Some people actually prefer that layout too, it's an orthographic layout, which is likely less confusing that the slightly off layout of the full size reform. On the full reform the second row is 1.5 units over rather than 1.25, and the third is 2 units instead of 1.75. It messes you up a little at first, but you get quickly used to the layout and even switching back to standard is not an issue.

Many handheld devices in the age of physical keyboards used grid aligned qwerty keyboards, so it's not unique here.