Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 60

I'm not exactly sure what forum I should put this message in...

I was looking at the Edge, and some of the pictures of the Springboard "piggyback" module for it. And thinking how awkward that looks, and how I would be scared to death I'd break/drop that little plastic thing.

Then I was looking at laptops, and how some of them become ultraportable, because they have that base that you can leave behind, which contains the CD, Floppy, and extra batteries.

And I started thinking...

Why not do this for the Edge II or whatever it will be:
Make it the same size/shape/etcetera as the current Edge.

HOWEVER, and here is the interesting part, instead of a small piggyback Springboard connector, make the connector the same width and height as the Edge, and just thick enough to be a Springboard slot. Then, since you've got the extra room, throw in an extra battery or something(you would also have to make the base of the same material as the handheld, not cheap plastic).

Now, it works like this; just like those laptops: When you want an ultra-thin Visor Edge, you detach the base (or whatever we should call it, the part with the Springboard slot). And then you can walk around with a Visor Edge form-factor handheld.

When you need the Springboard slot or the extra battery life, you attach the base. Instead of having a top-heavy handheld, you have a handheld about the same thickness as, say, a Prism, but with twice the battery life. (Or, with a separate battery for those power-draining modules.)

Now, granted, you'd need to have a good connector between the base and the main body of the hand held, and there would doubtless be problems making a cradle and accessories for a handheld that is sometimes thin and sometimes thick, but I think it would be a better alternative than the top heavy design of the current Edge.

I'd probably buy one...

What do you guys think? Am I missing something? Am I smoking something? Or am I on to something here? Should I be working on Handspring's design team?

Or did somebody beat me to this idea and I should have searched the forum better before I posted?

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

Sound like a good idea. Make sure the springboard sled had screen protection of some sort.

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

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Originally posted by dick-richardson
Sound like a good idea. Make sure the springboard sled had screen protection of some sort.

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