So, I started doing one of these the cheap-o way but got distracted by other things.
This is what I thought of, more or less. I really suck at designing and 3D printing, though so don't ask me for a mockup besides what I can do with Photoshop
1. Out the middle frame, and take the battery out of the main chassis.
2. Use an adapter board to route the pogo pins and the battery terminals to the keyboard case, and put the battery in there
3. Since the flashlight is soldered to the main PCB there's no way of moving the back camera to the case, so I would leave that section covered by a new (thinner) middle frame and let the slider keyboard begin from below the camera, instead of covering _all_ of the backside of the phone (imagine the droid Razr Maxx (https://fdn2.gsmarena.com/vv/pics/motoro...maxx-1.jpg), but the moving parts would be just below the camera
By moving the battery you make both halves thinner, so the perception will be that it is less bulky. Furthermore, you will correctly balance the weight, so the screen doesn't fall to one side if it's open laying on a table.
For the keyboard distribution, I think it might be more important to use propper materials than the actual layout. I had an N900 and a Droid 4. Droid 4's layout was perfect and allowed for really fast typing (https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZwKkLeOu...re-555.jpg), but the quality of the N900's keys was really superior, and my typing was actually faster in it that with the Droid because of it
In the end, users get used to the layout you decide, but if the keys have too much grip because they're really cheap rubber (like the Rii Mini keyboard and things like that), you will never be able to type as fast because your fingers can't smoothly slide through the keys like you would do with a real keyboard
Just my two cents
This is what I thought of, more or less. I really suck at designing and 3D printing, though so don't ask me for a mockup besides what I can do with Photoshop
1. Out the middle frame, and take the battery out of the main chassis.
2. Use an adapter board to route the pogo pins and the battery terminals to the keyboard case, and put the battery in there
3. Since the flashlight is soldered to the main PCB there's no way of moving the back camera to the case, so I would leave that section covered by a new (thinner) middle frame and let the slider keyboard begin from below the camera, instead of covering _all_ of the backside of the phone (imagine the droid Razr Maxx (https://fdn2.gsmarena.com/vv/pics/motoro...maxx-1.jpg), but the moving parts would be just below the camera
By moving the battery you make both halves thinner, so the perception will be that it is less bulky. Furthermore, you will correctly balance the weight, so the screen doesn't fall to one side if it's open laying on a table.
For the keyboard distribution, I think it might be more important to use propper materials than the actual layout. I had an N900 and a Droid 4. Droid 4's layout was perfect and allowed for really fast typing (https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZwKkLeOu...re-555.jpg), but the quality of the N900's keys was really superior, and my typing was actually faster in it that with the Droid because of it
In the end, users get used to the layout you decide, but if the keys have too much grip because they're really cheap rubber (like the Rii Mini keyboard and things like that), you will never be able to type as fast because your fingers can't smoothly slide through the keys like you would do with a real keyboard
Just my two cents
