Look up dual-pixel technology on canon DSLR. Sony and Fujifilm uses it on their system-camera's too. (See Fuji X-T2 or Sony A7 for example). Pretty neat technique placing phase-detect pixels on the sensor.
If you look at the 5000$ Sony A9 it is comparablr to the most advanced DSLR separate PD-AF systems.

That said, contrast detect have come a long way too. Optimisations and improvements to the algorithm made it significantly faster than it used to be.

Holy moly, I wasn't in this thread for a while...

Well Chen I have to say i'm totally flashed.

When I read the initial post, I thought, wow that's great news. If it gets Sailfish and open boot loader, I will definitely get one.

Now I entered this thread again and had to read, that the device is getting a 5.5" screen.

I have to say I was shocked reading that. But after working me through the whole thread, seeing this very very very nice teaser pics (I expected a real monster not such a sleek and beautiful design ) and reading specs, I 've overcome the shock and you can count me definitely in, with at least one device.

Of course I'll also try to convince my GF having a sleek 5.5" device with a proper keyboard. So maybe I will order two...

One question, is there already a raw production schedule?

Regarding the sleekness; is it not too much of a good thing?
I would not mind a hefty device if it packs a bigger battery...

Yeah...

A friend got a new laptop from work. Made by one famous fruit company. It is about 0.05 mm thick and looks very sleek. BUT - open it and... a tiny keyboard, almost lost in the middle of a vast empty space. No function keys. The whole thing weighs like a bag of bricks which, combined with its thinness, means that it cuts into your hand when you carry it. He hates it with all his heart.

Sleek but next to unusable

Yes sirs I am aware of the importance the key depth and battery size.

I know that people interested in this device wouldn't care much about the overall thickness anyway.

And adding thickness can have various benefits, adding battery, protection (maybe a rugged shell) etc. But I want to control it to a level that it doesn't be so bulky and feel stupid.

We already have 3500mAh here and the thickness will be controlled below the N950's

IMHO because if its size, making it thicker than that will feel chunky and like a brick, which is opposite to "Lauta"'s beautiful spirit

that's the current behaviour on Linux desktop.

Capital Ç is done either :
- with caps lock,
- dead ' then C
- compose then "," then C

(and digraphs are done with compose + individual letters. i.e.: œ is compose, o, e)

Regarding grid vs. offset : I might prefere offset slightly out of habbit, but grid would still be okay.

Build quality is what would be critical for me.

To be honest in my opinion for those "thumb" keyboards it doesn't make a difference for grid or offset, it feels the same. Maybe because I'm not a Latin-based native speaker. I actually prefer grid because it looks nicer and in order.

But my IGG supporters seem to be 100% prefer the offset layout (Maybe from Moto's previous experience?) rather than grid.

I'm wondering does that make a real difference?

Building quality will be controlled as the same industrial standard for other brands in the factory.

I had to look this up - to save people the effort, the N950 was 14mm thick (according to our wiki).

I think my preference goes for grid keyboard like Chen, but because I believe I'm just more efficient and more comfortable at typing blindly with my thumbs than on an offset keyboard. It just feels more natural for me when thumb-typing. Not sure if it's because of long experience with the N900 or because the design is actually more adapted, but using thumbs on an offset keyboard always felt awkward to me. The unnecessary complicated layout made muscle memory trickier, and tactile-feedback was sometimes insufficient to know where my thumbs were when moving them on the keypad (but again, maybe due to less experience).

Originally Posted by DrYak

that's the current behaviour on Linux desktop.

Capital Ç is done either :
- with caps lock,
- dead ' then C
- compose then "," then C

(and digraphs are done with compose + individual letters. i.e.: œ is compose, o, e)

Ha, I'm using it every day and I did not even know I could type ç with a dead key with the default layout. I am using Alt Gr + , and it gives me ç (or Ç if I press Shift simultaneously). I'm using deadkeys for every other accented characters, and æ is already on Alt Gr + z, and œ on Alt Gr + k (shift works as well for capital letters), but I may have customized those Alt Gr combinations myself, I don't remember. But that's the point: flexibility on key combinations/dead keys just like on desktop could make most users happy.

The current estimation based on structural design is around 12mm thick. And we have some room of change.