[Backcover] Jolla's "Other Half" - Ideas and Suggestions
 

Clearly with little information to go on, and nothing more than speculation regarding the means of connectivity, I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread to open discussion around the sort of "Other Half" concepts that could be used with the upcoming Jolla Handset.
Certainly videos of the "I Am The Other Half" event and associated interviews have indicated a range of existing ideas from lens and flash attachments to theme and content options.

Of course the first to come forward for those of us who still hold the N900 dear to hearts (and hands) would be a qwerty slider "half"

As my graphic design skills are about as hopeless as my coding skills, I'll be more than happy to leave it for others to offer renders! :D

If nothing else, this thread may provide fertile ground as a rudimentary "suggestion box" to Jolla for further consideration.

Re: Jolla's "Other Half" - Ideas and Suggestions
 

As I said elsewhere, e-ink display and solar panel w/battery (so that we can charge the cover seperately from the phone)

Another idea is game controls like nintendo circle pad and rear touchpad a la psVita.

Re: Jolla's "Other Half" - Ideas and Suggestions
 

I'm intrigued by the idea of a clambook style "other half" where the connection point allows the handset to become a trackpad/mouse. After all, there's no reason the other half needs to be dimensionally proportionate.

Assuming a wireless screensharing capability and bluetooth HID for the keyboard, this could push SailfishOS right into the tablet market as well.

Re: Jolla's "Other Half" - Ideas and Suggestions
 

Ethernet-Port with Power over Ethernet for charging. So you could take it into office and use it for VoIP fun and at the end of the day it is charged.

Re: Jolla's "Other Half" - Ideas and Suggestions
 

Headphone amp and with the space left possible extended battery.

Re: Jolla's "Other Half" - Ideas and Suggestions
 

Keyboard slider.
Camera lens with cover.
Pressure sensitive drawing screen packed with stylus.
Audio OH with analogue and digital input / output and a mic appropriate for recording. :)

Re: Jolla's "Other Half" - Ideas and Suggestions
 

first of all, keyboard slider

if possible, drawing tablet

Re: Jolla's "Other Half" - Ideas and Suggestions
 

solar charging cover

Re: Jolla's "Other Half" - Ideas and Suggestions
 

Infrared . Extra lens . Fm tx . :)

Re: Sailfish(Jolla): Ideas/Qns & Concerns/Criticisms
 

Just an opinion, but...

I think the 'Other-Half' deserved its own thread considering the currency of the topic, the ambiguity followers are facing with the lack of information, and the potential realisation of the imaginative OH.

Why scatter a focussed topic? It can be so difficult and time consuming sometimes to navigate the thousands of posts under one general thread! :confused:

Re: Sailfish(Jolla): Ideas/Qns & Concerns/Criticisms
 

After careful consideration, this is why I decided specifically to create a separate thread.

I'm not in the habit of willfully creating threads for no reason, however, the mods rule the roost and if they deem this to fall under Cartsten's suggestion to throw the whole lot in together, that's their prerogative.
:rolleyes:

Re: Sailfish(Jolla): Ideas/Qns & Concerns/Criticisms
 

Yeah... at this time I'd say the development of ideas on the topic should free-flow, particularly where the OH is concerned. Jolla only a few days ago stated that the community is still very much involved in the hardware development discussion.

I was kinda stoked to follow a thread dedicated to the OH where members could bounce off each other's imagination of what the OH could be and perhaps see things evolve in one place.

Still possible in the mix I suppose... just have to read through every other question, concern, criticism, etc... :rolleyes:

Re: Sailfish(Jolla): Ideas/Qns & Concerns/Criticisms
 

Why have a whole forum if we're going to merge irrelevant threads with one another? There is no link in merging other half ideas with questions and criticisms, it harms both threads, and destroys any possibility of gathering together ideas for halves tersely.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

I got some ideas about the OH as well.
1. The cover with additional storage (say 8-16 GB) for media content, especially HD videos, with a kickstand ala N900 and N86 for watching those videos comfortably.
2. The in-vehicle phone holder with powerful GPS receiver and FM transmitter (it just stays there and you clip the phone into it).
But the important thing in all the ocean of ideas we got, the OH MUST NOT bear the usual price tag of crApple products.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

433,92MHz radio For control relays, lights and doors. Wireless charge.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

what about a car or bike holder which can be plugged as other half... that could bring to deactivate automatic lock? Or enhanced GPS reception?

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

my dream is

1- hardware keyboard
2- a dock station (HDMI, Ethernet, USB)
3- stand like N900
4- interchangeble system of Lens
5- battery pack
6- gamepad
7- dolby surround pack

Jolla halves I'd like to see, support and/or buy: qwerty keyboard, wireless charging, optical camera magnifier, custom car holder, fingerprint security recognition, extended battery, projector, secondary small OLED display. :)

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

Hardware QWERTY is pretty much logical assumption, so I won't go into details with it.

A wireless charging cover with matched slide-in car cradle - I'm sick of putting and removing cables from my devices whenever I get in / out of my car. Additionally, the cover (or the cradle) can contain an enlarged antenna for better GPS reception in tight urban environments.

A dock cover (can be additional function of the above) which exposes everything relevant so that the device can be docked in a desktop-like setting, transferring all the interfaces to external monitor/keyboard/mouse... As a bonus, the OS would adjust to such environment becoming a traditional-looking Linux distro.

And if a proper USB2.0 interface is exposed, as I've suggested, then we can really go wild with additional functionality like adding storage, network interfaces, a slew of additional sensors, software controlled color change or an additional display, etc. etc.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

(just a quick jab) They should create a proprietary cable so that the Apple fans will be happy!

Actually what would be fairly cool is to have a replaceable back that is a mostly clear plastic, but have some small led's built into it that when the weather changes (for example) the phone's ambient color changes.

Like the clear case here; http://www.amazon.com/CY-Raspberry-P...s=raspberry+pi

Could even create an API so that either the Ambient theme creation or say video play back would make it light up. Like so;

http://www.eclipsetvlights.com/led-kits/#

That would be really spectacular for an alarm clock too. :D

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

When I realised what the "other half" meant, I thought they should show a qwerty keyboard half, instead we saw different colour back covers :confused:

other half ideas:

IR port

But then do we have to several "other halves" in order to have hw keyboard, IR port, larger battery? N900 had all those integrated!

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

Just thinking about that custom car holder... What if the "other half" for car was actually whole unit plugged in place of car audio receiver, containing holder for the phone, small amplifier, FM-radio and connections to other car functions like remote controls or even ODB-port. Plugging in the device would change the UI of the phone so that it would automatically become main interface for radio, audio, GPS/navigation etc. functions, automatically connect to hands free system in the car and charge the device at the same time so there wouldn't be any need for separate charging cables etc.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

oh.....juicy.....

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

was thinking of this today and imagining an interface for a reversing camera as well..

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

I just want a keyboard case and then I'll be happy.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

I just realized, if Jolla plays this other half right, they could become the Arduino for phones - Jollaino. But they have to open up the specs and release 3D models (like Nokia did with the Lumia case http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:43157) of the other half, so you could print your own half and play with it.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

Is there anything concrete information about how the other half works? Has anyone asked (Twitter?) Jolla about this?

This information must be available at least for hardware partners. Does it take a company to become their partner or can our community become one?

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

Many great ideas that I won't repeat.

A "nice to have" would be a digital DJ-oriented half that has multiple line-outs for both monitoring in headphones and the master signal for speakers. USB ports to connect midi controllers and an external harddrive of music files. Would all come down to the quality of the apps, but maybe there already exists something for android. Something like the Urbanears "Slussen" connector/app for iDevices. Would be fun.

I think I would generally go for a more expensive half that does many "necessary" things moderately well then a multitude of halves that just do one thing really well. I can't see myself owning more than 3-4 halves: 1 for everyday use (that did storage, battery stuff), and a few for application-specific use like serious photography, DJing, or car use.

I don't think I would do profile-specific halves like they mentioned, it's too trivial a use-case for me (work vs freetime). I would want to minimize the situations where I was wishing I brought an alternate half with me.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

This is where it starts to get really interesting. From watching all of the videos it appears that Jolla is getting questioned on the Other Half, but they're not showing all of their cards just yet. Certainly will be eventually necessary for the hardware to develop appropriately.

I would absolutely love to see a company like Echo Audio design an audio interface Other Half :cool:. I dream of being able to not only plug-in but set the input audio levels to make reasonable field recordings with a bit of dynamic range and without distortion. Output as well at an additional headphone stage (amplified) as well as digitally (usb or otherwise). :)

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

I would love to see a mobile digital tv receiver on the other half. Or perhaps a DAB receiver. Or a Satellite Phone so when you are going to remote locations you have emergency access. Along with that perhaps a second GSM sim cover so you could use it seamlessly while roaming. So many ideas...

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

The e-ink screen sounds good, I read alot with my Kindle and having an (almost bezeless) e-ink on the other size just for reading or billboard usage would be awesome, (4.5-4.8 inch), with very very low power consumption.
Still, and irda+keyboard combo would still win though :)

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

Agree. Jolla has to give something truly innovative and revolutional to truly attract consumers after all this long waiting.
Otherwise, the device will be ignored, like BlackBerry 10: it has Swype-like interface, business-oriented features like usual, but it doesn't gain BlackBerry new consumers - at most, it protects the company from losing its usual customers, business men.
The fact is, with world-wide economic crisis continuing, people would prefer to continue using their old phones. They can make and accept calls, include a game or two; there is no need to buy a shiny new toy if it is not much different from the old one.
Waterproof and shockproof smartphones may get a modicum of interest from the public since the concept of invulnerable and comfortable-to-use device is both tempting and unattainable.
The Jolla's concept is revolutional. Imagine: by changing the other half, you switch from private-contacts, and memory with private documents, to business-contacts, and memory with business documents.
You can have as many "other halves" as you wish, enabling ultimate information security. It's like exchanging microSD cards - only much easier to use, since microSD cards can be lost or confused easily.
Many people probably mentioned it earlier: to maintain customers' interest in the phone, they release this information slowly. Also, they release hardware information only after securing contract with hardware manufacturer, to avoid ridiculously high prices from these mongers.
Now... Who remembers MobileMind, an N900-program allowing to control a robot-car through bluetooth, with artificial intelligence to follow colour-marked route? Bluetooth uses a lot of power, as any wireless technology. Now imagine that a toy-car, or toy-helicopter, or toy-hawk, instead of being radio-controlled, has interface to be attached to Jolla phone as "the other half". With appropriate application, you can have mobile artificial intelligence. It would have one-or-two cameras and wireless connectivity (cellular, radio, WirelessLAN, Bluetooth) and speakers-microphone of Jolla phone, it would have wheels of whatever other half you attached, it would probably be waterproof...
It would be ultimate runaway phone. The owner would have to ask a passer-by.
And the passer-by would answer.
I expect that Jolla will manufacture only Jolla phone and many colours of mundane-other-half. Exotic other halves would be manufactured by other companies who would have to pay to Jolla for permission to use OtherHalf interface - patents can be useful like that - and Jolla would advertise some of these other-halves by producing open-source software to interact with them.
Some possible OtherHalf ideas:
rotating camera with optical zoom which can easily create a panorama by itself without forcing the human to rotate the whole device;
hardware keyboard (different shapes of it);
wireless charging and-or large battery and-or solar charger;
optical camera magnifier and-or telescope and-or microscope;
custom car holder - even better, the whole car as OtherHalf, wholly interfaced with the phone, and driven by artificial intelligence application on Jolla phone;
fingerprint security recognition and-or heart rate and-or iris recognition and-or blood analysis (imagine: OtherHalf with medical tools for ambulanceman, with software and hardware uniquely suited for this task);
projector and-or flashlight and-or laser and-or secondary small OLED display and-or eink display;
oh, yes, weather-based chameleon would be awesome, too - only, it should have barometer, thermometer, magnetometer, light sensor, and humidity meter, to detect weather without having to use Internet.

About ports: It's possible that Jolla first got OtherHalf idea from looking at debug-service modules and thinking: why cannot these debug ports of Jolla phone be made more accessible, so that it would be easier to debug the hardware?

About expensive-cheap multifunctional-vs-profile-specific; some occasions, like geology or medicine, might require specific instruments, and having precise and computer-assisted instruments in a profile-specific OtherHalf would be extremely helpful. But yes, most people don't need such profile-specific OtherHalves, and will choose multifunctional OtherHalves. But these multifunctional devices will not include a microscope-or-whatever to analyse a stone and say which mineral it is made of.

Best wishes.

Since Jolla will grant franchises on OtherHalf to other companies, the resulting concepts will be created by a committee of the most successful companies, and the final products will be an Arabian or Bactrian camel, a dromedary, a llama. And it will be all the better for that. In my opinion, the proud and hardy camel is better than a well-groomed horse.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

I'm sorry I haven't had the time to catch up with everything jolla since I came back home from the alps. :)

One question: Did they share any information about the way the OH is connected to the main device electronically? Although they say only our imagination is the limit, I'm afraid wiring will be. (I mean... there's no way to add a DVB-T-receiver as proposed here if the circuits can only handle the typical data rate of a keyboard... or a second screen is out of the question if you can only get data in, not out... etc etc)

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

GPIO

(10 chars)

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

other half with sim-card and microsdhc chip: this would make an excellent "work other half", for those who need a separate work number but do not wish to carry multiple devices.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

They hide it and will probadly leak some info later on.

There is plenty of reason why they hide info. MANY copycats out there.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

I'd love to see an OH with another processor for running heavy software in sort of a two-machine distributed network. USB might support that but I doubt serial over GPIO could.

You know how some cars only require the key be near-by? Build that into an OH.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

An OH that is a printer, credit card scanner, as a point-of-sale device with a real paper reciept


Or a photo-quality printer like an old school polaroid

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

Haha, spent like an hour researching all available info and stuff to make a thread discussing the facts on this but it f***ing disappeared!

My fav idea:

the OH mounts into the head unit in your vehicle (becoming the screen, and effectively all of the cpu bits). This, would make me buy this phone.

Re: Other Half Ideas
 

Yeah' also got the idea od including additional (or more sensitive) sensors when I've remembered the Navigation board[1] - IT has accelerometer, barometer, magnetotometer and a gyroscope + some pins free for use. So if there indeed is an electrical interface, it could be usable almost of the shelf. :-)

[1] http://shop.goldelico.com/wiki.php?p...gation%20Board