The more I think about it, the more I think a Reform Next is in my crosshairs. I understand from the Youtube launch trailer that it will come in three colors - black, white and purple.
I was wondering: could there be an option for no finish at all? I’d love bare aluminum, even with milling marks. I’m a machinist so it would be right up my alley. And it would only take asking the case supplier to skip the surface finish steps in the manufacturing process.
Side question: no trackball in that one?
Roboticist here. Same desire. I really like the photos of the bare aluminum Reform Next. 
Maybe the surface finish can be sanded away by a car-repair-shop or similar?
The classic Reform trackball is certainly too large. Did you check the CAD files whether the Pocket Reform trackball would theoretically fit?
In maybe slightly related news I’m working on a trackstick mod for the MNT Reform keyboard 4.0: Another alternate keyboard idea - #5 by josch I’ve received a leftover keyboard 4.0 PCB without switches and plan to do the hole drilling in maybe a week or so. I also still have to find my bag of kailh switches… should be somewhere…
Mind you, if a bare alu frame isn’t in the cards, a fun project would be milling one out of mild steel and color case hardening it. It’s been a while since I done that because the traditional method is difficult to control with large parts, and the more modern method involves molten potassium cyanide, which is really nasty.
Or if I really, REALLY want to go crazy - especially with the price - damascus steel
I know it wouldn’t fit. I figured maybe another design? it looks like the Pocket Reform’s trackball is smaller, so I thought it could fit in the Next. But perhaps I’m mistaken.
Ooh that would be neat! The trackpoint is one of the most undervalued pointing device that should never have disappeared.
The “raw aluminum” finish is a bare finish, so probably exactly what you’re looking for!