Modder turns Samsung Galaxy Flip into a sliding mini-phone with a physical keyboard

Modder Marcin Plaza, known for his recent project with a mechanical keyboard for the Lenovo Yoga laptop, is back with a new idea. This time, he turned a Samsung Galaxy Flip smartphone into a retro slider with a hardware keyboard and a small screen. The project not only saved the “dead” Galaxy Flip5but also solved one of the main problems of this phone — the fragile internal display.

So, Marcin Plaza took a damaged Galaxy Flip5, completely disassembled it, and turned it into a modern slider with a BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard built into a specially CNC-machined aluminum bottom case.

The goal of the project was twofold: to restore the broken Galaxy Flip5 and to get rid of the most vulnerable element of this smartphone — the internal flexible screen. Although more than two years have passed since the model’s launch, a refurbished Galaxy Flip5 still costs $360 on Amazon. So Plaza specifically purchased damaged devices to use for their project.

In fact, the moderator created an Android version of the BlackBerry Torch. The work began with a complete disassembly of the broken Galaxy Flip5 and testing which components could be safely removed to keep the phone working. As a result, he abandoned a number of minor parts, including the 5G antenna module.

Plaza then designed a new case for the hardware components that were previously located at the bottom of the smartphone. Before milling the aluminum case on a CNC machine, he printed several plastic prototypes on a 3D printer to test the design.

He integrated a keyboard from an old BlackBerry into the case. It works through an Arduino Pro Micro microcontroller specially reprogrammed to emulate a USB keyboard. The design of the case has a simple but effective parallel sliding mechanism, thanks to which the keyboard neatly hides under the screen when not needed.

To make the modified smartphone suitable for everyday use, Plaza used the Samsung Good Lock app and the MultiStar module. This made it possible to run all applications on the small external screen, which has now become the only display on the device. At the same time, the original Galaxy Flip5 details have been retained, such as the flexible cable connecting the motherboard to the display. But there were also innovations: in the lower half of the case, Plaza added a MagSafe magnetic ring for wireless charging.

However, this DIY smartphone was not intended to be a mass-produced product or a ready-made instruction for replication. Plaza has not posted any files or assembly guides (at least not yet). But the whole process can be seen in his YouTube video, which he posted along with the finished result.

Source: notebookcheck