New swappable QWERTY keypad tile with predictive algorithm officially unveiled for Sidephone's premium SP-01 phone
Sidephone has officially unveiled a new compact QWERTY Keypad tile with classic predictive typing for its debut phone SP-01, making it work with the device’s modular, distraction‑lite hardware. The same tile was previously spotted in a promo email - you can read more about that here.
The compact QWERTY Keypad is a 5×5 grid of physical buttons designed to deliver a QWERTY‑style typing feel in the same small footprint as Sidephone’s existing tiles. Each key has letters, numbers, and symbols, with dedicated rows for navigation, space, backspace, and call controls, and the tile attaches to the Sidephone frame via the familiar pogo‑pin connector used on earlier keypads.
Powering the keypad is a new predictive typing engine that behaves more like an evolved T9 system than a traditional full keyboard. As users press keys, the software surfaces word suggestions that try to disambiguate which letter combinations were intended. This is intended to make the dense 5×5 layout viable without shrinking keys to Blackberry‑style sizes.
Sidephone had already committed to multiple keypad options, starting with a T9 tile for early SP‑01 units and an iPod‑inspired Sundial media keypad (sold separately) for music and basic navigation. The compact QWERTY joins that line‑up as a more text‑heavy option. This gives users who write longer messages or emails a path that sits between the T9 layout and using the on‑screen keyboard on the 2.8‑inch display, which could be problematic.
According to the new post, the first compact QWERTY variant will ship in English (US) for US$29, with other language layouts (such as AZERTY or QWERTZ) dependent on demand and minimum order quantities being met. The team plans to show a working demo of the keypad and its predictive algorithm at CES 2026.
Sidephone’s founders edition phones are still tracking for January 2026 shipments, bundled with the original T9 keypad and the Sundial media tile for early backers. The company is now targeting March 2026 for the compact QWERTY’s first production run, with the tile sold separately and slotted into the existing modular bay shown in the latest renders.
Like the rest of the ecosystem, the keypad is meant to be user‑swappable and software‑remappable: any button can be reassigned to launch apps or trigger functions through Sidephone’s keymapping interface, which was demoed earlier this year. That means the compact QWERTY could double as a shortcut pad for users who still prefer T9 typing but want a denser grid of customizable hardware controls.
