From the depths of MWeston’s bucket comes this shiny new photo. At first glance it doesn’t look that new, just a glossy keypad peering out from an old FDM prototype case. There are important tweaks underneath though. Compare it to the last one we saw, and you’ll see that they keys now sit higher in the case. The membrane tweaks apply to both the QWERTY section and gaming controls. Note that this isn’t a font or character map update (MW heads this off at the pass by noting the “non-final silk screening”).

(F5′d by OpenXile)

Shiny! Want more? You know where to look.

Who’s in the mood to see keymats? Real, mass production keymats? No? Don’t go here then!

If you read EvilDragon’s recent interview, you might have had some questions about exactly where we’re at with the case design. MWeston droppped into the forums to fill in some of the blanks.

New CNC’d cases should be done in a couple of days if the predicted build time is still accurate. I’m trying to get my own UPS account set up so we don’t have to play “musical chairs” with the shipping anymore. That will probably shave a week off of delivery time if these things can come right to me!

By the way, these ones will be clear so that I can monitor the hinge action, cable rotation and the fit of components inside while the whole thing is together.

keymap – ED can show that to you when he feels ready. He has the actual image files that went to the manufacturer.

keymat – the molds were supposed to be done this week but they are coming back at us with more questions about things they want to change, things we can’t change like trying to move the position of holes! Maybe it will be done next week now

I think [full stress testing] is best left for the molded cases but I did try to bend and flex the CNC cases and they’re pretty solid. As I think I mentioned before, the Pandora case seems a bit thicker than what you get with most portable electronics because we are inexperienced and would rather make things too strong rather than too weak. My website has been updated to reflect the specs of the CNC case testing and all this thickness has a little effect on the weight unfortunately. The CNC case turned out to be quite a bit heavier than the FDM ones.

I believe the case could take some accidental drops on the corners because of the shell’s strength but I’m not ready to sacrifice the prototypes until I can consider them disposable next month.

All quotes taken from this thread.

What is this we spy on the official site? Another item off the list! Many will miss the heated, obssessive key layout debates. Many, many more won’t.

Word came in from Chip today that the “keymat is finalized and the manufacturer is already making up the molds for mass production.” The team is no doubt happy to have one less pressing issue on the table… cough.

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