Samsung Galaxy Z Flip becomes mini sliding phone with BlackBerry physical keyboard in ambitious DIY project
Marcin Plaza, who recently achieved significant fame for his Lenovo Yoga laptop build in which he replaced the keyboard with a mechanical keyboard after it repeatedly broke, has returned with another DIY tech salvage operation. Instead of a laptop, though, Plaza's latest project features a broken Galaxy Z Flip 5 that he strips down and turns into a modern sliding phone with a BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard housed in a custom CNC-milled aluminium bottom case.
Plaza's project aims to revive a damaged Z Flip 5 and eliminate its most significant weakness — the fragile internal display. Despite launching over two years ago, a renewed Z Flip 5 still costs $360 on Amazon, so Plaza purchased damaged smartphones for his project.
Galaxy Z Flip 5 turned slide phone
Citing the fact that "innovation is sad" Plaza decided to redesign the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 into what is effectively an Android-powered BlackBerry Torch. Plaza starts by tearing down the broken Z Flip 6 and testing which components he can get away with removing from the device "before it cries." Ultimately, he decides to strip away a number of non-essential components and some grander omissions, like the 5G antenna. He then goes on to model a new housing for all the hardware that was originally housed in the bottom casing, which would eventually go on to be CNC milled out of aluminium after several prototypes were 3D printed for testing purposes.
The new case and additional circuitry were designed to adapt an old BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard — which is powered by a custom-programmed Arduino Pro Micro that emulates a USB keyboard — and the case features a rudimentary, but effective, parallel opening design that neatly hides the keyboard under the screen when not in use. Plaza makes use of Samsung's much-loved Good Lock app and its MultiStar module to enable opening all apps on the small front screen that would now be the modded Z Flip 5's only screen. While Plaza uses much of the original hardware from the Z Flip 5, including the original flex cable that joined the motherboard and the display, he also added functionality to the smartphone, like the MagSafe wireless charging magnet ring that now occupies part of the bottom half of the phone.
Plaza's DIY Galaxy Z Flip isn't intended for replication, so the modder hasn't made the files or a build guide available (at least not yet), but you can follow along in the YouTube video embedded below.
