
7-inch pocket gaming concept blows our minds six ways from Sunday - evo_9
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/razer-switchblade-7-inch-pocket-gaming-concept-blows-our-minds/
======
dstein
Yeah this isn't gonna fly. They're basically just adding OLED keys to a
netbook, and the result looks like an ugly netbook.

I know exactly how to make the best mobile gaming device. You need something
more along the lines of a wide Playstation controller with dual-analog sticks
on the thumbs. I never understood why they think the buttons need to be facing
upward and used only by your thumbs, that's wrong. Your thumbs are the most
dexterous and should only be used for analog joysticks. Buttons should be on
the backside of the device under each finger so you can press them while
gripping the device.

~~~
larrik
To the average person, being able to see the buttons is hugely important. I've
seen plenty of otherwise capable people struggle with the B (trigger) button
on the Wii. I can't imagine if there were more than one.

And that's besides trying to name the damn things (PS2/3's L1 L2 L3 is
horrible)

~~~
dstein
The Xbox has 2 buttons (one analog trigger, one digital) that are not visible,
so it's not a totally alien concept. I'm just saying to use that idea, and
move a few more buttons to the backside and leave the thumbs for analog input.
Imagine using a thumbstick and a trackball at the same time, while your other
fingers are available for other button presses at the same time. Desktops
can't even do this type of input correctly because they're stuck with that
ancient mouse-thing from the 1980's.

~~~
cma
It's been done, people hated it:

[http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i53.tinypic.com/e...](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i53.tinypic.com/e5fnus.jpg&imgrefurl=http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php%3Ff%3D53%26t%3D40586&usg=__xbd2fbl_Wodb0UhvFUe2ferAQgA=&h=457&w=500&sz=41&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=BXsB_c99WgGQ-M:&tbnh=131&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dxbox%2Bcontroller%2Bbuttons%2Bunder%2B-360%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1249%26bih%3D681%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=322&ei=-DomTanANMH98AbR7_TaDQ&oei=-DomTanANMH98AbR7_TaDQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=80&ty=40)

------
trotsky
There is a reason that they use 6 year old games like the warcraft rpg to demo
underpowered gaming platforms like those based on atom chips. You really need
a last generation core 2 culv at a minimum to see decent performance on games
that have come out semi-recently and aren't intentionally crippled. The GPU
can make up for a lot but it doesn't magically remove the cpu ops needed.
They'd have a hard time fitting a decent gpu in there too, my 14" with a
mobile 5650 and a core i5 still struggles to play many modern games at
anything but medium, and gets up to ~85c in a much larger chasis.

take a look at the alienware 11" if you want to see the realistic world of
ultra-portable pc gaming.

verdict = pipedream

------
forgottenpaswrd
What a blatant copy of Jony Ive from Apple style videos by this Singapore man.
The voice, the camera, the light, is a clone and feels unnatural to me.

This device looks too thick, it seems Intel continue needing big batteries for
portable computing and ARM is going to eat them alive in this segment.

~~~
callmevlad
It's such a blatant copy of Ive that it makes me think they did it very
purposefully just to see if people would notice.

~~~
pohl
Yeah, Min-Liang Tan seems like he's doing a parody of Ive to me.

------
macrael
Isn't the most important part of PC gaming the mouse? How are they playing WoW
and DotA without a mouse?

~~~
huertanix
Que the $80 Razer mouse.

~~~
xenophanes
Razer. Don't make fun of things you don't know about. High quality mice are
important. What would you buy instead? I looked at logitech mice of high
enough DPI to use on my 27" iMac without any acceleration and I was not
impressed. Razer makes nice stuff.

~~~
whackedspinach
I actually use a Logitech G5 mouse and a Logitech G15 keyboard and I love them
both. The mouse has a really nice rubber feel, adjustable weight (which is
actually a nifty thing once you realize how much that weight matters), and
some really nice side buttons.

Not that Razer is bad. I used to have one of their keyboards and I liked that
as well.

------
j2d2j2d2
Hmm... I'm not sure how a player would walk diagonally in RPG shown in the
screenshot if they've only got one thumb for two keys.

Gimme a d-pad or go home.

------
jfoutz
This device reinforces the fact that I have an irrational desire for oled
buttons.

It would be even better if the button surface was the same capacitive sensor
stuff that new trackpads and the old touchstream keyboards use.

------
kleiba
By the way, does anyone on HN have hands-on experience with the Pandora
console?

------
stcredzero
Let's take a page from Steve Jobs' playbook.

Get rid of the hinge. This also gets rid of the latch and reduces
manufacturing costs. Get rid of most of the buttons. This way, you don't have
to pay for the displays on most of them. Keep the buttons with the dynamic
displays, but have fewer of them along the side. Add some "trigger" buttons on
non-visible surfaces and two D-pads. Software keyboards are good enough for
in-game use. Multi-use buttons with displays have the same problems as a
software keyboard anyhow. (The space is not available for the other controls
when you are using the qwerty keyboard.)

~~~
jfoutz
One of the things that really distinguishes pc gaming from console gaming is
the availability of lots of buttons. did you see the wow example in the video?
you really want lots of buttons for some games. Well, i do anyway.

~~~
stcredzero
I suspect that "lots of buttons" is really just a consequence of the available
interfaces. I think something better could be designed.

~~~
jfoutz
Is a piano without keys but instead 4 strings and a bow still a piano? You
could build a different interface, no question. I'm not sure what the
threshold is, but at a certain point, you're not playing the same game
anymore.

------
hackermom
Does it come with a free visit to the chiropractor?

