Author Topic: Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request  (Read 32600 times)

Pdajah

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Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request
« on: January 12, 2018, 01:46:54 pm »
Here are some ideas I have seen mentioned:

- e-ink display on the outside to see status info / caller
- edge to edge screen to maximise screen real-estate
- finger print senor key
- higher mega pixel camera (external)
- silo and stylus

Any other ideas?
Previous PDAs - Psion 5, Psion 5mx, Ericsson MC218, Psion Revo, Psion 7
Now: Gemini PDA and Cosmo

Grench

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Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2018, 02:53:27 pm »
Quote from: Pdajah
Here are some ideas I have seen mentioned:

- e-ink display on the outside to see status info / caller
- edge to edge screen to maximise screen real-estate
- finger print senor key
- higher mega pixel camera (external)
- silo and stylus

Any other ideas?

Items on your list would each add about $50-$100 to the price tag.  Would you be OK if the next version of the device was $250+ more?

Pdajah

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Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2018, 03:35:36 pm »
Quote from: Grench
Quote from: Pdajah
Here are some ideas I have seen mentioned:

- e-ink display on the outside to see status info / caller
- edge to edge screen to maximise screen real-estate
- finger print senor key
- higher mega pixel camera (external)
- silo and stylus

Any other ideas?

Items on your list would each add about $50-$100 to the price tag.  Would you be OK if the next version of the device was $250+ more?

I'm just listing in summary what has been mentioned in various places. This just an ideas list thread. Planet Computers can judge. If you look at the Indegogo page you'll see the external camera was added after requests from backers.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2018, 03:36:08 pm by Pdajah »
Previous PDAs - Psion 5, Psion 5mx, Ericsson MC218, Psion Revo, Psion 7
Now: Gemini PDA and Cosmo

depscribe

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Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2018, 04:17:26 pm »
Some sort of pointing device -- I'm thinking TrackPoint-ish -- would be awfully welcome. But it would need to be precise, as in ThinkPads, rather than awful, as in the Sony Vaio P.
dep

Atari Portfolio (yes, it still works and yes, I bought it new)
Libretto 110 CT (with docking station and all kinds of PCMCIA stuff)
And, now, a Gemini and, fortunately, a GPD Pocket

Pdajah

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Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2018, 02:53:17 am »
Factory applied screen protector

Car mount for use of the Gemini for navigation
Previous PDAs - Psion 5, Psion 5mx, Ericsson MC218, Psion Revo, Psion 7
Now: Gemini PDA and Cosmo

andrewl

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Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2018, 08:54:43 am »
The only wish I would need is a screen that is effective in direct sunlight, as the original Psion was.

And maybe if it were possible I would like to completely remove Android and use Linux only.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2018, 09:01:14 am by andrewl »

speculatrix

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Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2018, 04:15:52 pm »
Some early android phones had tiny trackballs - does anybody remember the HTC Desire? One of those would be a great addition.


edit, found this: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/9308



I'm not a big user of phone cameras, but the depth of the Gemini should allow for decent optics, if they're going to fit a camera, at least make it feel like it's designed in.

I also want them to fix the proprietary video out and use usb-c or micro-hdmi.

I don't know what Bluetooth audio this version can do, I'd like AptX but am not too hopeful, maybe the next version can have a SnapDragon processor and AptX-HD.
« Last Edit: June 20, 2018, 02:29:13 pm by speculatrix »
Gemini 4G/Wi-Fi owner, formerly zaurus C3100 and 860 owner; also owner of an HTC Doubleshot, a Zaurus-like phone.

1668880

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Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2018, 09:25:18 am »
a back lit keyboard

speculatrix

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« Reply #8 on: January 15, 2018, 03:55:20 pm »
Quote from: 1668880
a back lit keyboard

I agree, sort of, but I think the screen is so close to the keyboard that it might not be needed.
Gemini 4G/Wi-Fi owner, formerly zaurus C3100 and 860 owner; also owner of an HTC Doubleshot, a Zaurus-like phone.

gidds

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Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2018, 01:37:29 pm »
Some good ideas there.

However, in 20 years of using a Psion 5mx (including in bed most nights, with the lights off, and you can stop sniggering at the back), I've never felt any need for a keyboard backlight.  The keyboard has so few extra keys that there's little chance for confusion, and if you do much typing with it, you come to feel where all the keys are (whether in two-thumb or full touch-type mode).

Similarly, I never need to resort to a stylus; most of what I do is via the keyboard, and I find that a fingernail's plenty accurate enough for the screen.  (I just turn or bend my index finger slightly.)  A stylus would give slightly greater precision and visibility, of course, but Psion apps don't require infinite precision, and a fingernail's much more convenient.

So those are two things that might not be quite so important after all!



This has reminded me that at one point, Psion themselves asked for ideas for a successor to the 5mx.  I can't recall everything I suggested, but it certainly included a colour screen, headphone socket, stereo audio, more storage, and probably Bluetooth and/or USB, faster processor, thinner/lighter — all of which the Gemini has!  And much more besides.  So we are (about to be) living in good times.
   Andy/
Psion 3a → Psion 5 → Psion 5mx → Gemini → Astro

speculatrix

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Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2018, 02:08:58 pm »
one key feature: to be able to replace the board inside the first generation Gemini with an upgraded board one day!
even if Planet didn't do this, I would hope some entrepreneur would step up and make a replacement logic board that could be easily slotted into the carcass to give us an upgrade.
Gemini 4G/Wi-Fi owner, formerly zaurus C3100 and 860 owner; also owner of an HTC Doubleshot, a Zaurus-like phone.

SiD6.7

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« Reply #11 on: February 05, 2018, 10:44:00 pm »
Quote from: speculatrix
one key feature: to be able to replace the board inside the first generation Gemini with an upgraded board one day!
even if Planet didn't do this, I would hope some entrepreneur would step up and make a replacement logic board that could be easily slotted into the carcass to give us an upgrade.

Ditto!!

SiD6.7

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« Reply #12 on: February 05, 2018, 10:45:36 pm »
Quote from: depscribe
Some sort of pointing device -- I'm thinking TrackPoint-ish -- would be awfully welcome. But it would need to be precise, as in ThinkPads, rather than awful, as in the Sony Vaio P.


Ditto! (again)  

Charlie Stross

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Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request
« Reply #13 on: February 06, 2018, 12:36:48 pm »
Software side: is ChromeOS a viable option? Google seems to be positioning it as the preferred platform for keyboard-equipped devices in their family, and now that ChromeOS can run the majority of Android apps, it might make more sense for the Gemini 2, as a keyboard-driven machine.

Hardware side: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/02/goo...-compatibility/ (Universal Stylus Initiative support) — may be feasible as Google are now a USI group member? Would presumably require device drivers plus hardware support in the screen. Would allow the Gemini to work with any USI-compatible smart stylus.

And of course 128Gb of on-board storage and/or a higher capacity limit on the micro-SD card slot would be welcome.

(I'm taking into account the fact that Planet Computing are a small start-up and I expect for the next 6-18 months they're going to be preoccupied by ramping up manufacturing and sales before they can start planning a regular upgrade/release cadence going forward. 18 months is a very long time in the smartphone field, which Planet have staked out a tiny but unique corner of ...

Grench

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Gemini PDA Gen 2 Features Request
« Reply #14 on: February 06, 2018, 02:43:57 pm »
Quote from: Charlie Stross
And of course 128Gb of on-board storage and/or a higher capacity limit on the micro-SD card slot would be welcome.
The microSD slot is microSDXC.  It has a theoretical capacity limit of 2TB.

Planet Computers has only tested and validated media of up to 256GB in it.  That doesn't mean that larger cards won't work - just that they haven't been tested.  Note, that the only larger cards are 400GB and a new 512GB that isn't available quite yet.