Other Half Feasibility
 

Hi guys -

We've recently been compiling a list of dream 'other half' demands collated from community suggestions over here: http://jollatides.com/2013/10/03/oth...ts-prioritise/

The first thing you'll notice is that not only is the list extensive, but also there are quite a few *unfeasible* suggestions there.

The idea is that we were going to put this out as a survey to future Jolla owners/potential owners so Jolla/3rd party manufacturers could prioritise.

After speaking with Shane over at our blog, we came round to thinking it would be a good idea if before making the survey live that we get a feasibility test done to make the survey more realistic.

Joerg has kindly given us his view on the matter and I have already added his view below where OK= probably feasible, maybe with limitations; NAK = not feasible, usually due to bandwidth of I2C.

So here's the list to date and if anyone cares to add anything else regarding feasibility or provide some more insights (in lieu of full technical data from Jolla), I would really appreciate it!

We've also had further final confirmation from Jolla's chief engineer that HDMI/MHL is definitely not possible using the other half.



1. Camera: (Must be much better than stock camera, With Xenon flash, SD card support, HDMI out) NAK

2. Windscreen mount: (with inbuilt wireless charger and fm transmitter) OK

3. Extra storage/battery/connections: (eg. 200GB flash; 3000mah) OK

4. Portrait Slider keyboard: Full Qwerty/Azerty/Qwertz/Cyrillic etc variants OK

5. Landscape Slider keyboard: Full Qwerty/Azerty/Qwertz/Cyrillic etc variants OK

6. Landscape Slider gamepad: OK

7. Wireless charger: (just simple normal sized back plate with wireless charging inbuilt) OK

8. Presentation: (laser pointer, IR, Full SD, Extra battery) OK

9. Multimedia: (Full SD support, Better Speakers, IR, FM TX, Battery) NAK

10. 7″ Tablet Dock: (7″ tablet half with place to connect handset on rear to transform phone into tablet) NAK

11. 10″ Tablet Dock: (10″ tablet half with place to connect handset on rear to transform phone into tablet) NAK

12. PC Dock: (With all connections needed to connect monitor/mouse/keyboard eg. 3 x USB, 1 x HDMI, SD Card Slot) NAK

13. E-ink display: Additional low power e-ink display. OK

14. LCD fold out display: (doubles as screen protector when closed like clam shell) Extra fold out touchscreen which could be used for eg. full sized touchscreen keyboard. OK

15. Solar charger: trickle solar charger on rear. OK

16. Medic Half: (ECG, blood pressure, pulse, temperature and other vitals you can think of.). OK

17. Waterproof half: (two parts make the phone water resistant (IP-7/8) but still make the phone work a 100%). NAK

18. Scanner half: Scan documents on the go (nicer then a pic in some cases.). OK

19. Security half: Fingerprint scanner/ drawpad for signing stuff. OK

20. Dual Sim Half: Dual sim half adds an extra sim slot where you can integrate second GSM radio and use it to make calls and send messages and cellular data. With extra battery. OK: almost NAK

21. Rugged Outdoor half: with rangefinder, thermometer, altitude meter and barometer. (Maybe even communication radio) OK

22. Magnet half – for quick and convenient holding in for example the car. OK

23. Extra processor – additional processor half to add extra cores for more raw power preferably stackable to take advantage of eg. gamepad; media half etc. NAK

24. Flip up screen cover/stand – like an extra “door” that protects the screen when not in use, like a book. Doubles as a stand, but transparent so you can still view screen. OK

25. Micro projector half: to project photos, videos, documents, presentations anywhere. NAK

26. Bicycle handlebar mount: with wireless charging capability via pedal power or electric bike battery. Charging via an external battery or dynohub & something like B&M’s USBWerk. A waterproof top cover would also be handy. OK

27. Recording studio: Phantom powered analog XLR-i/o with 24bit/96khz quality, ADAT-i/o, 2 x MIDI I/O. OK?

28. Expansion-half: PCMCIA and express-card slot with extra battery. OK

29. Audiophile half – transform your phone into the best sounding portable audio device. The other half includes a dedicated DAC and Amp combo, capable of outputting the most pristine sound, and also capable of driving full sized cans, to super sensitive IEMs. Of course, it also includes extra battery for those long listening sessions. OK?

30. Alcohol-tester half: Inbuilt breathalyser. Calls for a taxi automatically to your GPS location when you are too drunk to drive a car yourself. OK

31. Pirate-half : 1Tb USB drive, readable by the OS. NAK

32. Home integration half – home entertainment, environment/thermostat(Nest), home security. OK

33. Marine half: with compass, echo sounding input, radar input, barometer, high sensitive GPS and detailed chart. NAK

34. Military half: with night vision cam, rangefinder, ballistic calculator (I would say that this half is not useable in the army at all, but pretty cool stuff..) NAK

35. “Ambience”: white translucent “other half” with led to display the screen ” Ambience” and notifications by flashing. OK

36. “Fashion”: costumization for persons, artists and companies (name, logo, colours, design) and/or access to specific features or online services (payments, bank, music, games, movies, news, guidance, encryption, files, storage…) ; OK

37. Camping Half = large battery + solar panel + 2x full size USB sockets to charge other (small) devices with such as a GARMIN. OK - USB only for charging

38. Night Out Half = slots for credit card + door key + paper currency. OK

39. Sport Half = Big Battery + GPS chipset & ANT+ chipset to pair with a heart rate chest straps. OK

40. Diabetic Half = blood sugar tester + contacts to touch to measure your heart rate and blood pressure. OK

41. Extra directional antenna: in the another half for rural area users and those who travel a lot. I find it very annoying when my N900 just suddenly drops 2G/3G connection when using wifi-hotspot in our summer cottage if the field strength below certain level. NAK

42. Privacy half – Prevents any app to send any information before user confirmation. OK

43. Makeup half – Outside: plain mirror, inside: magnifying mirror with led-lights on sides. OK

44. Infrared controller: so you could just slip the cover on, select your primary tv, video etc. brand(s) and model(s) and use your mobile as an remote controller. For tv there should be possibility to choose which online source to use as tv guide. In Finland iltapulu.fi is great. OK

45. Polaroid-half. it will be cool to print out your photos immediately. actually you can sell some films by this half because it is hard to find films for polaroid cameras. err... OK

46. Arduino half: An Arduino communicates to the Jolla via SPI and the back of the half is a breadboard with Arduino pins (ans SPI) broken out to easily connect any kind of hardware to the phone. A great hobby electronics half. If the Arduino IDE can run on the Jolla you have a full electronics development platform in your pocket! OK - (no SPI)

47. Battery half: Simple battery half with many colour options. Ideally option to be stackable so could benefit from other ‘other halves’. OK

48. DTV/DAB Receiver: Antenna connector for Digital TV and DAB radio receiver inbuilt. Could also have HDMI out for playing to screen. NAK

49. Satellite Phone: Satellite phone half for eg. emergency calls where there is no network coverage (would be very costly though) OK

50. Fingerprint scanner: Add an extra layer of security only unlockable with a pre-determined fingerprint (or nipple!) SEE no.19 – the same concept. OK

51. Car diagnostic half: To link up to car/van/truck and communicate with onboard computer. OK

52. LED/laser light show half: LED’s pulsate and also could project laser light show to the beat of music/video or other sounds. Added bonus – extra speakers. OK

53. Racecar/F1 half: Control 2 engines via i2c, headlight LEDs, engine sounds, EPIC. Maybe even use the camera with some software to track a line! OK

54. SD card reader/writer half (Photophile half): Insert SD card from eg. DSLR to share via bluetooth with friends/family/work etc. With extra battery. OK

55. DSLR/SLR lens attachment + APS-C mirrorless sensor half: Attach common lens systems from Nikon; Canon; Pentax etc to work with inbuilt camera and give your handset the option to handle the big lenses like a pro with an enlarged APS-C mirrorless sensor! http://imgur.com/XQcgZJ0 http://imgur.com/N83V7mm NAK

56. Camera Grip Half: (large shutter button, wrist strap, tripod fix and sliding lens cover, with programmable functions). Can be used with or without the Camera Half (nr. 1). Slide lens cover open to activate camera, protects camera lens when closed. Lens slider could be programmed (like in N900) to eg. turn flashlight (LED) on or start other programmable functions. OK

57. Secure encryption half: A hardware assisted encryption ASIC to provided end to end secure encryption to keep governments and criminals out of your private business. OK

58. Retro Rotary Dial half: Because “Dialling” by selecting names from a phone book is soooo 2012! OK

59. Robot other half: A tiny robotic other half? Something a bit like romotive’s Romo would be nice. http://romotive.com/ OK

60. GKOS Keyboard Half. A special chording keyboard for full aphanumeric text entry; see http://gkos.com

61. Senior Other Half: with t-coil output and alert button. OK

62. AAA battery half: This other half allows you to fit easy to find AAA batteries to power the Jolla in times of need. OK

63. Dedicated phone button and camera button half: provides additional buttons to answer/end calls and to start camera and take photos. OK

64. Surveyors(spatial)/pro golf (distance finder) toolbox half: that includes a good GPS chip, ultrasonic distance measuring laser distance finder, thermal infra-red reader (with s/w for user defined object emissivity) and powerful laser pointer. A chip like the u-blox LEA-6 will allow < 1m accuracy and with a simple base station, Real Time Kinematic will be possible (30mm) using the opensource (c++) http://www.rtklib.com/ OK

65. Integrated Stereoscopic Digital Still and Digital Video Camera” Half. NAK

66. Full-size PC keyboard other half: with dock for Jolla phone, with USB to connect peripherals. Internal battery and space for mass memories inside. OK- (only with USB plug for Jolla device)

67. N900 other half: Adds slider QWERTY, IR, FM TX, TV out, kickstand and other features we miss from N900. OK - no TV out

68. Portrait Stand Half: A very neat fold up portrait stand for your Jolla. OK

69. Transparent back card holder half: Turn the back of your Jolla handset it to a windowed sleeve for storing/showing your driving license, ferry pass or others. OK

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

In my opinion possible, SD would be dead slow of course, and rather not practicable, but i2c should have enough bandwidth for compressed audio at a quality that's sufficient for small speakers and FM TX (e.g. 96kbit/s ogg). Makes the OH of course quite a bit more complex.

Perfectly possible by putting an optical beam splitter in the OH :D

MIDI possible, uncompressed audio not, if it's compressed it may have still some value as a mobile recording tool, like the micro BR series from Boss. But would be VERY bulky with XLR connectors. :rolleyes:

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

I suggest replacing nr 60. with this:
60. GKOS Keyboard Half. A special chording keyboard for full aphanumeric text entry; see http://gkos.com
Please also correct the color codes around OK etc; now I can see leaked COLOR="rgb(154, 205, 50)" etc

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

That's edited for you sir! ;)

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

The argument that the I2C bus is the only interface for the Other Half is false and limiting. There are also wireless options. And how the Other Half interacts with the main phone can be varied depending on your needs. Anyone can stick two separate things together using glue or tape and have a multifunction device but making them integrated and elegant is more difficult.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

In an early list there were many "other halves" which would have HDMI for video devices. But because the interface between the phone and OH cannot handle the required speeds, the HDMI were dropped. Most needs of HDMI can probably be filled by using Wi-Fi connection between the Jolla phone, TV set, and mass memories. Probably the easiest way to get the video shown by TV set and monitor is to use the Chromecast "video stick" which plugs in to the HDMI connector of the TV set and communicates with phones over Wi-Fi connection. But can it show the same contents as the screen of the Jolla phone? I hope that soon is tested how the Android application for the Chromecast "video stick" installs and works on Jolla. And if it does not, how to solve the "video-out from Jolla" issue.

Because Wi-Fi-connected memory drives are readily available on the market, we can expect them to work with Jolla phone, can't we? This depends on how the external memory is seen by applications, such as the File Manager of Jolla. Apparently a demanding integration task will still remain, if it is going to provide something similar to Apple TV which contains a hard drive, and for which the phone works mainly as a remote control and one of the data sources.

OH number 66, the Full-size PC keyboard OH is explained to contain "Space for mass memory inside". That is the "tape and glue" that is mentioned in the previous reply: instead of keeping around mass-memory devices, it may be best to hide some of them in another, large accessory, maybe together with an AC power supply.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

If you're referring to video-out/playback via Wifi it should be doable, similar stuff was proven as technically feasible for the N9, as a way to get round it's measly video-out abilities.
Although no commercial solution (that I'm aware of) become available, as there wasn't a large enough user-base or guaranteed future one.

If you're referring to Wifi connected external HDD's then yes, of course, but that has nothing to do with the OH...
If you're referring to eMMC, mSD, or similar with built-in Wifi that can be placed into a OH, I'm not ware of eMMC having embedded Wifi, but there are such mSD devices.
Of course, as I've explained to you before, simply adding such modules to a OH doesn't solve the problem completely...

I don't see how that's relevant at all, lower lever stuff has to work before File Manager can....

It's not entirely clear what you're saying here, but if it's what I suspect, this sort of functionality is already achievable for the N9, & there's no reason to think it won't be the same for Sailfish.

No it makes sense to keep a discrete OH that's purely about storage, some folks may be interested in extra storage but may not be interested in a full-size PC keyboard, or vice-versa.
It'll be clunky, as it'll interface with the main half via the phone's external USB2 or (possibly) Wifi, but if there's enough demand hopefully someone will devise something mildly elegant/practical.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

If SPI would be preffered for some reason, there could be i2c to SPI bridge. Though I think Arduino has i2c too, so why not to use it.

There could be same kind of OH for Raspberry Pi also.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Half this stuff is so stupid. Why not just make a half that has pure i2c bus and power connections that can be used to plug into other devices like a SD card reader etc.. it just seems so stupid to have a million and one phone backs for something that could easily be achieved with USB OTG. Or in this case i2c OTG.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

And what about camera without HDMI - only xenon flash and good optics (optical zoom)? Feasible or not?

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Rather not, you would have to transfer the viewfinder live picture and the final image over i2c, which is way too slow i guess. OTOH, Pentax was recently announcing a wifi sd card for the K3 which supports tethering including liveview over wifi, so in principle just make an TOH adapter for the K3, write an app and you are there :D Would not match my definition of "pocketable" though.

A bit more serious: the Sony DSC-QX100 and QX10 are cam "modules" for mobiles attached only via wifi, something like this could be possible for the jolla, too. But they are quite bulky.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

What about an "18MP 1/2.3″ Exmor R® CMOS sensor, Sony G Lens with 10x optical zoom, NFC/Wi-Fi® for simple connection with smartphone, 1080/30p HD video recording, compatible with Apple® iOS and Android™ devices”.? Please see http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/18/sony-qx10-review/ Or, if that is not good enough for you, could http://www.dpreview.com/previews/son...shot-dsc-qx100 do. If you fix that accessory camera on Jolla so that it does not cover its standard (wideangle) camera, perhaps you can shoot video while making still pictures with the zoom camera. Or perhaps you could shoot videos both with the add-on camera and with the camera of Jolla phone while listening to a music service over cellular data, with Sports Tracker drawing your route on map. That's real multitasking - perhaps also a suffiently rough testing method for Jolla phones :) All OHs do not need to be D-I-Y or long projects: just go shopping.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

But it's an other half, it can be bulky :) Good camera has to weight something and has its size ;) With WiFi-Direct (guess it's what'll be there) jolla can easily make it to add a decent camera.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

You are right about the fact that you need a bulky camera for the best qualiy of photographing. But what kind of added value is provided by the rigid fixture against the back of Jolla phon? I see the Sony MX camera concept as more flexible: you can detach the camera, put it on tripod and control the camera with your smartphone from a distance.

A good external camera will be bulky, unless you purchase a 41 Mpix PureView license from Nokia, I guess. But such a relatively compact camera is more suitable to be built in a next-generation Jolla phone than in an OH.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

And how would that help if we talk about bandwidth limitations?

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Talk about USB OTG do we know if will have this implemented on the phone?

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

This is exactly what I think.
I was a bit deceived seeing that only I2C would be availlable as it kills most of the "advanced" uses of the other half.
If the only way to transfer enough data is wireless, then it is more interesting to make an independant device: it allows to continue to use the device remotely, doesn't need to change the other half, and works with all phones !
The only benefit of the other half in that case would be to share the power source, but again, if the cost is to lose the wifi connection when using the other half... (there are chances the other half will provide its own network, which is separate from your house/work one).
If some of (HDMI, DSI, CSI, SPI, USB, SATA) was availlable, there would be interest to embed some parts in other half, but with I2C, I can only see the keyboard and bigger batteries other half that make sense.

I had at first the idea of a CANbus other half, to be able to diagnose some controllers (automotive or industrial) using only the phone, but this would need at least an SPI bus running at about 10Mbps. So the only solution I have now is to make a CANbus/wireless gateway, and I don't see anymore why embedding it in a other half, as the wifi allows monitoring the system in a 100 meter range without any wires, and works with any laptop, tablet or mobile device...

I am still waiting for Jolla to see what they will do with the other half, as for me, most of my ideas went away when the I2C only connector was disclosed... Still, the keyboard will be a good one.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

The Eink other half could have one of these on it or the phone itself could have one.
http://www.redferret.net/?p=40456
It opens things up so that you don't have to have the whole other half totally dedicated to a solar panel.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

^I like that for a eInk OH, I wonder if it would be doable with the current I2C/power config...
Still, it looks like this tech is barely past the concept stage, you often hear about things like this, but then they never make it to real products :(

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

I hope so, I have seen some awesome USB OTG devices around the place. Would be awesome to do what some people have done with the nexus 7 and controlled a canon 7D with it. Would love to be able to do timelapses etc from the phone :D

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Canbus on low bandwith should be possible.

Use some lowend CortexMx CPU with Canbus and let that CPU handle incoming canbus packages and forward it to I2C to display log on phone screen. Or wait better just use some USB2CanBus if phone USB support HOST mode...

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Dear sweet lord I hope they've implemented host-mode/OTG for USB...
If they haven't, they really haven't been listening, or learnt from experience.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Yes, it may be possible on I2C, but would be less efficient, as you would have to code the CAN to I2C gateway, and rewrite your application to use it....
On SPI, you simply have to plug a < 10€ board with for example a MCP2515 CAN driver and a MCP2551 CAN transceiver. Then activate the driver already availlable in the kernel tree, and finally use existing app that are already written using the SocketCAN interface. It can't be made simpler.
About USB to CAN devices, it is another way to do it, but cost a lot more. The cheapest we have at work are about 250€. SocketCAN drivers are already availlable for them in the kernel tree. The one you propose is using its custom format, and still cost 120€.

So having to pay a bit more, or to spend time to develop a new solution, I choose to go to a Wifi to CAN gateway, which will cost less than 100€ and will allow wireless monitoring from ANY device (phone, pc, tablet...) and not only Jolla, using TCP packets, so migrating apps from SocketCAN to TCP will be straightforward.

But SPI would have provided a 10€ only solution with almost no work...

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Have you asked this company about making a other half version of their product with embedded battery for the sailfish phone?
http://www.redferret.net/?p=40485
http://www.sensorcon.com/sensordrone/
Skipping the bluetooth part would let it run a lot longer especially if it has an on/off switch on it if all that would travel through an i2c.

Here is there Android apps http://www.sensorcon.com/android/
which we know will run on Sailfish

I've wanted a CO2 sensor for work (some companies won't properly ventilate) and to check my room before and after sleep to make sure I have enough Oxygen while asleep.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

They are in production now and being used by TLC in China.

From the bottom of this page:
http://sunpartnertechnologies.com/mo...obilestablets/

"TCL Communication has been using Wysips® Crystal technology on some of its mobile telephone product lines since summer 2013. For this reason, Sunpartner has launched a production line of Wysips® Crystal components in the town of Rousset, near its headquarters in Aix-en-Provence, France. For the time being, our other partnership agreements with global leaders must remain confidential."

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Look at how thin this is
http://www.arnousedigitaldevices.com...e/products.php
could that work embedded in a other half with Steam OS on it? That way you carry around your steam OS games on it and you plug it into a desktop and it runs a virtual box of Steam OS using the desktop's ram and hardware.
Their youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6RdY...ature=youtu.be

Jolla or Valve could invest in cloud rendering http://render.otoy.com/ in the future so as to make this able to run high graphics demanding games.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Pretty cool, but they will have to rely on partners for all of this kind of stuff (& good luck with that).
The only OH's they'll provide, will be 1-2 of the most boring/predictable/safe ideas, + (hopefully) 1 slightly more innovative/novel OH.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Also related gameklip

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Picture this.
Steam controller with gameklip on sailfish phone playing dota 2 using cloud render

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Here is another idea. What about a 2 piece (or maybe it is a one piece with a hinge) game controller that you clip over the phone with the end result looking like this.
http://www.redferret.net/?p=39616

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Imagine Sailfish phone other half lets you hook it up to a vidock and play steam games.
That would be awesome.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

DUDE! This is very very possible!

OtherHalf thats goes all around the phone with:
-extra memory for games (gameboy cartridges?!)
-mega giga battery
-cooling of the phone!!!!
-gamepad buttons

I would totally like this :)

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

It would be pretty cool if custom OHs also incorporated pogo connectors. The Nexus 10 has them, and they allow for quick charging when you have a dock with the Magnector built in. Some guy on XDA sells them, but you can mod a Toshiba tablet dock to fit, or build your own.
Pogo connector:
http://i.imgur.com/SQADD.jpg

Magnector cable:
http://magnector.com/wp-content/them...pg&w=978&h=400

Modded dock:
http://s21.postimg.org/tbl8cdtqv/DSC02541.jpg

xda thread

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

The only thing I would need in TOH is a stylus holder.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Other nerdy OH ideas there: https://www.tindie.com/products/category/sensors/ :o

A good capacitive stylus + holder would be cool, I agree, especially if we inherit some apps like EasyDebian and stuff like that. I'd buy one.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

This looks pretty awesome

http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/06/l...case-hands-on/

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Probably this has been mentioned, but if If I2C is too slow in bandwidth for some application that would require USB speeds, then why not let:
1. Other half connect with a tiny cross-over in the phone usb port (then you have the possibility for camera speeds etc in host mode with special driver). It might look a little funny though.
2. Since connection above take away the USB port on the phone, then provide a new USB port on TOH itself to become that regular USB-port that you connect to say computer or whatever.

Does this make sense?
Power-issues, to let the jolla power both ports, I haven't though of. But I guess other half also could provide some of the extra juice needed for the additional USB port by a power source itself.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

A good example where the I2C would allow to drive it directly from the camera app with small changes.

Re: Other Half Feasibility
 

Doing this is possible, but it would requiere a USB-Hub chip in the other half, to provide 2 ports : one for connecting to the other half device, and the second one to recover the phone port.
However, doing so, I think the phone can only be in host mode, not in device (so you couldn't connect it to a PC). Not sure about this, this as to be checked.

It has to be done carefully, but should be possible. It depends on how the internal power system is done in the Jolla (not info on this yet), and what you want to do through this port: charging the phone, powering an external device, ...