Promising... ReadyFx

[epninety]

Only a teaser website thus far, but there have been various discussions around this project on talk.maemo.org for more than a year.

Not too much detail in plain view, but a phone with slide/tilt keyboard in the N900 / N950 vein.
From ChenLiang Chen, the guy behind the failed Moto Mod Keyboard. There have been some teaser pics and specs on twitter, also linked or posted on t.m.o

Will ship with Android by default, but aims to allow Lineage, Sailfish, Maemo-Leste etc.

Objectively, it's obviously little more than vapourware right now, but Chen talks good sense and and has enough credibility in my view to make this the most promising device on the horizon right now, though I don't think I'll be spending any money until I can see a pretty functional Sailfish or Maemo build available.

[speculatrix]

I did really like the firm factor of the HTC Vision and HTC Doubleshot phones I had where the keyboards slid out. I'd prefer that to the Gemini because you can use the phone as a regular all-screen slab without opening it like the Gemini.
It's a shame Motorola stopped making their Droid series; and Samsung only ever made one such phone, called the Relay.

[epninety]

A few more bits of info coming out ...

We chose a notch-less screen with an 18:9 aspect ratio, and minimal  bezels. Our device's footprint is smaller than most other 6-inch 18:9 phones, like the Nokia 7 Plus or Moto Z3. This doesn’t just reduce physical size, it also improves the typing experience.
Finally we decided to use an AMOLED panel instead of an LCD for more vibrant colours, deeper blacks, and fewer, thinner screen layers. We also chose a curved-edge screen to match the shape & contours of the main body. It’s important the device looks slick & feels comfortable at the same time!

It's a 18:9 ratio in 6", in another word it's the same panel as a 5.4-5.5" screen in 16:9. The screen is bigger due to less bezels. In measurements the device is quite narrower and slightly shorter than the Moto Z2 Play.
Thinking this way, it's a 5.4" of the traditional 16:9 ratio.
P.S: Being quite smaller than the Xperia XA2 Plus, which quite some users are happily using SFOS upon.

As for your questions, the Linux kernel will be 4.4+ for sure (tested 4.9). The update and driver is down to Qualcomm's support. But we will do our best.

[NCI]

Waiting for official release, choosing between this and Cosmo. I definitely prefer Qualcomm over MTK, for a bloody long list of reasons; not sure whether I will be comfortable with the keyboard after stellar typing experience on Gemini, though - but on the other hand this Q-Device will allow single-handed use like a regular smartphone, which is very beneficial on the go.

[epninety]

Teaser pics are starting to 'leak' out onto the web...

Such as here

[epninety]

The (first part of the) wait is over    

https://www.fxtec.com/pro1/