Another wish(tablet) for the team to think about

General Topics
1

Hi, i have another wish for the Framework team to think about, or any other company (because the raspad seems to be dead, i don’t see any signs of life from them and also the forum seems to be long ago locked), i have bought a pi-top laptop which is near e-waste, but the idea is good.

And recently i bought a raspad 3, so much well done, it is more useful, but again it has some things that could be done better. For example, the speakers are on the back, what a useless lazy design, it has near 2cm frame, and in an age where a 5mm phone has speakers, they put it on the back.

What i have in mind is a tablet, oriented to the DIY world, and also to be useful for a more general purpose use, like using it like a tablet, as i have seen it is possible to connect an sbc so that the board manages all the rest, the raspad just needs video, lan and one usb from the sbc and has a display, touch, 3 usb, volume (not completely integrated but…) and brignes.

A HDMI and usb-c video input will also be great, so it can be used as a monitor.

The changing port must to be usb-c at this age, because there is a bigger chance that you already have one and therefore don’t need a new one, and needing just one changer for all your devices is less trouble.

(As an enthusiast from right to repair, i like the idea of having a tablet that can be repaired and upgraded, and as a tinkerer, it will be also nice to have a device that i can not only use to test some projects but also i can use in the day by day like a tablet to watch videos, web search, games, etc)

I like to see more integration with the sbcs or is it the OS?, and i think that if it is more open source oriented (in the software) or has an appy like interface (for usb or/and pcie) for anyone who wants to make his divice compatible. Open at least to a point where it will be doable without the need to pay any fee to meke it work together, it could be not only nice but also can make it wider adopted, what i assume it’s good the manufacturer, and also could make them more popular, who won’t want to have a tablet where you change the motherboard and its fast again and throw the old one on some other project.

Or create a standard that could be integrated in the driver of the operating system, so that any OS will recognize it automatically and work transparently. Like the volume and brightness controlled also from the OS, and other possible buttons like power. Also the battery level and charging status.

It will be nice to have also a headset jack, mic and cameras, which some can be at the front in the frame, and because i like the space around the screen which allows me to hold the device, and think is a more useful intelligent design and the space is needed anyway for some sensors (not like the iland nightmare), and not just having nice to look but annoying useless things. Also in a raspad like tablet, because it is so thick, it has nothing to do with ipad like beauty expensive jullery e-waste

There can also be different flavors, one that has the form-factor for most of the SBCs and one for the CMs, and the communication interface i think usb could be enough but since devices are starting to come with pcie, it could be better also having that way.

Another thing is the price, there could be a budget tablet with crappier accessories (camera, speakers, etc) and another max out for the ones that want a nicer experience, and it occurs to me that there can be some upgrade kits, like more music device oriented speakers, something that you could attach to it or maby change to hole back cover to have a more integrated 2.1 sound system with touch screen like.

It could also have a more advance upgrade option, like adding more sensors by usb or the the ones that has pcie by pcie, there are those cheap pcie multiplier chips for slow things and having the possibility to add some m.2 to add ssd, la, wifi, ai, etc looks to me very interesting

the ventilation is also not well though at all in the raspad, it cooks itself inside, because there is no air circulation, one, there is not enough holes, and 2 the cooling is not thought to avoid recirculation. First you have to hold the device and see what you could block, then put it in the different standing positions, and then say, these are the less possible restricted areas for in and out air.

I think if people are looking for a tablet that is not too expensive(just the initial investment a little), can be repaired and upgraded for a price that will be cheaper than a new one for as long as you can upgrade it. And if also people are willing to pay 600, 800, 1000 and more for a tablet, there is a market for it

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I think the trouble here is the modularity of the mainboard (due to size and manufacturing constraints) and perhaps most of all the screen. I think it would be difficult to make a tablet which is both repairable and sufficiently portable to have real market penetration.

I also think the targeting is somewhat questionable. While I recognize there are legitimate technical uses for tablets, I think the average tablet user is someone for whom a tablet is an appropriate replacement for a full computer. Nothing profound there… but the question is whether this demographic (a) even cares about e-waste; and (b) is sufficiently technically inclined to even want to attempt user-repairs.

I may be stereotyping tablet users here, my apologies if tablet users find that offensive. Was not my intention to offend anybody.

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I dont understand why or how do you mean, there are products like this already, pitop (the model i have is very poor build, the hdmi input is very very piki with the source, not even wanting to display a pc under many other failures it has), raspad (needs more love, it works great comming from a pitop experience, but it feels like someone in the chain was lazy), cutiepi (this one is for the CM, never touched it, is slimmer what is more atractive but the cm4 was to weak for me and there is not jet a cm5).

I believe that if the device gets better, there could be more interest in it, for people who usually tinker with SBCs, for people who care about value and the environment, i mean there are people who care about if you can repair your device, otherwise fremework won’t have a market, and these people like framework because they don’t believe in throwing away something that is perfectly working just because the manufacturer artificially kill it to sell a new one, or because it was damaged and the manufacturer decided that he is not going you to allow repair it, or people who care about privacy and wanna choose the OS.
But i am not talking about a computer replacement, I’m just saying a tablet use, which as i see is internet surfing, watching videos, maybe some recipe while cooking, or some how to repair something, music, watching a movie on a long trip, news, wharever you wanna what and not wanting to go to your computer for it, mail checking, online buying, video chat, playing games, home assistant managing

It just occurs to me that if there is an IR sensor you can finally have a universal remote control again, like in the old times when phones came with IR, for me personally was useful in some occasions when the remote was defect or missing, and i will prefer having one remote to control al my devices including lights and other smart devices or attached to home assistant, and how many other things people will make if you dont put a limit on what and how many sensors you can have on your device, watching air tv, radio, weather, maybe you wana know what the room temp is, or how the air quality is, or humidity, LoRa

The raspad nails it in some things, the connections to make it work are so standard that odo it was made for the raspberry, you can attach an SBC of your choice, and it is so thick that it has 3 positions

What could also be done differently in devices with screens is that the glass doesn’t reach the edges, so that when if falls, the glass doesn’t gets destroyed, because it is not a thing of if it falls, more of when, and broken screens are a big reason of dead devices. Also if the glass is only over the display, it will be easier to add more at the front

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I would buy a Framework tablet with a few requirments:

  1. Screen Assembly is essentially the Chassis
  2. Battery is replaceable
  3. Can use framework Laptop Expansion Cards
  4. Powered by a pluggable module (like the Expansion bay) that contains the processor/GPU/memory. A slim SBC would be nice here connected in with a single connector.
  5. Can be used as an External Monitor without the main module being attached. This is how I would use it 90% of the time.
  6. Screens are the same as what is found in the Framework 13/16 (potentially being able to buy a kit with a touch film that can be placed on the screen).

Problems:

  1. Size/Weight/Portability
  2. Would it be reasonable to pack in with my Framework 16 to use as a mobile monitor?
  3. What keeps the SBC main module from becoming E-waste with a single USB-C format connector?
  4. Battery Life (since I’m requiring the Framework 13/16 screens beusable)
  5. Touch Film (I know a company that does something like this but I have no idea how involved it is or how durable the result is).

I tend to stay away from tablets because of issues with battery life and upgradability (or the OS stops getting updates or the updates are incredibly unstable after a couple years).

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No, im not talking of making a new SBC or CM, what i was thinking is make it in a way that you can choose one of the existing (there are also x86 SBC sice, so there is enough variety), with standard conections, like the ones that already exist, but what i am asking is to make it more compatible, to integrate it into the drivers or make it so open that it will be easy and light for the ones who wanna support it, not so hard that you have to be Wendell or Jeff Geerling to make it work, user friendly to be mas adopted

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If I understand correctly RISC processors have a lower power draw for the same computing power, so I’d prefer something along those lines that was either open or at least available. I agree with the idea of using an available SBC, but without some changes to the base board or a special larger enclosure it might be harder to get those into a pluggable module.

That said. I bought a La Frite (Open Source SBC) a few years back and love it for what little I did with it. It’s too powerful for most things I want to use it for and not powerful enough for me to be a daily driver.

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Do you mean that the final device will be too thick? I don’t mind too much if I am gonna have more flexibility and freedom compared with the known tablet brands that each time take more and more away. That is also why i think it will be nice to have sort of 2 flavors, one that uses an sbc and one with a CM for the ones that need or want something thinner, i admit that if i have to choose, i will go for the CM, but there are not too many options there and they have less and lower specs.

Ideally, there must be only a CM and then attach it to a SBC motherboard but maby is not worth it in such a small device, i don’t know, but i can also imagine that if all SBCs are just motherboards, there will be more flexibility because you will have a CM and then choose which form factor you need, a tablet, nas, laptop (like the MNT Reform), mini pc, robot, tv, car, etc, and in the future upgrade them