There are several blackberry keyboard projects out there. I've been on a similar journey to OP for a while. Currently I've got a phone I'm fiddling with putting a jetson xavier inside a rotary phone and another based off the featherwing with a blackberry keyboard and touch display and a feather compatible linux SOC (GiantBoard).

I recently got a ClockworkPi DevTerm and have been so pleased with it that I'm seriously considering their GameShell as a phone platform. It's modularity is great.

I'm so excited that other people are working on DIY "phones". I personally think we are going to see this scene keep growing and phones will finally be more like the custom computer market very soon. The fact that people are finally putting linux on apple devices is also very very encouraging. There are so many bricked iphones and ipads floating around with great displays and sensors that are totally useless because we can't run a reasonable OS.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/4818

https://www.crowdsupply.com/groboards/giant-board

https://www.clockworkpi.com/product-page/devterm-kit-a06-ser...

This device with both large screen and physical keyboard is still smaller than every Android device available currently on the market.

The Nokia N900 was the perfect form factor with Linux already running on it. Too bad the Neo900 stalled :(

The N900 was everything I ever wanted. :(

Same. I'd go back to it in an instant if it had a 4G network connection.

The parts are available:

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=S...

https://www.aliexpress.com/premium/blackberry-q10.html?d=y&o...

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002813523676.html?spm=a2...

Arturo has done alot already:

https://twitter.com/arturo182

The keyboard is analysed:

https://github.com/arturo182/BBQ10KBD

A machine has been designed, but it does not have the goal of fitting inside the cases linked to above - it's on a bare board:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr3DtQQuUfI

It's available as a product including source code and design files - again, not designed to fit into the cases above.

https://www.tindie.com/products/arturo182/keyboard-featherwi...

Revision 2:

https://www.solder.party/docs/keyboard-featherwing/rev2/

And the Blackberry keyboard standalone:

https://www.solder.party/docs/bbq20kbd/

Design files:

https://github.com/solderparty/keyboard_featherwing_hw

Source code:

https://github.com/solderparty/bbq10kbd_i2c_sw

All that is left is for someone to do the same, with the aim of fitting into the cases listed above.

The connector is extremely hard to solder. They are over $1 each and so far I have destroyed 7 already.

I have tried via hot air, heated plate to hand soldering with the iron. The hot air will melt the connector so that won't work unless you heat from the bottom the the PCB. Hand soldering is also almost impossible because you can't really get to the pins and if you just slightly touch the plastic it will melt immediately. I also could not get it to work with solder paste and a hot plate. The pins are so small they don't want to adhere to the PCB. I may need to get gold plates pcbs and a stencil to place the exact amount of paste I need to get this to work. A QFN package is easy to solder in comparison.

You almost definitely would benefit from getting a stencil. Instead of a hot plate you could do a toaster oven. I got an "air frier" convection toaster oven at walmart for $50 open box. It's perfect for reflow. Also take one that you've already ruined and test the melt temp on the plastic them put a thermocouple probe on the plastic.

Is there any particular reason you can't use the featherwing package that adafruit sells? I've seen a few other folks on tindie selling other board and screen combos but personally, for my money, the feather format is pretty good for almost anything I could want to do in this form factor.

Isn't the connector meant to go into a socket?

Sorry, I mean the socket.

Yes please! I miss real buttons and the tiny blackberry form factor so much

I do too, but I really don't miss the tiny, non-tactile screen. A modern Linux smartphone with the form factor of the Nokia E90 Communicator or the N900 would make me ecstatic, though.