A typo in the specs...

[Daniel W]

On the Indiegogo Astro campaign page, the size of the device is said to be 164(W) x 76.6(D) x 15(H)mm.

A Cosmo is (officially) 171(W) x 79.3(D) x 17.3(H)mm, and my ruler seems to agree (when not busy sticking to the magnets in the device). The depth of the Cosmo keyboard alone is pretty much 70mm, so that could perhaps fit in a 76.6mm deep Astro, but as the Cosmo keyboard in itself is 164mm wide, it reasonably can't fit inside a 164mm wide device, lest it had absolutely no side bezels at all, which all the images of the Astro clearly shows it has.

So, maybe they shrunk the keyboard a tad? I doubt that, since the new screen is about 15mm wider (a 6.53" 20:9 screen is about 151.25 x 68.06mm) than on the Cosmo (a 5.99" 18:9 screen is about 136.08 x 68.04mm) and they still need to fit the speakers somewhere.

I'd rather guess the Astro keyboard itself, excluding bezels, will be 164mm wide, while the total width of the phone will be akin to that of the Cosmo and Gemini. Whether it's a typo (maybe the correct width is, say, 174mm) or whether they just put the wrong measurement (the width of just the keyboard - not the entire device) there, or if it is, somehow, correct, remains to be seen. What do you think?

[Noppe]

My mostly uneducated guess is that the keyboard is going to be identical to the Cosmo, and since the case design for the Astro is not complete yet, they just used the keyboard width for the device width, figuring "close enough".

Personally I wouldn't mind if the keyboard shrunk a little bit, because the Cosmo device is a bit too big for my "phone pocket" in my favourite jacket, but I'm sure those who are slightly more well endowed in the finger department than I am would appreciate it remaining the same size.  

[Daniel W]

My mostly uneducated guess is that the keyboard is going to be identical to the Cosmo, and since the case design for the Astro is not complete yet, they just used the keyboard width for the device width, figuring "close enough".

That makes sense. Still though, they have obviously made prototypes. While these probably aren't working phones, there do seem to have working, if not final, "RockUp" slider hinges, and they seem to know exactly which model of screen they are going to use, so I get the feeling they should know the outer dimensions fairly well, except maybe for how thick the battery needs to be. Oh, well, we'll see.

I wouldn't mind if the keyboard shrunk a little bit, because the Cosmo device is a bit too big for my "phone pocket" in my favourite jacket, but I'm sure those who are slightly more well endowed in the finger department than I am would appreciate it remaining the same size.  

Yeah. While I can't claim to have "big hands", the Psion Series 5/Gemini/Cosmo keyboard is barely large enough to let me type somewhat comfortably, which, for a phone-type device is pretty much the best conceivable compromise for me. I recall the 1999 Psion Revo, which was an attempt to shrink the Psion Series 5, and, for me, the typing suffered to a point where I stopped using it. Sure, the ~0.5mm key travel contributed at bit, but it was mostly the shrunk down keys that, rather than being barely large enough, instead were just a tad too small.

Weirdly enough I remember my Psion Series 3c and 3mx as quite typeable, in spite of even smaller keys. Maybe I just was a slower back typist then, or maybe the "island" design, gave each key enough of a "landing zone", by sharing the space between keys, to stop me from hitting multiple keys. So if they were to ever use smaller keys, say, to fit more of them, the 3c/mx design might be worth revisiting, but from a sales point of view, I think the current design and size is rather optimal. Some would like it smaller, some would like it bigger, and it looks good.

Btw. out of curiosity, is it the 171mm length of the Cosmo, or is it rather the "girth" (depth and width), that causes issues with your phone pocket?

[Noppe]

Btw. out of curiosity, is it the 171mm length of the Cosmo, or is it rather the "girth" (depth and width), that causes issues with your phone pocket?

It's the length.  The pocket in question is on the front of my jacket, zippered about halfway along the side, which is the tall dimension of the pocket.  So with my daily driver phone (a OnePlus 3), I can just unzip, pop the phone in diagonally, then rotate it vertical and zip up. The Cosmo hits the bottom of the pocket and I can't rotate the top in.

Not a big issue for me because the Cosmo is not likely ever to be my daily driver anyway, due to lack of a full outside screen.  The Astro Slide solves that problem, and I expect it will finally be the replacement for my venerable OP3.  Maybe I'll have to get a new jacket.  The current one is pretty rough around the edges anyway.  

[James Shields]

I expect the dimensions will be around the same size as the Gemini/Cosmo. The keyboard dimensions have remained the same as the Psion 5, and I doubt that will change now.