Review: The Minimal Phone wants you to hate phones, and it works
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There is also this "Fairberry" project that is basically building the same thing but with a blackberry keyboard that I have had saved for years now I just don't really feel confident with being able to put it together myself and also don't have access to a 3d printer to make the case part or the skills to modify it for my phone.
I have wanted to look into getting someone to make it for me but when the cost of materials and then paying someone to construct it is going to start costing a similar amount to what I paid for the phone it becomes harder to justify.
I have seen it before! Also not confident enough for it haha
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Wild popularity? BlackBerry had the entire physical keyboard mobile market to itself and still failed catastrophically. Its only successful period was prior to the existence of the iPhone. As soon as that was on the market, with its touchscreen keyboard, BlackBerry sank like a brick. What does that say about the popularity of the physical keyboard? Its last release was nearly 8 years ago at this point - it's a dead, irrelevant brand and its major selling point, the physical keyboard, is an extreme niche in today's market.
I mentioned the brand as an example of the feature's popularity. People stopped buying them because they stopped being made, not the other way around. Like other physical controls on cellphones disappearing, I suspect it's a reflection of the cost to produce rather than any technical benefit or a statement of what people want. That's why so many people still use their decades-old phones today.
