02/21/07
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ecsk2
I am not a PSP owner nor am I a gamer but I have to say I like the PSP formfactor/size (don't get me wrong though I do want/need a keyboard!)
Anyone thing Sony PSP and UX departments will ever join forces more and get the UX down to that kind of size while gettting a nice widescreen as the PSP?
02/21/07
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2disbetter
the PSP is nothing new in terms of formfactor. Look at the old Lynx thing a bopper. There was also the Sega Game Gear. The idea has been around for ever.
As for the Handtops getting smaller, that is inevitable.
As for the UX and PSP sections merging. Highly unlikely IMHO. Mainly becuase there is a huge cost difference in the two devices. One is a piece of junk compared to the complexity of the other... to be blunt.
One device is designed for the professional, and the other device is designed for the gamer. (50/50 on them being young and dependent on mommy and daddy for funds, and the other is the gamer.) Out of the general dynamic most of the PSP gamers are very entry level computer users.
So there are 2 reasons to not combine the two. Price and the consumers level of knowledge. Not only that I think combining the two in gernal would hurt sales. People would no longer have a 200 dollar device to get but a 1800 one.
At least that's what I think.
2d
02/21/07
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Chekote
One of the main reasons the PSP is so small is because of the luxury of designing the system architecture from scratch. They don't have to worry about having gigs of ram and an X86 architecture. You also have to realize that the PSP does not have a hard drive in it, which accounts for a lot of the size difference.
I don't think there is much that the UX team could learn from the PSP team in regards to size.
02/22/07
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GreatDane
I think we all wish the UX and OQO could lose a few mm here and there, and drop a few grams as well. Regarding weight, that will come with reduced battery sizes and SSD's. Reducing size is problematic. As I see it, and I could be wrong, but the OQO especially is nearing the point where it is not possible to significantly reduce the width and height of the unit much more. The only real area where there is much room for improvement is in the thickness of the unit.
Before one looks at whether it is possible to make a unit like the OQO smaller, one needs to look at the two primary user interface devices, the screen and the keyboard, and realistically decide how much smaller these could be, as these components will limit in real terms the minimum size of the unit.
Since the Sony UX uses a 4.5" 1024 x 600 display module, and this seems to be OK with a number of people, (My eyes will no longer permit the use of such a small high resolution display at normal dpi, by I could always wear glasses) this would not be the problem component.
The keyboard is another matter entirely. Without wishing to start a huge acrimonious debate on how small it is possible to make a keyboard and still keep it more or less usable, I would like to share a couple of ideas.
It has been debated at length at various times on this forum and other places the benefit of the thumb keyboard v/s the touch typing keyboard. I accept that the UX and OQO as stands are not touch typing friendly, and that a thumb board is the route chosen by Sony and OQO for these devices. For this reason, and because a fold out keyboard increases the thickness of the unit, I will stick with the thumb keyboard concept for this discussion.
I have never used the UX, so I can not comment on the keyboard. From what I have read, some people like the OQO keyboard as much as the UX, so I will use that as the basis.
Theories abound about what is the best compact keyboard and how it should be laid out, but two general principles of keyboard design are widely accepted to be true: On compact keyboards, it is key spacing and key height that make the keys usable, not the size of the individual keys, and that the more keys you can fit onto a keyboard, the faster in general it will be to type on (Combination key strokes on thumb keyboards slow down input).
I have been involved in compact keyboard design for various projects over the years, and have as a result tried out a huge number of PDA and super cell phone type keyboards. Although some of them are very good indeed, the OQO model 1+ permits faster input (for me, I must stress) than any of the much smaller units. If one tales the integration of the joystick into the keyboard layout, the OQO 1+ design is pretty good, and beats the PDA/Phone keyboards I have been able to try. I have a feeling that the Model 2 is going to be a lot better.
It is possible, by increasing the dome on the keys, to reduce the spacing. Various PDA's use this technique. But, if as you will see later, the idea is to reduce the overall thickness of the unit, particularly on a slider design, then one can only go so far in this direction. Shortly after I got my OQO, I played around with a dummy keyboard based on the OQO layout, with more domed keys closer together. I have average sized hands for a tall man, so people with smaller hands might do better, but I was only able to reduce the overall width of the unit 10 mm. This would reduce the overall width of the OQO Model 1+ from 125 mm to 115 mm. (4.9" to 4.5") This is only 5 mm (0.1/5") wider than the iMate K-JAM. The height of the unit in a slider design does not directly impact on the height of the keyboard, so this is not a problem.
The height of the unit has more of an impact on how easy it is to carry the unit than does the width, so this is an area where one would look for the maximum possible reduction.
Since this is all hypothetical, lets assume that technology like OLED displays is available, and that it is possible to use display panels with almost no borders. On a 115 mm wide unit, this would permit a 5" 1024 x 600 display panel with enough edge room (2 mm each side).
I one was looking at a 5" 1024 x 600 display panel, then that would also permit the height of the unit to be reduced. Assuming no buttons etc on the face of the unit, and taking connections etc into consideration, it would probably be possible (hypothetically) to reduce the height of the unit to about 74 mm (2.9"), exactly the same height as the Sony PSP.
So far, it looks as though it would be hypothetically possible using future technology to produce a unit 115 mm x 74 mm. This however is not the whole story. The thickness and weight of the unit are the primary factors when people subjectively measure how easy it will be to carry a unit.
In order for the hypothetical machine to be easier to carry, it must be lighter and thinner.
Lighter depends on materials used, and on the battery. Thinner depends on components, heat generated, and the battery. In fact, in order to be able to produce a significantly smaller unit, one must be able to reduce the size and weight of the battery above all other factors.
Again theoretically, this can be done in two ways: Produce a new type of battery with much higher energy density, or reduce the amount of power required to run the unit (or a combination of both).
There are three major areas where it is theoretically possible to reduce power consumption without impacting on performance.
The first, and the area where the largest gain will be seen, is to change the display. PLED and OLED designs that might be available in the next few years will permit significant power savings, as well as reducing the border size of the screen and the thickness of the screen module. However, they still use a significant amount of power. Further into the future, full colour Active Paper displays might reduce the power requirements of the screen still further, although they in turn require external illumination.
The second is replacing the HDD with an SSD. This could happen fairly soon, if data density continues to increase.
The third method of reducing the power requirements is to make all the chips in the unit more efficient, and reduce heat production. This is happening, and the next few years should see big advances in this area as well, with about 7 to 10% power reduction likely.
If the hypothetical unit uses a next generation display with a 30% power saving, a next generation SSD with a 12% power saving, and more efficient chips with a 10% power saving, you have a total power saving of 52%. That would mean that, in order to achieve acceptable unit on times, the battery using current technology would still be the size it is today.
As has also been discussed here before, L-ion technology is reaching the point where significant improvements are not likely. There are several technologies that show promise, so for this hypothetical unit, we can theoretically look at a battery half the volume of the current ones.
If one adds together the saving in display thickness, the reduction in unit height due to lower cooling requirements and smaller components, and the thinner battery, one could conceivably shave 8 to 10 mm of the thickness of the unit.
So we now have a unit that is 115 mm (4.5") x 74 mm (2.9") x 15 mm (0.6"), and would only weigh about half of the current weight of the OQO Model 1+. This unit would have a thumb keyboard that is still usable, and a screen that is still large enough to work with.
As I see it, from a handtop point of view, until we get fold-able screens and self stiffening roll our keyboards, and a much more compact power source, this is about as good as it is going to get. Even with all the technological advances, the limiting factors are still going to be those imposed by the human interface.
02/22/07
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kyone
If you could reduce the heat enough you might be able to get rid of the fan, reducing power consumption and size. Another way to reduce size would be to integrate the battery into the unit. Even though batteries don't like heat you could possibly then rely on the battery as a sort of heat sink. OQO has also gone with the high profile 1.8" drives for the 02 model. I think that is the better way to go but if HDD caught up on size you would be able to save space if you were to go back to low profile drives.
I guess one day it might be possible to put all the components on one chip... a processor with fixed amount of memory (eg 2G) and wifi/bluetooth etc and ultimately mount it directly onto the boards (COB).
02/22/07
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GreatDane
Hi kyone,
"I guess one day it might be possible to put all the components on one chip... a processor with fixed amount of memory (eg 2G) and wifi/bluetooth etc and ultimately mount it directly onto the boards (COB)"
That is where we are going eventually with Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI), but it is still a way off.
02/22/07
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ecsk2
Yeah I am mainly refering to thickness obviously, I don't mind about the other dimensions (but not UMPC size either) I believe the PSP is wider and that wouldn't bother me as long as the the thickness/weight is less.
Then you have the heat and batterytime and also these both make it impossible to keep the device on constanly which is something I would want, ok I could see turning off the display backlight or completely but I'd like the device to be on, and online constanlty.
I like both the UX and OQO from the egineering efforts, but I can't but wonder if we aren't only counting months before some serious competition (knockoff if you want) out of china, following the mobilephones (not as much on the PDA market) it seems just never ending how much copies that are being put out everything from all the iPhone copies to NOKIR (not a typo!) phones...
04/09/07
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ogeddes
A Nokia N800 with slide out keyboard would be about perfect in terms of size/weight. Of course this gives you an O/S issue! Maemo Linux with a decent office suite and I think I would be happy. Its Microsoft O/S that gives the size/weight problem.
