A mobile electronic device having a keyboard has a cover plate acting as a
dial keypad. The keypad has a push-through, hinge-spring design that
activates only one of two keyboard keys underlying a dial key and allows
backlighting transmissivity. A translucent material can be used to allow
the keyboard key backlighting to be coupled through to a top dial key.
The keypad creates an aesthetically balanced dial keypad arrangement over
a QWERTY keyboard. A preferable mechanical implementation allows
backlighting and has an offset contact and spring design to activate one
of the two underlying keys. This activation simplifies the software
implementation for executing the dial number since the signal is coming
from one address rather than having to make a determination of whether it
is coming from one or two addresses. Moreover, the resulting dial key
press has a standard single click feel.