What's old is new again, resto-modding the BlackBerry Classic!
Dino, I am incredibly excited to have you chatting with me today as I know so many people are about the project that that you're working on here. But really, I just kind of wanted to give you the opportunity to introduce the project and introduce yourself. I've got a couple of questions that I've seen pop up a lot that I can ask you maybe a little bit later on, but yeah, tell us about this project that you're working on. Tell us
about yourself. Okay, before this project I use Blackberry not only Blackberry the quatties and mobile phones for around 20 years. 20 years. Okay. Yeah. And I think the first quality phone is the Blackberry 7290. I remember that. Oh, okay. In my
high school. Yeah. And then before this project actually for the last couple of years I used the uni mobile like this one the Titan series Titan Pocky Titan slim and I I think they are really good but I for me to be honest I I really like the quicke balls from Blackberry. And that's the main reason I started this project. Oh, okay. Just trying to get that that really really good quarterty experience that the Blackberries seem to be the only ones that can provide it. Is that what I'm see? So I even use the Palm Central. Yeah. No back. Yeah. And the experience
of the keyboard is not so good as Blackberry. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. But their system and integrations with the many apps is really good. Yeah. Have you used Palm mobiles? I never I never did use a Palm device. I used a old long long time ago. I think
it was running a version of Windows OS that was I I can't I'll I'll I'll see if I can find it and I'll put it up on the screen so that people can see. And it had a pretty decent keyboard on it. But that I think was a little bit before I had gotten a Blackberry. And then once I did get a Blackberry, I was like, "Wow, this is this is amazing." I mean, even like I'm I'm not I'm sure you've probably seen these new Clicks keyboard cases that have come out first for iPhone, but I've I've seen that the the Android ones are starting to come out.
This is this is a a really good keyboard, but it's not a Blackberry keyboard. And so, when when I saw this project that you're working on, I just was I I was so excited. And obviously from the Discord server, a lot of people are very excited as well as the the post that you did on Reddit. So I think that you're definitely you're definitely tapping into something here that people feel. Namely, there's nothing like a
BlackBerry keyboard. Okay. Currently, I use a camera from my laptop and I will turn it off or put it back. put it aside and so you guys can see the cameras for demo. So I'm a software engineer on the Android for more than 10 years and we focus on the Android tablet and we are familiar with the chip solutions from all winner and media tech and Qualcomm. Yeah. So I have tried many devices from
other guys which modify bra passport and and the experience is not so good. So I decided to use the Q20 or the key one to start this process. Gotcha. and is I'm guessing it's probably easier to use this existing hardware than finding a manufacturer to just make it all from scratch. Is that is that correct? Why did you decide to use an existing device instead of just creating a whole new one? I think two parts when I started this project because if I started from scratch, I need to spend a lots of money and times to manufacture this you know like the main frame and you need to customize the cameras and screens. It will I think it will take more than more than $200,000 US. Wow. Yeah. So, it's a lot.
Not only money, but also you need to make sure everything is compatible, right? So, Oh yeah. Yeah. It's hard and for keyboard I don't think I can find any better solution than better battery. Mhm. So that's the big problem cuz I love the core battery solution and I don't think we have a better solution for now. Maybe right after these projects get more users and I can get more the financial support then I will start a new project from scratch for keyboard. Yeah. Oh, okay. So if this one is is successful and I know you have mentioned it sounds like you have a couple of maybe backtoback projects regarding I know this one is going to be with the this particular media check MediaTek G99 that will have 4G. So what
what is it that we're looking at here exactly? I can see what looks like the the BlackBerry screen and the BlackBerry keyboard connected to something. Maybe could you walk us through what what this is that that you've got on the table? Okay. So, we have a two adapted balls. One is for the screen because the Q20 screen has a special interface.
So here there's a special interface and for our dev key we don't have this type of interface. So that's why we need to design a ad able. Oh okay. So your dev kits so you actually need to create an adapter so that your dev kit will even work with the Q20 screen. Is that is that that's right? Oh okay. So you can see the two
interface which the one in white is meepi interface which connect to our def wall. So you see the fpc cable here. Mhm. Yeah. It's me interface. It's connect it's it's it's quite popular for de kit. Yeah. And we have some circuit like the to give enough power for Q20 screen. And then we have some conversion
and then we support the Q20 interface with this B. Yeah. So that is cool. Yeah. This this is the one adaptable for screen and also we have a keyboard adapter and which is open source project and it's it works really good and it has two sorry three types of interface one is a I2C and this type which I use now and and there's another port I'm not quite Yeah. So we will use I2C when we design the newer PVB. That makes sense. Then we will use those I2C pins which will connect to the MTK G99 Mhm. pins. Yeah. And the keyboard will
work as a SID keyboard. Oh okay. Now currently is USB keyboard. Yeah. Gotcha. Current. Okay. And but the functionality I'm guessing would be very similar. It's just a different connection type. Yeah, they have lots of different but we we already have a driver supporting kernel level with the I2C interface. So I see
my pins here. I think yeah that one. Yeah. Okay. So cuz the MDK G99 only have one USB port. So we need to use the USB for power. So for for you know um for
charger so we can now use it to support the keyboard. So we will use that. I because I'm I'm I'm totally new to this Zeninoa. So I I apologize if if my questions seem silly. But if you if if the the MediaTek chip only has the one USB compatibility and you used that for this keyboard, would that then mean you wouldn't be able to use it for power or for data transfer like basically every smartphone does? You would not be able to do that. That's why you have to use the other port with the pin connection instead of the USB connection. That's
right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And for I2C interface MTK G99 has a lot. So Oh yeah. So you can do multiple if
you if you need to. That's right. So IT I2C is a protocol which supports multiple device connect to one bus. Another question that I know a lot of people have asked and maybe we I know that your time is very limited so let me know at any point that you need to go but some people have asked why Android 13 instead of some of the newer ones we consider the GMS package support and for the G99 it's published in 20 2022 so it's not So brand new and so there's going to be more support for it since it's been out for a few years. Yeah. And at this
stage for Android 13 it's the most familiar for us. So easiest easiest to define two main reason. Yeah. One is is easier to integrate with GMS package and second one we are more familiar with Android 13.
So that's the main reasons. So and and one other thing and then let's and then we can talk about what we're looking at right here. the bootloadader. I I know that you had said you guys are thinking about either making it unlockable or shipping it unlocked itself. I know that a lot of people, in fact, I've even had people ask me about this since I've started reporting on your project. Oh, will we be able to flash a custom operating system on it? How how will that work? Have you guys made any decisions one way or another as far as the bootloader being locked, being unlocked, being unlockable, allowing users to put their own, you know, custom operating system on it, or is it not quite there yet? It's not quite clear for now, but we already check with the supply chain. They can provide the MTK G99 which has a boot loader unlock by default. So it's possible and we can
also provide the DE OS maybe for some you know some some J friends and they can modify the whole system or they can even fresh the joys for example. Yeah. Okay. It's possible, but I cannot say definitely yes for now. Mhm. Yeah. Gotcha. Show us show show us what what you've got running here on the dev kit. And we can if if I mean again we can we can do whatever you'd like. But I I
think that people would be excited to to see this Q20 keyboard and screen running Android. Okay. And currently the dev kit is using all win low-end chip solution. So the performance is not so good. Oh,
so it's not Okay. So the devkit here is not using the same G99 chip that will be in the in the Q20 update. Yeah, that's right. Gotcha. We we will started the the main the motherboard PCB design this week and Oh, cool. You will have the exactly same size of the Q20 original motherboard. Wow. So, and that was another question
that I had looking at the dev kit here. I'm kind of thinking, wow, that's big. But it's not going to look anything like this when it's done. It's It's going to
be the exact same dimensions as the original. That's right. Oh, Zidwa, that's amazing. That is so cool. Thank you so much. So, uh, usually for dev kids is for developers. So we have the all necessary interface like Ethernet and there are some the Siri ports and USB USBA and and there are some switches so it's easier for developers to develop the new features and after the the solution is is is stable then we will remove those and use the interface and yeah remove the those components as you know as less as possible. Yeah. Yeah. That makes that
makes sense. I I've never this is the first time I've ever actually seen a developer kit for anything. But the way you just explained it, I'm just I'm learning a lot here from you, Zinwow.
Well, yeah, that makes sense that it would be easier to have the different interface options for testing to get everything figured out, everything programmed properly, but then in the final the final version, you just take those all off and use the actual connectors that will be in the final Q20 package and it'll all work from there. Is I guess that's is that how you had explained it just to make sure that I'm understanding. Yeah, that's right. Exactly right. Yeah. So, currently it's
running on the Android 10. Yeah. Okay. And I can show you some application I install. So, here there's the disco. Oh, yeah. So you can see is the performance not so good cuz it's a low end chip from the all win. Yeah. So that's our channel
and I I developed the information application for Titan portal line. So you can see here it's in Chinese. Sorry about it. Yeah. So I can type it. Hey guys. So you can see I use the Q20 keyboard and yeah and the trackpad now act as a mouse so you can see. I was
going to ask you about that. That is that is Oh. Yeah. So I sent messages from the Q20 dev kit. Yeah. So you can check it. And then I just for for people watching, I just jumped into the jumped into the chat and and there it is. Hey guys, just like just like you typed it.
That's awesome. Yeah. And so this I can show you. So currently you can see the bottom navigation bar. So we can hide it from the setting. So you can hide the bottom navig. Oh, cool. Yeah.
And let's go to the display mode. Let's say currently is in dark scene. So I can switch to light sim. Mhm. Yeah. But I prefer dark sim. Yeah. It also the dark theme shows up much better on the camera too. That's
right. So let's go back to other application. And I installed a music player called soft play. And I put a thumb loose this music. So it's a logo file. Yeah. And the perform is quite good. So you
can see the they are big files. So I think more than 30 megabytes each. I think one is more than 40 megaby. Jeez. Yeah. Hopefully it's very high
quality and currently is one in the temporary mode. So you can see the left column right column. Okay. Yeah. I think that's the most thing I can sh No. Well, let me ask you two other questions. Okay. That I that I have seen pop up quite a bit. And I understand that probably a lot of this changes if not every week, every day with how your your progress is coming along. What is
the project timeline looking at right now as far as when people will be able to pre-order or or do like if you guys are going to do like any kind of an Indiegogo Kickstarter crowdfunding type of a campaign as well as when are we thinking the either the devices in or the kits for might actually start shipping to people for timeline. Hi, we plan to start the motherboard PCB design this week and we probably finish the PCB design in late June and we will have the first samples about 30 to 100 units in late July. Late July. Okay. Yeah. And we will ship those first samples to the the first bakers and they will have a one week internal testing. Okay. If there's no hardware
issues, then we will start production run. Oh, it will be 1,000 units for the first production. Okay. So, it will be earlier August. Early August. Okay.
Yeah. And for the package for users, I think for main in China and out of China users, I think we we will ship the the the whole mobile phones and the dev keys all the some peripherals like cameras and battery. So we can we can support the same you know packaging. Okay. And is there I know that some people have asked about this. Will you guys have a website going live for people to be able to pre-order or to back the project or are of like your own website or are you thinking of partnering with like I mentioned Indiegogo or Kickstarter or one of those existing ones in order for people to to to back the project to place a pre-order? Uh there's another good question. Um we have started our Kickstarter page since last March. Oh
okay. And yeah, that's the that's the one of the big problems. We need to set up our company first, right? And then because there are some limitation for personal if you want to transfer money from you know like US back to main China there's a limitation it's around $50,000 US every year. Oh per person. So it's
better to set up the company so they we will have more credits for that. Gotcha. Yeah. So it takes time. Yeah. But we definitely will have our own selling website. I check the Shopify. So we will we will set up a web page based on Shopify. Oh. And I just set up the our
branding website. It's tininoa. Okay. So you can check that. So now it's available but I will update the web page the content and put some the photos for prototypes and some applications we regularly use. Yeah. Oh look at that Zeno. I just went and checked that website and and there it is. If you if you view from out of China then the it might be so it actually it came up pretty quick here. So my other
question for you and I again I appreciate you giving me so much of your time. I know it's it's really late in the evening for there whereas it's for me it's it's morning with a with a 14hour time difference. Um, a lot of people have asked about the conversion kit if and they're wondering, am I going like is the enduser going to be able to install it on their own BlackBerry? Are they going to need to find like a shop that could do that for them? Is um, your team going to make any kind of like a how-to tutorial document to show people how to do it? What's the status of all of that? If if you could talk about that a little bit. Um, I can 100% give you the response. We will definitely have some tech the text tutorial or videos on how to install by users one step by step. Yeah, no problem. Perfect.
So, they're not going to need to find someone to do this for them, uh, because I know that's can kind of be a big consideration. Not only would that cost them additional money, but in my case where I live, I live in a pretty rural place. I I would have to drive, you know, an hour or more just to find somebody that could do this. So, I know this is something that people are very curious about. Okay. Um, that's a good question. So in this case then I think we will put the all necessary tools that T4 T4 I I remember it's T4 and Mhm. and we will
share some videos how to um what's tear down one step by step one by one and then how to install one by one. I think the easier way is they just buy the the the final mobiles from us. So everything is ready that you know the Q20 now I didn't buy they can buy the Q20 will that will that option so they can buy a Q20 so users will be able to purchase the fully that's right that's right oh now has this changed because I I I thought that oh it changed oh Senwell I did not know that oh my goodness so if a if a user in like let's say you know like me in the US doesn't want to convert an existing device. They just want to say, "You know what? Zeninoa and his team can do this way better than me. I just want to purchase the complete fully done device." Oh my goodness. Oh, okay. This is good.
I I hadn't I I apologize. I hadn't realized that. I thought that I thought that we were still only able to purchase the kits if we were outside of China. So, now something has changed and people will have the option. They can either buy the complete device with all of the upgrades, everything already there, or they if they already have a device, they can purchase a conversion kit regardless of where they live. Yeah, that's right.
The reason why we don't want to sell the the 40 function for before because the legal the possible legal problem, right? because of the Blackberry icons here. Mhm. Yeah. But since it's a secondhand mobile, so we check with um lawyers and it's not a problem. Awesome, Zeno. That is that is amazing. Well, Zeno, I've I've kept you much longer than the 20 minutes you told me I could have. So, I I appreciate that
so much. Um some excellent updates, some excellent news. Um, so folks, uh, please I will leave links in in the description to the video for how you can find, uh, Zenwa's website here, as well as the Reddit post that I know that there are updates on and the Discord server as well, but um, Zenwa, is there is there anything else that we we forgot to talk about today that you'd like to let the viewers know about? Um, this is my first live streaming, so I I'm a little bit anxious. So, but
anyway, I am so excited and it's a great honor to have live stream with Jake. Thank you so much. Can you give me five? Yeah. Thank Thank you, Zenwa.
2025-05-14 10:08
