Galaxy Z Flip 5 comes to life as a BlackBerry!

Marcin Plaza, who rose to fame with his Lenovo Yoga laptop rework, replacing a broken keyboard with a mechanical one, is back with a new and very interesting technological solution. This time, he took a damaged Galaxy Z Flip 5 smartphone and transformed it into a modern slider phone with a BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard built into a machined aluminum case.

The project aimed to revive a damaged Z Flip 5 and fix its biggest weakness – the fragile internal screen. Although the phone was launched more than two years ago, a refurbished model still costs around 335 euros on Amazon. Therefore, enthusiast Plaza bought the damaged device for the said project.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 was essentially a reimagined Android version of the BlackBerry Torch. He started by taking the device apart and testing which components he could remove without too much trouble. This included removing the 5G antenna and other less important parts. He then designed a new case that was first 3D printed and then machined from aluminum.

He built an old BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard into the case, powered by a custom Arduino Pro Micro that simulates a USB keyboard. The mechanism allows the keyboard to elegantly hide under the screen. With the help of the Good Lock app and the MultiStar module, he was able to open all apps on the small front screen, which is now the only screen on the device. He also added a MagSafe magnetic ring for wireless charging.

The project is not intended for mass production, so Plaza has not yet released any files or instructions for making it. However, you can watch the entire process in the video below.