Another positive article @t3n german it-professionals magazine from yesterday.

Our Model Design has almost finished. This is the structure of our final device.

Start from next week we will start hand making those components, and work with Motorola for that PCB connects with the phone (This has to be licenced by them)

You may think this is just a sliding keyboard but it's a lot complicated than we thought, for the structure. Plus we have a hinge and includes a battery. It's the same work as building a slider phone...

I hope the above pic can explain why the upfront cost is so high. I expect it to be quite a lot but it is still beyond my expectations.

However, the good part is, now I'm much more confident of building an all in one slider phone, and a much better understand of the cost.

Just to share some real pictures from 3D model

Start from next week we will hand build the components.





Note 1: Key Travel
Note 2: The additional charging Type C connector on the side

Websites that reported this campaign, in few few google pages. Thank you for all who helped reaching media! I am trying to approach more!

The 10 finalists for the Moto competition were announced, not surprisingly, Chen's was chosen. Also, I see that your idea for the keyboard has the most money raised out of any mod.

https://www.indiegogo.com/campaign_c...one-challenge?

Between the Moto Z with your Mod and the Sony with Sailfish, it looks like things are looking up for once with regard to alternative devices.

Any news about Sailfish port to Moto Z ???

Ah, you are on TMO also, missed that...

I would LOVE it if you would actually pull it off, really! I just have my doubts about asking money on IGG while showing up with only renders. (Usually this is at #1 on the red-flag check list.)

Having renders and 1 salvaged hinge from a galagy s3 bluetooth keyboard does not inspire confidence. I used the same hinge in tohkbd1 and having a flatflexcable between the parts that will have any lifetime is impossible. This is a big concern for me and just showing a picture of a hinge lying on a table does not resolve it.

The required parts you need from moto are really pricey, the obligatory microcontroller that does the pairing is 4E+ (in large quantities) to start with. Let alone the connectors, reset monitors magnets etc. Having a reeeeaaaaally competive price-point while having no proto - which means you have no BOM - will induce a really large risk you will not be able to deliver because the funding will not cover BOM, R&D, wages, molding/tooling. #2 on red-flag check list.

Again, it would be really cool if you succeed! It would really be impressive! But show a working prototype. No problem if it is a mockup on one side and working keyboard with dev-package casing. I would hate for the project to fail and leave hundreds of people angry because it will ruin the -at this point already- miniscule market for smartphones that are not completely boring.

Make and show a working proto before you take peoples money. Don't think that is a lot to ask for. Prove me wrong and I will join your volunteer marketing army.

chenliangchen, afaik moto z doesn't have a jack port. Does your "other half" feature one?

And there's no working port of SFOS for Moto Z yet, is it?