I tried this. The problem is the HUGE amount of cash you have to put up up-front to just get devboards and datasheets. Also, while BT/WiFi licensing is pretty straight-forward, GSM licensing is not - and don't forget the licensing costs for the chips...
Furthermore, the more functionality you want to embed on your board (I intended on a ethernet+poe and a powerline/power supply board, linked via MII to the CPU), the more layers you will need on the board.
And RF engineering competence is a must both for functionality and for EM radiation compliance, and this is not cheap too.
When we were running Miniand it was one of our big goals to assist hardware startups interact with factories in south China; we lived in Guangzhou back then and had constant interaction with manufacturers. We successfully manufactured our own dev board (based on an existing board with modifications) but in the end we just didn't make enough money to make it viable for us.
Chinese manufacturers do tend to have room to move on samples and MOQs, I think it's really important for someone considering attempting hardware on the smaller scale have someone in China assist with interacting with the manufacturers. A big issue is the large amount of miscommunication which always seem to happen when western companies try to deal with manufacturers directly.
The real startup idea is "Rent-a-Chinese" (sorry if it sounds racist, it's not intended as such).
Like, a preferably low-cost / revenue-split consulting company for nonprofits and startups which gets the customers in contact with the Chinese HW/SW vendors and provides engineering (gongkai ecosystem) and especially cultural advice (translations!).
Ah so that's what happened to Miniand. The forums were very useful for discussing the devices and finding custom images. Good luck in your next endeavor!
a laptop, essentially. I don't like the surface because you can remove the keyboard, it feels fragile.
Also I'd prefer something much thicker to have more battery and a more powerful CPU. Thicker means easier to dissipate heat since air can circulate more.
I think Surface can mount up to Core i7 processors ?
Something much thicker would kind of defeat the purpose of being portable.
I believe what we have today is limited more by physical constraints (i.e. I can´t see myself writing code on a 7/8 screen, or typing comfortably on a keyboard that small) than actual technology.
Already, both on the Surface or a small footprint laptop (say, 11' Macbook Air), for me the experience is way worse than what you can get on a slightly larger laptop (13').
> Something much thicker would kind of defeat the purpose of being portable.
Batteries always takes room. I'd prefer a thicker laptop with more autonomy. I dont understand thinner laptops, especially plastic ones, since plastic doesnt seem to disperse heat very well.
you are right - this is more of an idea that someone like Dell / Samsung / HTC could test in a small beta market and push if they see results. Hell most of them probably are sitting on stock of a few 10k of year old boards anyway.
Problem with cellphone boards is that these do not expose GPIOs and are too often too tightly linked with the rest of the phone (once again our good friend RF comes into play, with some phones e.g. using springs to connect antenna pads with the mainboards, others using antenna cables, others using PCB printed antennas)... and never mind about the custom connectors used for PCB connects which cannot be soldered by hand and due to pin changes can't even be re-used...
Don't expose GPIO directly. Soldering stuff on it can potentially ruin the phone. Have it be connectible to a breakout board and let that board be hackable.
Also let me connect my phone to a monitor and keyboard and use the thing as my development platform. All in one.
Maybe a modular breakout board connectible to the IO port would be a better startup idea.
I've never programmed for mobile devices but are the operating systems open enough to let it be possible to write a drivers for these things?
I tried this. The problem is the HUGE amount of cash you have to put up up-front to just get devboards and datasheets. Also, while BT/WiFi licensing is pretty straight-forward, GSM licensing is not - and don't forget the licensing costs for the chips...
Furthermore, the more functionality you want to embed on your board (I intended on a ethernet+poe and a powerline/power supply board, linked via MII to the CPU), the more layers you will need on the board.
And RF engineering competence is a must both for functionality and for EM radiation compliance, and this is not cheap too.
Altogether a too small market.