Even if it wasn't free, this is the correct way to market something on reddit before us, and now Lemmy. Upvote for acceptable post.
this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2023
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Android
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I've been posting this on a few places over the last 1.5 years. Basically where ever I currently am when the thought crosses my mind ;)
I posted it on Beehaw a few weeks ago.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/iDb8_ld9gOQ
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
The Onscreen keyboard still being visible would bother me so bad
It doesn't have to be. I actually use a custom onscreen keyboard that just shows special characters that aren't on the keyboard.
But you can just as easily tell the phone to hide the onscreen keyboard if the physical one is attached. Just a checkbox that needs to be toggled.
What software is driving that custom on screen keyboard? I think it's brilliant!
It's called Gr8ly. It's not perfect, but it does the job.
I really wish it was possible to hide the bottom row of the custom keyboard, since it serves no purpouse in my use case.
That is amazing. I miss the tactility of real life keys and less mistakes made with them compared to onscreen keys.
I don't know why but my brain decided to bookmark this comment. I like the cutnod your jib and I wish in this moment lemmy had the KBin feature of upvotes AND boosts
Yeah, back in the day when you could actually still buy phones with keyboards.
Did you wake up from a coma from the 2000s and are trying to bring back Blackberry phones and PDAs? If so, I am all for it.
AlmostΛΛ My Droid 4 died in 2016 and that sent me on a ~6 year quest to design a decent keyboard attachment for my phone.
Awesome project, very retro cool!
I don't have any questions, just wanted to say this is cool.
Makes me miss my PRIV!
Iβm pretty sure my first android phone was the Droid and it had a physical keyboard underneath the screen, which slid out to reveal the keyboard. Since on-screen keyboard was also an option, the only time I used the physical keyboard was when I remembered it was an option that I never used.
That may have been different if keyboard shortcuts worked on it. (I donβt know if they did or not, but if they did I didnβt know about it back then)
I had a HTC G1, the first android phone, it had a slide out keyboard, and it was nice. The mechanism was satisfying to fidget with and it was a full 5 row keyboard with enough space you could comfortably type even in a terminal emulator. The screen was small, and the onscreen keyboard at the time sucked for autocorrect.
I'm glad the track ball, and the chin didn't stick around.
I didn't have a Droid 1, but I heard it's keyboard sucked.
I had an HTC Universal, with a keyboard that was so huge that it effectively masked how bad the keys themselves were.
I then had a Droid 3, which was much better and then a Droid 4 which was the sweet spot. I had Linux in a chroot (still do), and it was an almost desktop-like experience with the 5-row keyboard and the touchscreen acting as a trackpad. It was really good.
I tried making different side-sliding attachments, but these are always chunky, center of balance is always terrible and you need to use Bluetooth, which also sucks.
So I ended up sticking a Blackberry keyboard to my phone. I still wish I had a landscape keyboard, but this is the best I could come up with so far.
Pretty neat, I likey π. Looks impressively slim too, especially being a DIY thing
This looks really cool. Would you be open to selling a fully functional unit?
No, sadly not. Weirdly enough, it's a mental load thing. But I'd be very happy if anyone wants to make and sell these. No problem with someone else making a profit off that project.
I've been wishing for such a thing for a long time. That looks great!
Thanks!
This is awesome!
I'm not even a fan of physical keys but i really want to buy it
I'm not selling these, due to patent issues, supply issues and a rather awkward amount of people who would want to buy them. I've had ~100 people asking for one. If it was ~5 or so, I could just make them and give them away either at cost or for free. The amount of work and money is small enough, and support/warranty is not an issue.
If it was >20k people, I could get a production partner that would do the production for me, I could hire support staff and so on.
But with ~100 units, that's by far not enough to hire anyone, but it's still enough that I would have to deal with returns/warranty/support and that it's too much for me to actually do it on my own next to my real job.
But the design is free and open source, so if anyone wants to make them (even commercially), I'd be more than happy.
οΏΌIβd love to see that for an iPhone.
It is actually iPhone (theoretically) iPhone compatible. Just hasn't been tested.
You just need a Lightning OTG connector instead of the USB C OTG one, and you need to adjust the case to fit the iPhone.
Thatβs super cool.
Thanks!
What emoji did you use here? Can't see it on my Android βΉοΈ
I didnβt use any emoji, but I will now: :-)
I had an idea for a similar product, just didn't have the time to get the right people to make it :p Really cool, and I didn't think of using an actual replacement keyboard.
The replacement keyboard removes like 90% of the headache and the minimum order quantity.
If you want to go and make it, I'd be more than happy. I'd even be happy for someone making them and selling them, as long as my repo is mentioned somewhere.
Indeed. Tho there probably aren't too many left in stock to make a larger-scale product, unless there's a full warehouse of them from when BB started losing to touchscreen devices.
There are actually surprisingly many of these still around, considering that the Blackberry Q10 came out 10 years ago.
But yeah, to sell >1000 or so of them, there's probably not enough supply.
it's an interesting concept but are physical keys better/more responsive than the software/digital keyboard?
It's a real keypad from a BB device, so I'm pretty positive they are.
Oh yes! :)
Much better. I use the software keyboard when I want to type quietly or when the phone needs to charge and it's always a major main, compared to the physical keyboard.
I can type on the physical keyboard while walking and not looking at it, without making mistakes. While right now I struggle (on the software keyboard) to output anything resembling correct Englisch while lieing in my bed and looking at the phone.
Damn, I'm gonna look more like a dork than I already do
That's pretty cool, how difficult do you think it would be for someone with no prior experience in soldering to pull it off?
If you watch some soldering tutorials (specifically for QFN packages, they have the same pin spacing). But what would make it much easier is if you find a local maker space. They are usually willing and able to help with stuff like that. Alternatively, you can get any laptop repair shop to do it for you. They can do that pretty easily and it won't cost much.
Thanks for the tips!
Any time! If you need help, just ask me!
what us you're opinion on custom ROMs
We've finally done it, we've come full circle back to Blackberry phones.
If Blackberry doesn't make phones any more, the community will have to fill that void.
You've made me realize I miss my HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1. Loved that form factor, and would love a modern redesign.
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