The perfect Pandora needs...

[hedwards]

It would, but I believe there are already options in that size, just sans game controls.

 So there isn't... There are not a lot of 7" linux notebooks. There are lots of Android cheap laptops though. They all have the same huge bezel. Make that smaller, smaller keyboard and add gaming controls - remove touch pad. That will be totally different, much more portable. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Cheap-7-inch-Mini-LAPTOP-4GB-512M-PC-NETBOOK-Android-4-0-Notebook-New-/310702917568

That said, I think the general view is to not deviate too much from the existing Pandora. Fine.. but I think we shouldn't rule out a bit larger case and a larger screen. Maybe 5.5 or 6" will still be something people can accept. Then we are talking about a Pandora that might only be a half an inch wider.

From a portability perspective only a minor change, but I think every .1 inch bigger is worth it and will make the experience -imho- improve in a logarithmic manner.

You can still get them, but I'd wager you'd have to trawl taobao.com for them if you really want them. They used to be more common, but I'd wager they didn't sell well. They're too small for serious work, but too large to be properly portable. Even my 9" screen EEE PC was too small to get much done on and definitely large enough to not be particularly convenient to take everywhere I went. The original EEE PC had a 7" screen, IIRC.

Tablets aren't as bad because they eliminate the bulk and the weight that comes from a keyboard and that portion of casing.

You also don't seem to realize that offering a second size would cost them somewhere in the neighborhood of $50-100k for the cost of creating new molds for the new case sizes. Which would require a huge number of units of that size being sold. I just can't imagine the over head being worth it.

 

[_wb_]

I agree the good battery life of the Pandora is very nice and P2 should have similar. My suggestions are only meant as a plea to make it as big as possible without sacrificing too much of its good features and certainly battery life is one of them. 

As I have understood it is pretty hard for ED to find a screen for P2, but I think he is currently only looking for a 5" screen or smaller. Extending that search to 5.5 or even 6 may help him find a better screen with similar power consumption. You will never know it exists if you don't look for it.

But devs would be even more lazy to adapt their ported stuff to be suitable for a handheld device. So paradoxically, the experience you get as a not-shortsighted user might end up worse with a larger screen: more devs will say "meh, the screen is large enough, no need to tweak this interface".

The first apps/games/emulators for P1 were not optimized as well. I remember seeing lots of desktop ports in the beginning that used something like QT and were very mouse oriented. After a while it improved with pickle launcher, pandafe etc.  

So I don't worry about that. By removing touchscreen and nubs you will force devs to improve their UIs too, pretty sure nobody wants to do that. 

Sure, ED should look at screen sizes bigger than 5" - if he finds some magical 6" screen that needs only as much power as the most power-efficient 5" screen, then sure, why not. But that would be a bit weird.

6" is kind of a hard upper bound of what I would consider a handheld. At 7" and higher, it becomes a netbook/ultrabook, which can of course also be something cool and desirable, but it's a somewhat different niche. Pocketability and "backpackability" are not the same thing, and the difference is important to many of us. Weight is also an important consideration. If holding it in your hands is no longer a real option, it's no longer a handheld.

A 7" or bigger clamshell with the kind of battery life we expect, would be too heavy to hold like a handheld, and too big to fit in jacket or cargo pants pockets. Maybe if it can be done with nearly no bezel, with super-light case materials, and with some kind of superior battery technology that gives more juice in less weight and volume, maybe then it would be a possibility. But I don't think that's realistic.

 

[Morn]

I think a normal Linux Distro based on the Pandora would be nice. A lot of newbie people would start with it and it would "just work".

The big part of Pandora OS working just out of the box is very limited hardware variations it runs on.

 

[Klumpen]

A lot of newbie people would start with it and it would "just work".

They can do this with Linux Mint too, there even is a preconfigured version with xfce out there (although I use MATE):

http://www.linuxmint.com/

It's perfect for total n00bs (like me).

 

[Asiyura]

A lot of newbie people would start with it and it would "just work".

They can do this with Linux Mint too, there even is a preconfiguted version with xfce out there (although I use MATE):

http://www.linuxmint.com/

It's perfect for total n00bs (like me).

Indeed, that's the distro that I use and that my father use, now.Quite easy to get used to and since they're working on ditching ubuntu completely to use directly debian…

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

"The perfect Pandora needs..." no Craig involvement.

 

[worzyl]

One of the things that made me buy the pandora is it's small form factor and the amount of comments (good ones) when I'm typing in a cafe or restaurant, about it's size is incredible.

If the pandora was any bigger I would hesitate buying it, unless it had a very special feature that I couldn't do without and currently for me, that special feature is it's size.

It's wonderful if your already carrying a laptop, but may be in need of a second computer to work on or link up to at the same time which makes carrying a second laptop less hassle,

which in terms means your not hogging up too much table space in a cafe.

But this is coming from someone who only uses his pandpora when not at home. At home - T60p love

 

[thatgui]

But this is coming from someone who only uses his pandpora when not at home. At home - T60p love

It's basically the same for me (minor dfference, rarely in cafes, but daily in public transports). If have the space/need for a real keyboard I rely on my x201s

 

[KillRoXx]

I guess everything except for the price might eventually happen

Sad, I'll have to live with my Pandora longer than I thought, maybe the P3 will be smaller again :unsure:

A bigger screen does not necessarily mean it will be much bigger in size. Just need to push the speakers somewhere else

*cough*NotOnTheSides*cough* (im  on my pandora typing this. add a better keyboard.)

"The perfect Pandora needs..." no Craig involvement.

*cough*Shenmue*cough*

(i see you reading this post)

 

[Rockthesmurf]

The current trend is 'free to play' so I propose the next Pandora is free, you will definitely have more users if you follow this advice ED.

 

[KillRoXx]

The current trend is 'free to play' so I propose the next Pandora is free, you will definitely have more users if you follow this advice ED.

Then the demand will rise and ED will be overloaded with work...

 

[Rockthesmurf]

The current trend is 'free to play' so I propose the next Pandora is free, you will definitely have more users if you follow this advice ED.

Then the demand will rise and ED will be overloaded with work...

But if ED gets Craig on board to manage the project surely there will be no problems.

 

[thatgui]

The current trend is 'free to play' so I propose the next Pandora is free, you will definitely have more users if you follow this advice ED.

"Free to play" != "Free to own", so in your case I would start saving up money for lots of coffee and a ticket to the EvilDragons lair, where you would be able to play with a Pandora 2. With the short time frame heavily depending on how tasty and well assorted your "cofee obeisance" is.

 

[KillRoXx]

The current trend is 'free to play' so I propose the next Pandora is free, you will definitely have more users if you follow this advice ED.

"Free to play" != "Free to own", so in your case I would start saving up money for lots of coffee and a ticket to the EvilDragons lair, where you would be able to play with a Pandora 2. With the short time frame heavily depending on how tasty and well assorted your "cofee obeisance" is.

Have my coffe, i don't need it. i have my monster energy drinks to chug. ('murica)

 

[hedwards]

The current trend is 'free to play' so I propose the next Pandora is free, you will definitely have more users if you follow this advice ED.

"Free to play" != "Free to own", so in your case I would start saving up money for lots of coffee and a ticket to the EvilDragons lair, where you would be able to play with a Pandora 2. With the short time frame heavily depending on how tasty and well assorted your "cofee obeisance" is.

I'm pretty sure he's joking.

 

[KillRoXx]

The current trend is 'free to play' so I propose the next Pandora is free, you will definitely have more users if you follow this advice ED.

"Free to play" != "Free to own", so in your case I would start saving up money for lots of coffee and a ticket to the EvilDragons lair, where you would be able to play with a Pandora 2. With the short time frame heavily depending on how tasty and well assorted your "cofee obeisance" is.

I'm pretty sure he's joking.

Hes obviously looking to the future. where everything is free. and money is meaningless (it already is. just look at the inflation rates)

 

[Foxgod]

I would like a touch pad on the bottom in the shape of two boobs, with a center button click feature on each boob.

This way i can enjoy shooters more then ever!

 

[trix]

I would like a touch pad on the bottom in the shape of two boobs, with a center button click feature on each boob.

This way i can enjoy shooters more then ever!

Also an internal coffee-maker so I can press the Pandora Button + C and a spout comes out of the side that pours fresh Kopi Luwak into my mug.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

"The perfect Pandora needs a GUI.  Otherwise, it's not a umPC. "

 

[Binky]

^ Just because someone said something silly, you don't have to quote it all over the forums...