P2 w/dual screens; iCP2-ish mechanical keyboard; 6", 16:9 diagonal for top screen


maltheopia

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Okay, this is the proposed form of the P2 for people who have been jonesing for dual screens. I've seen some proposed designs of the P2 which have two or more screens... and I agree with the detractors whom say that a mechanical keyboard is a necessity no matter what and a touchscreen keyboard isn't going to cut it. I also think that anything but the clamshell design isn't going to work, just because it's either too unwieldly or too goofy-looking. Look at the 2DS to see what I mean. So at the cost of making the P2 bigger, here's my proposed model of a P2 that had the dual touchscreens, a keyboard layout somewhat similar to the iCP2 (it uses the general layout and dimension of the keys, at least), and has all of the buttons except for the 'home' one.

 

Because of the way I had to align the mechanical keyboard and dual screens, I upgraded the screen to a 6" diagonal. It has a reasonable border around it, but little else can fit on it aside from the screen and border. If you wanted to have stereo speaker holes, you would have to arrange them in a rectangle around the border. It's doable if you don't like my ideas below on where to put the speakerholes.

 

Now, while I am just showing a picture I did in MS paint, everything on the keyboard is supposed to scale. And I did measure everything to see how it would fit on my proposed dimensions, too.


Overall Dimensions:

15.0cm x 11.0cm (1.0 cm hinge) x ?? cm  (Nintendo 3DSXL is 15.6cm x 9.3cm (1.0 cm hinge) x 2.2cm; Pandora 1 is 14.1cm x 8.4cm (0.8cm hinge) x 2.93cm)

Surface Areas

P2: 165.0 cm

3DSXL: 145.08 (P2 is 15% larger than the 3DS XL)

P1: 118.5 (P2 is 40% larger than the P1. Unless the P2 slims down -- and I think it needs to, anyway -- it may be too big.)

 

Component Dimensions:

(I always rounded up to nearest significant digit to ensure there's enough space)

iCP2 bottom keyboard layout: 12.0cm x 2.5cm span with all keys.

Thumbpads: 2.1cm diameter for entire travel of thumbpad.

Control Pad: 2.8cm diameter control pad

Buttons: 0.8cm diameter buttons that fit in a 2.8 cm 'area'.

Start and Select Buttons: 0.2cm x 0.5cm buttons on left and right of screen.

Function + Numeric Keypad: 7.5cm x 0.5cm span with all keys.

 

Top Screen Display:

Standard 16:9 aspect ratio for a 6" diagonal; this would be 5.23" x 2.94", with a .2" border on top and bottom, .3" border on sides. 1cm hinge makes it flush with the bottom portion of the P2.

 

Bottom Screen Display:

4:3 aspect ratio for a 3.02" diagonal. Border is .15" on all sides. Resistive touchscreen. The bottom screen has the exact dimensions of the bottom screen for the Nintendo 3DS model one, incidentally.

 

Keyboard Layout:

Uses the iCP2 buttons, except cut and pasted to fit around the screen. spaced out. Refer to the diagram to see the spacing. The Two rectangular buttons on the side are the start and select button. The grey oblong shape at the bottom is where the vast majority of the iCP2 layout would go. The pink rectangle is the function and numeric keys. The control pad, thumbsticks, and buttons mimic the dimensions of the iCP2.

 

Not Pictured:


LED indicators are placed on the inside of the hinge, like the Nintendo DS models.

Speakers are on the back of the lid. If absolutely necessary you can place some speaker holes in the empty space between the bottom keyboard and the thumbsticks.


Stylus Pen

Matte Touchpad on the back (see this thread for more details)

Volume Knob

Micro SD Slot(s)

Headphone Jack

4 Shoulder Buttons

Power Button (the home button gets remapped to the power button; it only turns the Pandora off if you hold it for several seconds)

 

Misc:

If for some reason people want a camera, you (barely) have enough room on the top of the lid hinge to do so. I don't see the point, personally, but the 3DS and Vita have them, so, whatever.

Since this proposed version of the P2 is significantly larger than the P1, it may run up against portability limits. I personally found the Nintendo 3DS comfortable (and I am of average height and build, don't work out, and am a young adult) but I've heard complaints about it being too unwieldly. Even if it isn't, depending on what the guts of the P2 end up being this may be too heavy.
 
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@ maltheopopia : What would be the benefits of having 2 screens?


Do you really think the benefits would outweigh the negatives / problems?
 
I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I'm not exactly pushing for dual screens. I personally don't see the point, other than for DS emulation. I suppose that you could do some cool things with it like playing a game on the top screen while having the bottom one pointing towards a browser, but I'm not convinced that it's worth the tradeoff in battery life, size, and weight.

I'm just saying, I've seen several threads here about dual screens and while I don't think that it's the right direction for the P2 to go, I think that it's definitely possible. Now we just need a reason to, you know, actually go through with that design. I've harped on the drawbacks, so I now need advocates to tell me why we should continue to do this.

For the record, I rather like the current design of the P1. I think that the base can stand to be a tad thinner and I think that the screen should be upgraded to a 5.5" diagonal. I also think that a touchpad on the back would be of big help. And business problems aside, I think that the iCP2 keyboard is quite promising. But other than that, I do like the current form factor.

Full disclosure: I don't own one and the only reason why I'm not going to buy one is because I'm holding out for a P2 in the next two years. If ED and friends say that they're going to scuttle the P2 then I'll buy one. If I can get a used or new one of the 1Ghz for <150 USD at least a year before the release date then I can see myself buying one before I get the P2.

@Binky - Yes, I'm beginning to see why the 5" diagonal was so popular in polls. I just upgraded to 6" as a 'meh, might as well' after designing the dual screen + keyboard base.  A 5" or even a 5.5" diagonal you can easily keep to the size of a Nintendo 3DSXL or Vita -- which IMO is how large most handhelds should really be getting. My proposed design has an 11 cm height, including the hinge. You can still fit that into a blue jeans or coat jacket pocket, but that's about where it starts getting uncomfortable. And I think 'can fit into a teenager's pocket without you really caring' is a huge selling point for any handheld. Which is why the slate design of the 2DS baffles me.
 
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Most games would not benefit from having two screens.


Also cpu, gpu and powerusage would be a lot bigger with two screens.
 
Does an add-on attachment that places a second screen over where the nubs, center buttons, and part of the keyboard is make any sense? It could use the TV out connection and could possibly be powered by USB (although that'd limit the power draw somewhat)

Would actually be a pretty neat mod for the current Pandora. Someone just needs to rig up a little 320x240 or so display to take in composite or S-Video-like inputs, something like a PSOne screen but smaller.
 
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Does an add-on attachment that places a second screen over where the nubs, center buttons, and part of the keyboard is make any sense? It could use the TV out connection and could possibly be powered by USB (or not, may not provide enough for it..)
Would you be able to fold it closed WITH the second screen sandwhiched in the middle?
 
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Would you be able to fold it closed WITH the second screen sandwhiched in the middle?
No.
Welp, that still sounds like the best compromise. What would be cool is if it clipped on to the device. So, when you close it, you clip it on the the outside, but when its open you clip it on the insideCan ED weigh in on the possibility of makingna second clip-on screen?
 
Clip would be cool, yeah. Also if you put it on the back it could work as some kind of display while the unit is closed, like if you want to use it in a touch-only capacity. And it'd sort of provide that back track-pad some people want.. maybe.

This may be more the kind of thing a third party should come up with.. maybe something you'd start a kickstarter for.

Would definitely be a neat mod project for Pandora right now, assuming that the power can be managed somehow. Maybe not something you'd want to develop a clip for but you can rig it with an elastic strap. For example, you could probably power this with USB: http://www.ladyada.net/products/tfttouchbreakout/ But you'd need to handle converting the TV out interface somehow.

Touchscreen support would be another challenge, it'd probably be best if you could push that over USB too (UART may also be an option if we're talking about taking the whole EXT port)
 
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Wouldn't really work with the P1. It would block access to the nubs and start/select buttons
So it'd be something you use when you don't need the nubs or start/select/home buttons. I doubt you'd be able to fit on a Pandora 2 without a similar compromise.

The most interesting thing for a second screen right now is DS emulation, where the nubs don't do anything and I at least always use the enter key instead of start anyway.
 
Wiat, the nubs dont work with Drastic?
No.. what did you expect? Nintendo DS doesn't have analog controls.

There's a very small number of people who want me to map the analog nubs to the dpad but most don't care.
 
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I have a 3.7" lcd with composite in. It would fit pretty good and runs from 5V @320mA so it could be powered by the usbport. Only problem I see is, that it would need a touchlayer for nds emulation. Let's see if I can rig something up...
 
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