- cross-posted to:
- android@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- android@lemmy.ml
It’s all free (if you make it yourself) and open source.
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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.
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.
Yeah, back in the day when you could actually still buy phones with keyboards.
I’d 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.
That’s super cool.
Thanks!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
