Clicks Communicator

I would like it to have an open bootloader and support for some open source OS

One of these running linux would be nice, but definitely not buying one to run Android.

Have used a Clicks keyboard on my Pro Max to great effect. Being able to touch type without looking, even whilst walking around/changing trains has been truly game changing. Writing SOPs, editing spreadsheets, answering long mails, typing without the atrocious autocorrect making it impossible, all that is far better with the Clicks keyboard. I feel that this is their differentiator and a key customer market they should lean into, people who need reliable input and are willing to sacrifice other things for it.

Personally wish their marketing leaned into the productivity more than in this "second-device" trend. Never understood that if I am totally honest. The logic for buying a $ 700,- Light Phone over just installing a launcher and muting the colours is allegedly that it creates more friction, but there is just as much keeping you from just using your existing phone once you purchased a Light Phone as there is preventing you from uninstalling the launcher. Basically, I see this category as rather dishonest, at most holding on by a treat with the sunk cost argument that anyone truly addicted is unlikely to even feel, so I'd rather see them lean into what makes them great rather than chase an artificial category, often more focused on signaling the intent to lessen phone user over actually facilitating it.

State clearly, proudly and with full conviction that yes, this is a main device and yes, there are things this will do better than arguably anything else on the market, mainly because Clicks does keyboards a multitude better than any alternative, be it Unihertz or Minimal.

The hero image makes it look like the phone is an inch thick. I didn’t realize it was actually showing two phones (front and back) until I saw the rest of the gallery.

I might buy/support this, because it seems like they’re actually listening to what [some] people want. But I don’t know that it’ll get me off iMessage.

I've been rocking a Razr 2025 Ultra and just try to do everything on the front screen. Its not the best experience, just pre-ordered this, excited to try it!

Device form factor looks attractive. This one might even fit in a pocket, unlike all modern phablets and their protruding camera "islands".

>What version of Android will be supported?

>Communicator will run Android 16. We’re comfortable committing to 2 years of Android updates and 5 years of security updates

I’m hopeful for this product both becoming real and being good. No word on what Mediatek SOC they’re using on the spec sheet, plus what memory capacity we’ll be working with.

The people in my life I’ve shown this to so far have all shared my hopefulness. It seems to me that everyone who had a keyboarded Blackberry misses it for the utility of the device. I think Apple and the rest of the smartphone industry were correct on the direction mobile phones were heading. A big screen is great for viewing content but is not so great at doing things besides social media. This has become increasingly obvious as the iOS keyboard keeps on getting worse while more people use their iPhone as their only, or at least primary, computing device. I can’t speak to the Android space so I’m not sure if Samsung, Huawei, or Google devices are having similar on-screen keyboard issues.

One thing that is immediately disappointing about the product specs at this moment is the timeframe for updates. Two years of Android system updates plus 5 years of security updates is paltry compared to Samsung & Google’s recent change of tune on that front. It is pretty pathetic compared to Apple’s long-standing precedent of providing full OS updates for several years, even for phones that probably shouldn’t be on the latest version of iOS.

Why is there no market for cases with keyboards inside, that baffles me.

The user interface looks very similar to Niagara Launcher. I found it a really fresh and comfortable alternative to the default android launchers

Android based.

How easy is it to build a custom android phone these days, with the help of Chinese suppliers of course?

Pretty neat. I have the Clicks keyboard and I just wish the keys weren't so stiff. Too hard to type on, sadly.

Oh look, it's a blackberry

They release a new keyboard with numbers and don't have it on the new device?!

It ships to Australia and NZ but not to Singapore or Japan. Care to say why?

Isnt this just a blackberry?

I'd love a landscape keyboard for my Pixel 8 in landscape mode.

Oh well.

I am fully in support of the dumb smartphone hybrid.

I was disappointed by their iPhone keyboard offering. I felt like their product was superficially good: fancy adds, fancy web-page, the keyboard looked nice, BUT the functionality was not well thought out. They seemed to not realize that they need to provide a hell of a lot of benefit to warrant making an iPhone - especially a max - bigger and heavier. So, sure, they provided physical qwerty. But, they did not make it easy to bind keys or combos to all/most of the Apple supported shortcuts that a bluetooth keyboard would be able to take advantage of. The result is that even if I liked the qwerty, I still have to take my fingers off of it to touch the damn screen to do basic navigation. With better leadership, they would be a much stronger company.

EDIT: was referring to their first product that is an iphone case plus keyboard (I just noticed they have a new keyboard offering).

Marketed as "for doing" and not "for doomscrolling" but if it can host any Android app then what's really the distinction? Seems like at the end of the day it's a discipline thing regardless of the device, unless you truly have a "dumb" phone that is unable to install doomy apps

Discipline yourself before buying a new device.

Sooo a Blackberry?

I love it. Finally some innovation. Now make it incapable of instagram and TikTok and other invasive social media crap and we might have the winner for the next decade. As if :(

> Premium typing experience

Nothing beats N900 typing experience. Change my mind.

I may eventually get one of these just to use with Claude code. Been looking for the lightest best machine to use with agents.

I bought their Clicks phone case for iPhone and was very disappointed. The keyboard was dismal to type on and slowed me down significantly.

If they're using the same keyboard in this phone, it won't be of interest to me.

omg I love it!

The comma is behind the m. I hate it. Why can’t we have the basic punctuation up front.

[dead]

This feels very scammy.

It’s just a blackberry. We all had those, they were trash compared to iPhones. That’s why they went extinct.