Well, what do ya know? A couple of, supposedly, Rev A SMK-88's showed up today.
The surprising thing is that they have the new key layout, but still have the blue-stemmed Cherry keyswitches (which are VERY nice, BTW)
New and old key layout, for reference:
OLD LAYOUT
NEW LAYOUT
Here are some pics of one of the new boards (click on the images for larger versions):
It definitely takes a bit getting used to the smaller keyboard compared to the Model M mini. But overall, the tactile feedback is very nice. Lots of "clickiness" and yet it feels like I barely have to "flick" my fingers at the keys to register a keystroke.
I've been on this one for about two days now and I think my typing speed is almost up to that of when I am on the Model M.
One thing I do notice right off the bat is that the delete/backspace key is VERY stiff. Not annoyingly so...but it definitely has a different feel than the rest of the keys. (perhaps that is by design??) I'll pull it off in the bit and see if the keyswitch is different.