An innovative hinge design more than 14 years old could give Android MID enthusiasts a QWERTY keyboard worth typing on, if niche computing firm PsiXpda has its way. The company – which tested the UMPC waters in late 2009 with a Windows XP based unit, reviewed by SlashGear – intends to channel the design of the much-loved Psion Series 5mx in a new, Android-based model.

PsiXpda founder Paul Pinnock told Reghardware that while the original Atom-based UMPC was “not fast enough and not good enough” and failed to live up to the Psion comparisons made in promotions at the time, the new model will be altogether more interesting. The design will be based on the Psion Series 5mx, which used a clever folding-sliding hinge so as to fit a large QWERTY ‘board (with surprisingly decent key-travel) and a 5.6-inch touchscreen into a pocket-sized palmtop.

We can’t argue with Pinnock’s decision to use Android, and a lot of us still have warm memories of Psion hardware and its under-appreciated OS. No word on when, exactly, the new PsiXpda model will hit the market, nor for how much, but we won’t argue with easier typing on something larger than the average smartphone slide-out thumbboard.

[via SlashGear]