Bluetooth connected Gamepad for Android Phones By: Adam Chodaba Technical Description

The product will be a device that attaches to the back of the phone. When the user wants to play games on his with actual buttons as opposed to a touch screen, the user can slide out the gamepad on the left and right side of the phone (In landscape orientation). The device will have a Bluetooth connection to connect to the phone and will also contain its own battery. On the right side it will have 4 round buttons, a shoulder button, and an analog “nub” stick for a slim profile. On the left side it will have a directional pad along with a shoulder button and an analog “nub” stick. It will also have start and back buttons. The buttons will be recessed to maintain a slim profile. The device will charged with an included micro USB cable.

-Responsive

-Thin

-Lightweight

-Easy to manufacture

-Abides by safety and FCC regulations

Designer: Adam Chodaba and the rest of the Team

Requirements: -Suitable for a senior design project

-Practical cost and time to complete

-Profitable

Skills Required

In depth knowledge of Bluetooth hardware and possibly Android development knowledge or experience would most likely be useful in contributing to the project.

The project concept is very simple which lets the team focus on the implementation. This should make sure that the time requirement for completion is appropriate for a two semester senior design project. Most of the time will probably be spent on choosing the components for and building the circuitry. The cost of the project will most likely be in the cost of the hardware such as the various sensors, buttons, battery and Bluetooth transmitter.

Many people still play older games on emulators for systems such as the SNES and while these games can be played on current smartphones such as Android phones, they are difficult to play using a touchscreen. Those games were meant to be played with physical hardware buttons which have better accuracy and responsiveness. Mobile games are becoming much more popular and with many people still playing some older games there should be a demand for a convenient input method with physical buttons for mobile phones such as Android phones.

The market for people who want to play older game titles from previous generations of consoles could be considered niche market. This could cause sales to be much less than expected. The variability in screen size of Android phones and their various different shapes and contours on the back of the phone will make designing a product that is physically compatible with a wide range of Android phones difficult.

It is possible that any extra space inside the casing can be used to hold an increased battery so that the device not only is able to power itself, but also act as a backup extended battery for the phone. This would add a valuable feature to the product but would also increase the cost by a considerable amount.

Potential threats to the product are that it possible that the product will not be able to match the quality of other similar products for the same price, or that it will not be able to match the same price with a competing product of similar quality. Other very big threats that can occur are difficulties arising with the reliability and responsiveness that would make the product less appealing to the intended users. This might include issues such as disconnection or buttons that wear out and become unresponsive.

The impact as a commercial product is that it will bring a practically designed controller as an affordable price point to consumers who want to play emulated games on theirs android phones.