Relay

A companion for music, a little writing, and the apps you choose.

Relay is my hobby hardware project: a music-first handheld with a physical keyboard and a swiveling display.

R8 · October 2026. A hardware design study. Images and film are design renders; dimensions describe the model, not measured hardware.

R8 design render with the display covering the keyboard, D-pad on the left and trackball on the right. — Closed: the display sits across the body, with controls on either side.

R8 design render with the display rotated upward to reveal five keyboard rows. — Open: the planar swivel reveals the keyboard beneath the display.

Why this form

The idea is to give listening its own device, with a keyboard for finding an album, making a queue, or writing a short note. Music comes first; optional apps would have to earn their place in that experience.

The display rotates in the plane of the body to uncover the keyboard, with a small tilt as it opens. R8 keeps the left D-pad and right trackball, recesses the controls into the shell, enlarges the key legends, and removes the cameras.

A 28-second silent film: closed form, controls, keyboard, calculated cable study, rear view, then the open device. This shows the design, not operating hardware.

Size and movement

Nominal model geometry · R8
Body footprint	172 × 82 mm
Body shell height	17.5 mm
Height at trackball peak	19 mm
Display cassette	116 × 80 × 4 mm
Planar swivel	180°
Peak tilt	14°

These are dimensions of the current visual assembly. The open envelope, swivel clearance, internal component fit, wall thicknesses, tolerances, and final weight are not established hardware specifications.

Keyboard, connections, and enclosure

Close design render of the five-row physical keyboard and its enlarged printed legends. — Five keyboard rows, with larger printed legends in R8.

Close design render of the keyboard edge, showing proposed USB-C and headphone openings. — Proposed USB-C and headphone openings. Connectors and audio electronics remain unselected.

Design render of the rear display cassette, its swivel support and the body underneath. — The rear display cassette and swivel support.

Design render of the body underside with fastener positions and the Relay mark. — The underside form. Fastening and service access still need engineering validation.

The cable is still the hard part

The display needs an interconnect that can accommodate both swivel and tilt inside a protected path. The current packaging study separates an annular yaw channel from a constrained service bend, with clamps at the terminations.

Both cable candidates fail. The provisional 3 × 0.10 mm flex and 0.60 mm wire envelope have minimum sampled bend radii of about 0.255 mm and 0.355 mm. Their service leads kink, contact themselves, and intersect the source R7 housing. This comparison does not validate the R8 enclosure.

Calculated rolling-flex and fine-wire routes at 0, 90, and 180 degrees. Both candidates fail clearance and service-bend checks. — Calculated route projections. The cable sizes are provisional envelopes, not selected harnesses or supplier-qualified constructions.

The next route needs the actual display interface, conductor count, connector frames, shielding requirements, and supplier dynamic bend limits. Then the guide, service bend, hollow support, and assembly access can be designed around that stack. A larger cover alone does not solve the failed bends.

What remains to prove

There is no integrated working hardware or qualified display cable yet. Electrical behavior, cable fatigue, battery life, thermal performance, control feel, and enclosure reliability still need physical testing. No measured audio performance, app compatibility, or manufacturing readiness is claimed.

The browser demo explores Music and Journal interactions. It is a software demonstration, not evidence of device electronics or app support.

Explore the browser demo ↗Back to Zachary Obasiolu