Play along - create a PinePhone keyboard

[Djhg2000]

Hey guys.
I'm Andrey, the designer behind The Other Half Keyboard for Jolla Phone back in the days we've created together with Dirk van Leersum and Kimmo Lindholm.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/27500387...Smartphone




I've invested quite a lot of time in the search for a perfect pro-user layout so if you would like to use it or play along - feel free to contact me. There are a bunch of different layouts ready, including Russian, Finnish, Hindu and so on. Also I'm still in touch with the manufacturer of the key plate so I guess it would be possible to make a batch (even though I think it will require some adjustments to the silicone base since it wont be fit to the domes you'd use).

Cheers!

I really like how this is like an old style laptop keyboard without gaps between the keys. The curved keys are a nice compromise to still make them distinct to the touch at these sizes.

There is one thing I'd like to add though; since it might be desirable to use legacy X11 applications on a PinePhone (unlike on a Jolla Phone) I'd suggest adding a touchpad function similar to that of the PlayStation 3 Wireless Keypad:

This was the most descriptive video of it I could find so I guess it wasn't that useful on a gaming console.

I noticed the < and > arrow keys don't have any Fn key symbols and the same for Enter/Backspace, so that's where I'd place the left/right click buttons for the touch pad (which one you use depends on if you're left or right handed). Touchpad mode would have to be toggled by a keyboard combination like Fn+Ctrl which would enable quick toggling on the left side.

The touch pad likely doesn't need to be the full size of the keyboard either but I guess that comes down to what's convenient for production.

The most important thing here is that it doesn't change the physical shape or connection requirements of the keyboard. I does bring up the cost and it's no likely to be terribly accurate without the tweaking resources of someone like Sony, but it should be able to do the job.

Another option would be to add a small trackball like on those early HTC Android phones (I had a Magic and the trackball was fantastic) but then we'd need to find space for it, or to have an actual touchpad on the rear like the PS Vita had. In those cases we could probably add dedicated buttons for the mouse clicks but I feel like that's going pretty far from the elegance of the pictured keyboard design.