Summary

  • Bringing back sliding keyboards to smartphones is possible with inexpensive hardware modding projects.
  • The sliding keyboard mod for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ resembles old Motorola DROID phones.
  • The DIY project provides a mini laptop experience by connecting the keyboard and trackpad in DeX mode.

Phones with physical keyboards are mostly a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean everyone is happy about it. An industrious hardware modder took matters into their own hands and added a sliding keyboard to a Samsung Galaxy Note 10+.

How is this possible? Well, it’s not as difficult (or expensive) as you might think. The whole project, designed by Reddit user AdmiralSym, was made possible with a keyboard and trackpad harvested from a Bluetooth TV remote that costs less than $30 from Amazon.

Since the remote uses Bluetooth, there’s no wiring, soldering, or programming required to get it up and running. The keyboard and trackpad simply connect to the phone wirelessly like any other accessory you might use. The most complicated part of the process was modeling a custom case with a keyboard enclosure and a sliding mechanism.

Two sliding keyboard phones side by side

Related

I Miss Sliding Keyboard Phones More Than I Ever Expected

Back in the day, sliding open a keyboard was practical, satisfying, and just plain cool. Nowadays, physical keyboards have all but vanished, sacrificed in the name of thinner designs and bigger slab screens. I will take a moment to appreciate what made sliding keyboard phones special.

The final product is something that looks extremely similar to the original Motorola DROID and DROID 2. However, while those phones featured sub-4-inch displays (which were considered large at the time), the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ has a much roomier 6.8-inch display. It’s more like a mini laptop than a smartphone at this point.

And that’s exactly how AdmiralSym showed it off. The keyboard and trackpad were designed to work with the Galaxy Note 10+ in DeX mode, which is essentially a traditional PC desktop-like experience. Simply slide up the phone, and you’ve got a nearly 7-inch desktop with a full keyboard and trackpad. Pretty cool.

This is not the first attempt to bring physical keyboards back to present-day phones. In fact, Samsung itself dabbled with the idea of a physical keyboard that could snap onto the bottom of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8. The concept never really took off, so Samsung didn’t continue with it.

More recently, a company called “Clicks” launched a physical keyboard case for the iPhone. Rather than snapping on top of the screen or sliding out from behind the phone, the keyboard lives below the screen full-time like an old BlackBerry phone.

Last month, Clicks announced keyboards for a handful of Android devices as well. Currently, the brands include Google Pixel, Motorola Razr+, and Samsung Galaxy devices. Specifically, the keyboard is available for the Galaxy S25 series, the Google Pixel 9 and 9 Pro, and the Motorola Razr+ 2024.

Clicks Case Pixel

Related

Clicks is Making Physical Keyboards for Android Phones

Some people feel nostalgic about those old BlackBerry phones that featured, among other things, physical keyboards. If you miss that feel, Clicks cases have been a good choice for iPhone users, and now they’re coming for some Android phones as well.

If you’re interested in the DIY approach, AdmiralSym made the 3D print files available to download for free. However, it is specific to the Galaxy Note 10+, so if you have a different phone in mind, you’ll need to do some editing of the model. It’s a nifty project with a cool end result.

Source: Liliputing