Stylus Recommendation

[Carsten Haitzler (The Rasterman)]

On Sat, 03 May 2008 00:38:40 +0200 Nicanor Babula <deadhorus at gmail.com> babbled:

we can't consider them - you're right. freerunner is "done". we can't go add
magnets to hold a stylus or anything else. there is nothing we can do to change
the freerunner (gta02) hardware or case or anything at this stage.

of course we can do things to change future phones before we have a case design
and mold done. once a case mold is done - there pretty much is no changing it
(changes may cost in the order of $100,000 or more, depending on complexity
and how many moulds are affected). remember that cost would then need to be
passed on in the product as a development cost. so if we expect to sell 10,000
phones, then we would add $10 to every phone - minimum. probably much more than
that. major case changes may cost $500,000 or more. in fact if we know the cost
has to go up by $10 we realise we will sell fewer because of the higher cost,
thus to make up for the loss in unit sales... we have to increase even more -
so a $10 increase just on the cost basis becomes a $20 increase in retail
price. a complex change may then increase a phone cost by $100... :(

so... remember - every change that is requested is a cost. especially case
changes. no such thing as a free lunch! :(

>        I am not an electrical engineer either (I'm a highschool student) 
> and I think that it's more important to get the phone ready than 
> problems like "where the stylus will be attached?". In the end the 
> freerunner will be a developer and not an end user phone. Besides I 
> don't know how much the OpenMoko team is considering our suggestions (no 
> offence).
> 
> 
>  > Kim Alvefur wrote:
> > On Fri, 2008-05-02 at 09:56 -0500, Hans L wrote:
> >   
> >> On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 9:01 AM, Nicanor Babula <deadhorus at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>     
> >>>    I don't think that a magnetic stylus would be such a good idea, because
> >>> any movement of the pen would create a current into every conductor
> >>> existing in its magnetic field (freerunner's circuits included). This
> >>> current might damage or disturb the phone itself.
> >>>       
> >> I am not an electrical engineer, but I think that the voltage/current
> >> produced from such a magnet would be negligible.  But, even assuming
> >> that it would not be harmful, isn't the case made of plastic?  Is
> >> there even enough ferrous material concentrated towards the back of
> >> the neo to accomplish this?
> >>     
> >
> > The battery? AFAIK lots of phone holders have magnets that attach to the
> > battery through the back.
> >   
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Openmoko community mailing list
> community at lists.openmoko.org
> http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community


-- 
Carsten Haitzler (The Rasterman) <raster at openmoko.org>