I'm currently using a 5x12 keyboard as is. I think seeing it in a smaller form factor is wonderful.
One advantage to designs like this is the thumbs get to press more keys (2-3 each). I imagine that especially with such a small device, taking up a lot of space when the thumb is just going to press the spacebar in the same place anyway is a poor design choice.
Maybe with the smaller form factor, there'd be more benefit to 'splitting' the 10 alphabetical columns so they're each on the outer 5 columns, which would mean the hands have more spacing between them.
One advantage to designs like this is the thumbs get to press more keys (2-3 each). I imagine that especially with such a small device, taking up a lot of space when the thumb is just going to press the spacebar in the same place anyway is a poor design choice.
Maybe with the smaller form factor, there'd be more benefit to 'splitting' the 10 alphabetical columns so they're each on the outer 5 columns, which would mean the hands have more spacing between them.