyone does.

 

[God Ginrai]

^ The amount it would need to move should be negligible enough that it wouldn't be much of a difference.

-God Ginrai

 

[EvilDragon]

^ The amount it would need to move should be negligible enough that it wouldn't be much of a difference.

-God Ginrai

It would be at least 2mm, which is A LOT!

 

[God Ginrai]

It would be at least 2mm, which is A LOT!

As far as I can see, it would only need to be moved 1mm if the diameter of the bottom disc is reduced in the manner I suggested.

-God Ginrai

 

[Grench]

It would be at least 2mm, which is A LOT!

As far as I can see, it would only need to be moved 1mm if the diameter of the bottom disc is reduced in the manner I suggested.

-God Ginrai

And the unit should be made thicker to supply room for a USB 3.0 type B host connector because you think it has to be since no microUSB connection would ever be strong enough...  remember that one?

Same thing.  What you want doesn't fit.  Therefore the entire design and structure must change to fit what you want.  Right?

No.  ED's current case design has it nailed for form, function and compactness.  Your continued insistence on things that -don't work- may end up delaying the device for the rest of us.  You've made your suggestion, been told repeatedly why it won't work, and now you want to blow the symmetry of the entire device to service your demands.

No.  Next?

 

[God Ginrai]

And the unit should be made thicker to supply room for a USB 3.0 type B host connector because you think it has to be since no microUSB connection would ever be strong enough...  remember that one?

Same thing.  What you want doesn't fit.  Therefore the entire design and structure must change to fit what you want.  Right?

No.  ED's current case design has it nailed for form, function and compactness.  Your continued insistence on things that -don't work- may end up delaying the device for the rest of us.  You've made your suggestion, been told repeatedly why it won't work, and now you want to blow the symmetry of the entire device to service your demands.

No.  Next?

More argumentum ad hominem. I am not the only person who wants a real 6-button layout. Even _wb_ has suggested moving the nubs inwards to accomodate one:

Too bad. Would moving the nubs a few mm inwards help? I'm not even sure if the nubs really need to be perfectly symmetrical, it could be fine to keep the left nub where it is and move the right nub a couple of mm to the left.

In the GG layout, the new buttons are in the top right; I would put the new ones on the bottom left, so the main 4 buttons are mostly in their Pandora location (just a bit higher but that's OK).

I'm fine with anything that keeps the 4 main buttons easily reachable, in the same cross shape. If we decide to go for 6 buttons, it does make more sense to have a 2x3 layout -- I can live with the current proposed layout too, but I agree with GG that 2x3 is better.

Moving the nubs more than 5-10mm would be too much (nub comfort would start to suffer), but a few mm would be no problem imo.

-God Ginrai

 

[Tenka]

The nubs moving 1mm or even 2mm inward wouldn't make me feel any less comfortable, it's not like the switch from the Gameboy Advanced to the GBA SP which brought our hands a good three inches closer.  But would it so dastardly to trade one comfort for a different comfort?  I don't know that most of us would notice a difference in feeling from a 1-2mm movement, (besides the perfect symmetry people) but I would quickly notice new game buttons stretching left instead of right and placed so that they can't be pressed at the same time.

 

[fusion_power]

^ The amount it would need to move should be negligible enough that it wouldn't be much of a difference.

-God Ginrai

It would be at least 2mm, which is A LOT!

I'm sure it would work but you only find out if you test it of course. I have big hands but I can comfortably hold both nubs on my Pandora without ever having trouble. I'm sure there is some room left, 2x 2mm are only 4mm together, no big deal imho.

 

[EvilDragon]

It would be at least 2mm, which is A LOT!

As far as I can see, it would only need to be moved 1mm if the diameter of the bottom disc is reduced in the manner I suggested.

You are always forgetting that there need to be tolerances and minimum sizes to maintain stability of the parts as well.

You cannot fit everything right to the mm in there.

 

[LoopStar]

The "make the action buttons modular" option I had joked about earlier is getting more and more attractive imho. Why not expand it to the whole gaming controls? My suggestion would be to make two modules: one with the controls left of the buttons in the middle (dpad+left nub) and one with the controls right of these buttons (right nub and action buttons). Connect them with a socket to the circuit board and make the specifications open so people can design own layouts and pcbs. Basically the same way that is being used in modular synthesizers.

 

[God Ginrai]

You are always forgetting that there need to be tolerances and minimum sizes to maintain stability of the parts as well.

You cannot fit everything right to the mm in there.

I'm not sure which tolerance you are referring to, but I'll bite. Even if it is 2-3mm, that is not a large amount. We have had multiple people suggest moving the nubs inward, and others who have expressed that they did not mind moving it inwards 2mm.

EDIT: @Loopstar: That's a lot more complicated and expensive than it sounds.

-God Ginrai

 

[LoopStar]

EDIT: @Loopstar: That's a lot more complicated and expensive than it sounds.
-God Ginrai

Yeah, you're possibly right, but since everybody's throwing their 2 cents in about this very controversial topic I wanted to share my thoughts, too.

 

[Binky]

The "make the action buttons modular" option I had joked about earlier is getting more and more attractive imho. Why not expand it to the whole gaming controls?

Thickness.

How are you planning to make a module that is anywhere thin enough?

 

[LoopStar]

The "make the action buttons modular" option I had joked about earlier is getting more and more attractive imho. Why not expand it to the whole gaming controls?

Thickness.

How are you planning to make a module that is anywhere thin enough?

That'd mostly depend on the connector/socket used. Aside from the connector it's only one layer of pcb more. so just 1 or 2 mm.

 

[Binky]

just 1 or 2 mm.

Still a considerable amount for an already quite thick device

 

[LoopStar]

just 1 or 2 mm.

Still a considerable amount for an already quite thick device

That might be, but to me it wouldn't make a big difference since the whole device to me is far from pocketable anyways (since it's at least as big as the Pandora which has turned out to stay at home most of the time because of it's size). So why not enlarge it a bit and make it more comfortable?

 

[TrashyMG]

So why not enlarge it a bit and make it more comfortable?

Um no...

 

[Natsu]

It doesn't have "perfect symmetry" in the first place.