Teaching Cannoli Which Screen Is Home

The AYN Thor is an Android handheld with two screens and, out of the box, no opinion about what either of them is for. The upper screen is wide and bright and obviously wants to be where the game happens. The lower screen is smaller, nearly square, and close to the controls. It wants to be a menu. The hardware makes this arrangement feel inevitable. Android does not. Android sees displays, activities, tasks, focus, and a default screen. It can put software on both panels, but it has no idea what the object is trying to become. I wanted the Thor to feel less like two Android windows attached to a controller and more like one game console. The lower screen would be the console's face: systems, games, settings, selection. The upper screen would be the game surface. When no game was running, it would be completely black. While a game was running, the launcher below would dim and stop accepting input. Close the game and control would return to the lower screen. Press Home and the console…