Well the news of this moto mod has already spread to some news sites like phonearena!

Nice to see some attentions. I was planning to send some heads up mails to those news sites but they found it before I do? Great!

Some quick heads up for the concern of size of device, I changed the layout slightly, mainly moved the alphabet to the right and removed some useless keys, now it all looks better.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ig9z3ib3ihh1w6a/0223.PNG?dl=0

This thread now became the news channel, as this is the origin and motivation for this whole project.

How about doing a "maemo" special version with "Maemo" logo printed at the back?

Heh, I was happy about those useless keys at first, because they could be remapped to cover full Russian alphabet. There are still Del and PgUp/PgDn which could be abused for this though .

Just share some my own thoughts and observations when using hardware keyboards.

1.
Having two function keys (f.e. Alt and some other) right near the Shift key (especially one above and one below) can help in customization using the keyboard and improve convenience and usability.
For example on Droid 4 I have SYM and Caps Lock keys near the Shift.
It allows me to enter symbols when using the first one (either with and without Shift) and other symbols or Polish language specific small/big letters when using the second one (without/with Shift).

2.
Having the CTRL key on the left might make it harder to use many commonly used key shortcuts for example CTRL+Z combo (slightly easier with CTRL + C) because the keys are close each other and it is hard to press them simultaneously using both thumbs on the relatively small keyboard.

Interesting to see some people feel a difference in their thumbs.
I'm right handed, and never ever though of that while using the hardware keyboard of my Motorola Photon Q, which have the cursor on the right side. I find it comfortable to edit text, and it has the advantage of being on the same side as the backspace key which is also used when editing text (moving the cursor backward, delete some characters, move forward, etc...).
I wouldn't used it as a gamepad to play games, not so much because we have the habit of having it on the left side on gamepads, but because it is too small and needs too much pressure to be used comfortably and fast in games. This is a completely different usage as when used in typing and editing.

chenliangchen, I would recommand for the pressure needed to activate the key to stay below the levels needed for the Photon Q, as it is the limit to be comfortable. On long typing sessions, it starts to feel heavy.
Good luck with your project, the moto Z is too big for me, but I will follow your work closely !

Could you maybe specify the size of a key or the whole width in mm please.
It would make possible to print your mockup in original size to show it around among friends

How about making that mandatory like "powered by maemo (<logo) community" to have a little advertisment for our common cause?
Haha, kidding.

now, if only motorola didn't ditch the 3.5mm jack maybe I would consider a new one to replace the Play I have. Or get Play Z. Which is slightly bigger and mods don't fit so nicely

It is designed to suit Z Play, in fact we are using Z play for all the tests. Spec wise Z play is much better and reasonable than the Z. (The only thing I want which it doesn't have is the removable battery....)

Great. But you are aware that those two are slightly different and if you make a mod that perfectly fits Play than it will be slightly bigger on Z? And I like the fitting more on the regular Z.
Stupid Lenovo. What's the point of making two differently sized phones for the same mods

chengliangchen, can you please make a summary at the OP? I can see that some community device is being worked on (?), but anything else is still cryptic to me. And I don't have time to read whole 13 pages.