The leadership behind this project is f(x)tec. While they're not outright scammers they have a TERRIBLE track record in delivering products like this. Just look up the old fxtec community forums or the indiegogo pages for the pro1 / pro1x.
It's just data points but so far the modus operandi was to take pre-order money and then take years to deliver a bad product with no aftermarket support. There were always new excuses about what happened (shipping company stole our stuff! chip reseller scammed us! etc) but no transparency. The reality seems to be they ran out of money and instead of being upfront about it kept making up new stories why nothing was happening. The few devices they have shipped are basically unusable unless you're going to mod the hard- and software yourself (no security updates, issues in antenna design, outdated hardware by the time it ships, keyboard quality issues, you name it).
If you're interested in the device I implore you to wait until you can buy it upfront (ideally in a physical store) and return it at your convenience.
I thought I needed a keyboard too, but when everything is designed for a slab screen and your "productivity" phone randomly shuts down or has no reception in a major area, you gotta think about what productivity really means.
This thing will run android on a mediatek chip, it's not a purchase once and done type thing like the keyboard attachment.
The Fxtec Pro 1 tried to implement a sliding keyboard mechanism, which is mechanically complicated: the Palm Pre ran into problems with that design and the Blackberry Priv in 2015 discontinued that design after only one generation, switching back to integrated PKBs for the KeyOne and Key2.
Enough for me to avoid them as they seem to have spent some effort hiding that association.
Not finding that is enough to avoid.
(not affiliated but feels a bit rough as a critique for a companty that has shipped keyboards for a while)
either way it is a physical address, I was just responding to the invalid claim above
First, typing was actually slower and more error prone. Even nearly a year into owning it, I was constantly misclicking and spending loads of time correcting myself.
Second, you loose a ton of navigate functionality with the hardware keyboards. Holding space to navigate between characters is gone. Emojis are gone. GIF keyboards are gone.
Third, none of the apps are built for this aspect ratio or screen size. Often this is just an annoyance - but there are times this became an actual, legitimate blocker. Items would be laid out off screen in a way that you couldn’t access them. The solution: a scaled view where everything was ridiculously tiny.
Three B: too many situations where the virtual keyboard would come up and you’d literally have the entire screen covered.
I didn’t realize how much value I lose with these issues until I experienced them. Every thing you’ve relied on essentially become unreliable because you might not be able to use certain functionality.
The aspect ratio/screen size issue is annoying, but I find that a combination of the screen lock setting (for annoying apps that rotate the screen when they go "full screen") combined with scrolling using the capacitive keyboard works just fine without blocking the entire screen.
The one problem I have with the phone, and the reason I'm not dailying it, is that Unihertz is notoriously bad at providing software updates. I'm not too impressed with the Clicks phone either on that front, though at least they're beating Unihertz:
> Communicator will run Android 16. We’re comfortable committing to 2 years of Android updates and 5 years of security updates.
The clicks launcher looks pretty slick, though. I'll definitely try to run that on my Titan 2 when the APK eventually gets dumped.
As to the rest - I owned one of every model of BlackBerry's Android PKB phones and none of this was an issue, so I'd say a lot of it may be Unihertz's execution. Losing navigation functionality with a PKB? That's shocking, you should have _gained_ advantage rather than lost anything.
Makes me almost happy I haven't gone for a Unihertz when my last Key2 croaked.
What I realized is modern soft-keyboards are actually exceptionally good handling slight miss-clicks. I stopped worrying about hitting the key exactly and just punched it close enough. Auto-correct seems able to figure out that 5% off of a key should be weighed as that key being hit and gets the word right.
With a hard keyboard, I'd just end up with total garbage sometimes.
What I discovered was that the best BB keyboards for error-free typing were the curved 4-row keyboards on the Bold 9000, 9700 and 9900. The Passport kb was flat, rectangular and only had 3 rows over a very wide layout and placed at the very bottom of the phone, making it cramped to type on. I love the idea of keyboard phones but only BB of yore did it right.
One notable app that also failed this way was, the irony, the Work suite, soon owned by... BlackBerry. My dear employer dropped BES support and moved to Work, which didn't work on BBs after some time, and that was the end of it (BBOS) for me.
Only BB did it right, but - and I don't know to what extent - it still sits on some amount of IP/patents that cover the doing it right.
it sounds like there is a slow and steady open source community around either replacement q20 keyboards, or a reverse-engineered one? https://hackaday.com/2025/06/04/the-blackberry-keyboard-how-...
and the beepy, which runs linux and for some reason has the keyboard blurred out on its homepage https://beepy.sqfmi.com/
Trademark stuff, as far as I remember.
> For instance, the Beepberry project became Beepy – because of Blackberry, legally speaking, raising an eyebrow at the naming decision; it’s the kind of legal situation we’ve seen happen with projects like Notkia. If you ever get such a letter, please don’t hold any hard feelings towards the company – after all, trademarks can legally be lost if the company doesn’t take action to defend them. From what I gather, BlackBerry’s demands were low, as it goes with such claims – the project was renamed to Beepy going forward, and that’s about it.
I think to poke fun at it, they blur out the keeb haha
Android 16 forces developers to use a dynamic screen size, you can't force your app to be landscape only anymore. So maybe this aspect will be less of a problem in the future.
If you press and hold the emoji button in the lower left, you can pick to have the keyboard shift to the left or right, for easier one handed typing. On the iPad I think you can pull the keyboard apart so you can use one thumb on each side of the screen while holding it (last I used it, you could do this with a gesture of putting your two thumbs in the center of the keyboard and pulling them apart toward the sides).
Press and hold on letters or symbols for accidents or more related symbols. I don’t think this one is that big of a secret, but it’s worth going through all the symbols to see everything that’s available.
I don’t have an iPad currently, but I think it has the numbers on the top row of letters, and you can swipe up (or down, I don’t remember) on the key for quick entry of some numbers without changing to the symbol keyboard.
Double tap the shift key for CAPS LOCK.
In the Settings, there is built in text expansion support (Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement). Adding curse words in here was a way to get around the “ducking” auto-correct in the past, with the typed word and the replacement being set to the same word. If want a way to type more obscure symbols, this is a way to set that up as well, I can type , for example.
They upgraded the speech to text a few years ago. If you got in the habit of not bothering, because you had to be perfect in one take, it’s better now. You can speak, take breaks, and manually correct and add things with your keyboard in the middle of dictation.
That’s all that comes to mind for now.
Source: an iPhone 6s in the family that was a joy for all the right reasons. My current SE 2020 is good, but the lack of force touch really sucks tbh. Do you know, for eg, you could open multitasking with force touch instead of the home button?
Press and hold works for some stuff, but it’s slower. The press and hold to get to the lock screen switcher feels very slow, and inconsistently slow on top of that. Some days it seems to work, while others it seems to take forever.
Phones with hardware keyboard like this requires a good keyboard companion app, which Unihertz doesn't have.
The Passport was pretty much perfect, and I've not loved a phone as much before or since.
ISTR Unihertz had to make some significant UX tradeoffs to avoid a Blackberry patent infringement (how else do you explain that shift key). I also found it tiresome to use.
And the screen was square, which many websites didn't like. And high resolution and small, which made it fiddly to use.
I don't know if I'll get the Clicks Communicator. Mostly because looking at the above list, I'd have to admit that I have a phone problem...
(I also have another phone problem, which is that I can't seem to type anything accurately on my iPhone keyboard. Solidarity with hardware-keyboard-users.)
I need this desperately when the Claude app gets in a psuedo error state.
I was insanely disappointed when Apple took away the pressure sensitive functionality almost solely because I routinely used it for this purpose, and it never occurred to me that they moved it.
I really do hope they succeed, and will definitely buy one if it turns out to be a viable product, but not before that.
The Clicks Keyboard for iPhone (14) was a great concept, and pretty well executed for a V1 - I haven’t tried their follow-up devices.
But assuming it’s the same team, there’s a history of shipping devices behind them.
(That isn’t to encourage you to pre-order! Just to perhaps contribute some more optimism to your hope that they succeed)
The only annoyance is rememberimg to hold the magic key combo before plugging it in for car play. Regardless, this is a real company that delivers real products of solid quality.
Being LineageOS capable is a strong selling point (for the Pro 1x), so if that's on the table with this new phone then I would consider reserving one. But I wouldn't hold my breath that it will ship in 2026.
Electronics are the exact opposite. Coming up with an idea and getting some renders done is at least 1,000x easier than the remaining work from idea to shipping 10,000 units, therefore it's reasonable to expect that at least 90% of kickstarters for such products will fail to deliver, leaving backers holding the bag, since all our money has been spent already on the failed attempts.
Furthermore, I tend to think that if, due to some combination of their existing reputation + the amount of the work they've already completely finished, the project were a safe bet, then they'd be able to get investors to front them any further needed startup funds the normal way.
At some point, Kickstarter (et al) campaigns switch from high-risk speculative products to marketing pitches (get in early!). I think this is one of the later. You're right that they could probably have (or have already) funded the product development themselves. I think this pitch is trying to build a market early in the year before potential competitor products are announced.
The alternative I went with, and which I recommend, is getting both a smartphone and a nokia shitphone (no internet). Then ask the carrier for a sim duplicate. These exist, and are in fact a new number that redirects to your number. Use and carry whichever you want, knowing that calls will all go to both phones.
I tend to delete apps from my phone if I find myself spending too much time on them. My “social” folder in the app drawer contains Phone, FaceTime, and Messages. Just the built-in stuff. It also helps to have a healthy level of distrust of these companies, so you don’t want to use their services in the first place.
This doesn’t make the phone “dumb”, but it does make it more of a utility device. I go through my apps pretty regularly looking for stuff to delete. I still have more apps than I’d like, but they are mostly boring (banking, healthcare, etc).
The only big issue that remains is the browser. I can’t get rid of it, but it is still a portal to YouTube, HN, and other such things. This has its pros and cons.
> Can Communicator be used as my primary phone?
Without them making a statement of how long they will provide security updates for, this could easily go like past phones of mine.
My work tightens their mobile security policy, and the device can no longer meet it. This is for both Android version and security updates. Happened to me a few times where I had to stop using a perfectly good phone which wasn't that old.
(Now I bought a Pixel I only use on wifi - 7 years of updates, and actually better for my WLB, since I leave work at home by default, or stuff a second phone in my pocket if I want to take it with)
I'd stop buying them but everything else is bad in some other way. It is hilarious that the official Google phones have the fewest ads and forced app installs.
They said this:
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.If it's super important, my regular cell gets called. My regular phone has 0 work stuff on it. My employer couldn't access personal stuff on it if they wanted to.
You can go to Screen Time and disable Safari and App Store.
You can protect it with a passcode, which is what I did.
After a few weeks I just got used to my phone being dumb.
Now these apps are unlocked, but the habit is there, and I use it for utility only.
It's running regular Android with a custom version of Niagara launcher (which it seems I need to try), and seems like it's a product built by people who want to use it. Which makes me hopeful that a lot of care was put into designing it. It seems like they're aiming it towards people that want a second device for work, which -in my mind- means there might be some compromises, so I'll be waiting for reviews to decide if it can hold up as a daily driver or not.
It should be noted, they claim that the keyboard is touch sensitive and can be used for scrolling, so it might actually solve some of the usability issues that immediately come to mind.
TBH, I'm a little surprised by all the hate. This might not be a product for you, or it might not speak to you for other reasons. The fact is that this company has seen success with their phone cases (I don't get it either), and has now announced two new products that should reach more of the market (the other is a magsafe slide out keyboard, it's very cool). If you don't like it, fair enough, but that doesn't mean it's a bad product.
Also, who cares if it's beautiful.
People who will carry the device with them every day care if it is beautiful.
I know Hackers only care about size of RAM, no matter what kind of device and what kind of usage.
The Razr 2024/25 + the clicks keyboard is probably the "best" so far. Although I just got a Zinwa Q25. Amazing how good that formfactor feels after having candy bars this long.
> Cameras
> Rear: 50MP OIS
> Front: 24MP
Honestly, this sounds like a great deal
It does seem like a great deal either way though!
It does not merely feel that way; it often is. That is because megapixels measure the dimensions of the files the camera generates (this is not the same as resolution) and as such are almost the worst measure of camera quality.
Boring tech websites like comparing megapixels, because that is a number, and that allows people who do not know how cameras work to review products and have opinions without actually using them. Truth is that pixels, a measure of resolution, have been irrelevant for years when one is not printing them huge or looking at them full-size on gigantic computer monitors. More or less nobody is doing that these days; they're looking at them a few inches wide on their phones or tablets, usually via [insert social app] that downsizes and compresses the shit out of them to save on bandwidth & storage.
Things like
* colour rendition * contrast rendition * low-light ability * speed of operation (allows you to get a photo in the first place) * and more things I could name
...are all far more important to what makes a good camera on a phone. If more people were like you and actually LOOKED AT THE PHOTOS we might have ended up with much better cameras than we have now.
They should focus on the largest potential market: parents who buy a phone like this to text with their kids without allowing them to have a completely internet connected phone.
Hope that simple idea for the colored button based on what your notification is will catch on, thats pretty neat design.
The fact of the matter is that the smartphone market could not support more than a few players. Blackberry was just one of several vendors without vertically integrated supply chains that disappeared: HTC, Nokia, LG and Sony all abandoned the market as well.
But... Two phones?
Everyone I've ever known with two phones has been embarassed to have to have the second one.
It's DOA.
If you don't mind me asking on here, what materials will the frame be made out of? Asking because I used my 15 Pro Max Clicks somewhat intensely and managed to dig through the rubber on the bottom right and bottom left edge with the friction from typing alone. Keyboard still works flawlessly, but the case looks like it's seen an apocalypse...
Also would love to see a video showcase of the touch functionality on the keyboard, I can already imagine a few ways that'll be useful.
Am personally waiting for the next Razr before deciding whether I'll replace my iPhone with a Communicator or the next Clicks for Razr (hoping that there will be one). Then again, Motorola has hinted at a book style foldable for CES so if that is interesting, might go for the PowerKeys instead. Or might there be something for larger phones, perhaps inspired by an old Samsung phone, dare we dream? That'd "zeal" my purchase for sure...
The keyboard is a really good lock in mind you, once I got the hang of it I really detested (a very strong word, but it is true) any time I had to use a smartphone without one, even if only briefly.
I second/third/forth all the other comments on this already, it would be better if I didn't have to buy into the google android system; seems like google has lost most of the trust with most people.
I've never gotten used to the touch keyboard, since writing anything while code-switching multiple languages doesn't really work well with the predictive input. Especially if the other language has to be transliterated from a non Latin script.
Though the update policy doesn't sound too promising, 2 years of OS updates + 5 years of security updates is too short :/
[1] https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_x10_mini_pro-3...
I've been using a lightphone for 3 years but i can't stand the touch screen and only having SMS is annoying.
App reviews (2) saying that there was lot of glitches with keyboard app.
I assume same approach will be for the this phone: accessory keyboard over android phone.
2. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.clicks.com...
I'm missing having LED colours for notifications on my current phone.
Personally got an iPhone solely because Clicks initially was only available for Apples product line and have to say after two years that while Android was never bug free either, iOS doesn't really keep me on polish alone. In other words, neither is less issue prone/has fewer bugs and glitches than the other.
I could definitely use a second device that is specific for work. I don't want MDM on my phone mostly because they can erase my phone at any time. I also would check work email and Teams constantly. My work is more than happy to get me connected to work services if I will accept the MDM terms yet they won't help pay for my phone bill nor pay for a phone.
All I need is a device that can easily connect to my smartphone hotspot or wifi when I choose to that will meet my company's MDM requirements, has email, and can use Teams. If Im making a phone call at work I 100% use Teams. All I need is data which I can get from my smartphone. The included modem is extra costs. If this was $200-$300 I would consider it which they could do if they didn't include a modem.
> As a real keyboard with the QWERTY layout, Communicator supports languages that use the Latin alphabet: [...] Russian
Weird
Clarify?
Yes there are various schemes for transliterating Russian into latin script, which people occasionally use for various reasons like typing on a computer or phone which hasn't been fully configured for use with Russian language, in contexts where unicode isn't supported or to make street signs legible for tourists. That's different from the "Russian Latin alphabet". In most cases where proper Cyrillic is problematic dedicated "Russian Latin alphabet" that's based on Latin with extra diacritic marks would also be problematic.
Similar thing could be said about other languages like Japanese or Chinese, but I don't think anyone would describe them as "languages that use the Latin alphabet".
As for typing on keyboard the main Russian layout is nothing like qwerty. Computer keyboards sold in relevant regions often have dual labels. I personally never learned touch typing in Cyrillic and use the phonetic layout in the rare cases I need to do so since for me it was a second foreign language.
Which exact approach Click chose - who knows. Will it be possible to choose your preferred Russian layout like on a desktop computer? Likely not. If they supported that I would have expect them to also add layouts for more languages. Although maybe they didn't want to promise anything for languages for which they don't have OS UI translations.
Fortunately, I then assumed that I knew nothing and asked anyways. I'm glad I did — this thread is now much more interesting than the one-word comment conveyed to me at first.
Key word - variant
Probably just a me problem, but I feel like I've never been able to get any good at typing on a screen keyboard no matter how long I do it.
That said, I may consider this just for the fact that I won't have to retype/correct every other word in a text lol.
- PKB (check) with gestures / navigation (check) - Customisable, colour notification LED (check) - Unified inbox (check).
So far though only BB got all of it right though - very curious how this one works out.
Any device that isn’t as thick and heavy as the original Game Boy feels uncomfortably cramped in my hands.
Being unable to fit in a pocket would be a plus. I want a device I have to consciously choose to carry with me to a new room, like a tablet or a pound of butter.
https://www.clicks.tech/products/clicks-keyboard-for-iphone-...
It still has a touchscreen, right? And it even has a blinky light up button on the side, something iPhone doesn't. I read the homepage, but I couldn't figure out how this phone was "anti-doomscrolling" - what am I missing?
The Clicks Communicator appears to be a bit smaller than the chonky Titan 2, but for those looking to end doom scrolling, this might not be the phone for you.
That said, using a rectangular phone does make the device unappealing for most video based platforms (which are all either in widescreen or tall landscape mode). It'll do in a pinch, but a square screen is pretty good at making Youtube/Tiktok/etc. less appealing.
Apps won't render properly on too small a screen (e.g. Google Maps). Good luck reading a website on a 4" square screen too
Apple could have made an iPhone Mini with customised OS that does not cater for massive screen and social media entertainment.
But Apple is too focused on making money from services sector which is the App Store.
Presentation: The web site shows the same screen - show some variety of what the OS looks like in that format.
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.
What makes me suspicious is the Gmail icon instead of a generic email app.
So if I have my own email server, does that mean no mail? Or would there be one Gmail app and another separate email client? Unclear.
You can disable the Gmail app and install something like Thunderbird seeing as this is just a normal Android phone (which, of course, will also show you your Gmail emails if you set it up to do so).
Also find it ironic how all these things are starting to look more and more like my old Palm Pilot.
I am always reluctant to jump on with these independent ambitious projects. The first version is understandably rough, and the company seems to fold before they get to a second or third version.
But maybe advances in manufacturing in China are making high-quality, small-batch products like this more tractable?
I don’t know - it feels to me that this is evidence that there _isn’t_ sufficient demand to sustain a successful product like this.
(Small phones, unlike small cars, also have costs in UI development to maintain their form factor’s OS support, which can create an additional pressure to withhold devices for a viable and profitable market.)
Because it impacts ARPU. It's really not that difficult, you're the product being sold.
No, there demand is negligible. It's just typical hacker news people who want to suddenly become productive Silicon Valley trope hustle style, or people who want to change their damaging habits in a day, so instead of uninstalling TikTok which takes 15 seconds to do, they will spend money a separate device.
Although the keyboard may be useful.
Voice control makes for a fun scifi gimmick but it is incredibly impractical in real life without an alternative interface, in my experience.
How easy is it to build a custom android phone these days, with the help of Chinese suppliers of course?
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.
you can fight that, and lose (no market)
or accept second device status (for werk), optimize that use case, and be honest that it will not be the main device
In the comments below the Verge Article and announcement video on the Communicator, there is already confusion because of their second device marketing. Whether you can use it without another device, whether it can share data contracts like a smartwatch, what keeps one from using it as their sole smartphone, some even asking whether this actually allows for phone calls or is just for mailing.
They have clearly just confused the messaging for the core audience of Clicks and devices of this type by chasing what I'd argue is a mirage, a customer base that doesn't exist.
Keep in mind, Clicks doesn't need to speculate who will buy this. They already have a loyal consumer base (I paid over € 150,- including import fees for just the case and am far from alone), made up of power users who mostly will use this as their sole smartphone, just like we have been doing with our Clicks equipped iPhones, Pixels, Razrs and Galaxies.
Second device is a wholly different market, one that I suspect does not intersect much with the existing base of heavy power users, using their phones to reliably control e.g. IDEs and remote desktops on the go.
I'd argue the two are in fact polar opposites, someone who needs reliable input on the go is likely not the same someone who wants to use their phone less and equally would not want to just have reliable input only on e.g. their work device. For me, it's always a pain when I have to use a touch only keyboard despite previously doing fine with swiping, etc. so if a Communicator user wanted to have physically separate devices for work and private, they'd more likely go for a second Clicks, the keyboard is that nice and arguably locks you in tight.
Major concern as is often the case with new phone startups is the update policy and more importantly whether they'll be able to actually deliver over the years. Has been literally half a decade since I last used a Mediathek device, so maybe this changed, but back then they didn't have the best reputation for long term maintenance, providing drivers to enable updates, etc...
the power user base you mention is probably too small to sustain them long term
Or from the other side, why would the digital detox, second device crowd go for a fully featured Android phone with a color AMOLED with all the temptations that brings over a smartwatch or black and white screened device?
not sure if that makes them a power user
why do you equate second device with digital detox?
what happened to use the best tool for the job? use a phone with a physical keyboard when chatting on WhatsApp and then switch to a regular phone for Instagram and browsing web. not saying everybody should do this but if chatting is your life...
some people even use a phone and a laptop at the same time, they are already a second device person, so they could be a three device person
If they are willing to pay quite a lot over alternative smartphones, wait half a year to have it delivered, then sit down for roughly two weeks, forcing themselves to slowly touch type so as to build the muscle memory required to actually be able to type on a Clicks then I'd say they are more than likely power users and dedicated ones willing to sacrifice quite a lot of convenience for quite a long time.
Nowadays I easily get 80wpm on my Clicks, but it took a while and I can assure you, anyone who doesn't have a true need for a physical keyboard on a smartphone in 2026, something they know they'll get a benefit from if they can type faster and without looking, they won't spend more than a minute trying it and won't be able to use it.
Heck, Michael Fisher, one of the cofounders said, for this very reason: "If you only give yourself 5 minutes with it you might as well not even bother. Getting into a physical keyboard takes time" [0]
Be honest, for a secondary device that is a massive effort to invest.
> [...] why do you equate second device with digital detox? [...]
Because if you are not willing to use a Clicks as your sole device for two weeks (so it cannot be your second phone), you won't be able to type on one in any meaningful way. Which is what happens if it were your second device. At that point the digital detox idea of "it introduces friction" is the only other angle you can have.
> [...] use a phone with a physical keyboard when chatting on WhatsApp and then switch to a regular phone for Instagram and browsing web [...]
But, again, Clicks has been making cases for regular phones for years now, which allow this far better than carrying a dedicated phone with a second contract alongside a phone solely for media consumption.
If you want a physical keyboard and also want the 21:9-16:9 aspect ratio of most smartphones, use a Clicks case. No need for a second device.
And once, like me, you've actually invested the effort, once you've gotten used to a Clicks and are reliant on it, you'll likely not want a device without it, so again, the idea that someone buys and uses a Clicks Communicator alongside a regular smartphone without a Clicks cases is not really realistic for me. If I am browsing social media or the web, I now want a reliable keyboard that doesn't steal screen real estate just as much as when I am working on a document.
Basically, Clicks enabled phones are devices that encourage users to become dependent on a unique input approach and thus make switching to devices without the keyboard less pleasant. In other words, Clicks, in my opinion, is detrimental to a two phone lifestyle, unless both phones have Clicks. The amount of effort you have to invest to become comfortable with it and the experience you get once you are both make it an appealing secondary device, unless again, one wants to have a worse experience to "detox".
> some people even use a phone and a laptop at the same time, they are already a second device person, so they could be a three device person
By that logic the average person nowadays is a fifteen+ device person, but I suspect you know this conversation is focused on within a device category.
Regardless of the viability of the second device category, what is confirmed in the Youtube comments, on Reddit and here on Hacker News, is that this secondary device approach has muddled their communication and confused potential customers.
If you are faced with questions like "can this make calls", "is it like a smartwatch" and "can I use this on its own", you have not communicated what you are doing properly and no matter how large the alleged second device market is, you can't reach them either if these are unclear even for your previous customers.
but if it's like using a Dvorak and a Qwerty at the same time, it makes sense it should be the only device
EDIT: was referring to their first product that is an iphone case plus keyboard (I just noticed they have a new keyboard offering).
what will stop you then from keeping your existing TikTok phone after buying this?
You do you. It was ment as a glimmer of hope for society at large.
And because of this it’s just another android phone. And it fails (will) because the screen ratio does not work for those apps.
This would be awesome if it would just be that a „communicator“ meaning a device that allows to communicate.
Think remarkable vs all the other e-ink android tablets.
The clicks keyboard does not have ctrl, arrows, page up, down or really any special keys so I’m not sure it would be that much more pleasant. I know iOS keyboard has been quite meh in the recent releases but for thumb typing I’m not convinced that physical keyboard are superior.
By "open" above, I don't necessarily mean open hardware (though that would be great). I just mean "as open as a random consumer x86 computer you can just throw any Linux distro at without any special secret sauce".
The small+portable nature of these phones make them unsuitable for amd64 chips (so far) so everyone is using ARM chips, which means dealing with weird and quirky bootloaders or hard-coded OS keys. Qualcomm is putting effort into getting some iterations of their hardware into a well-supported state, so hopefully we may see better mainline Linux support on their chips soon. However, you're not going to get your hands on Qualcomm chips if you don't beat their (high) minimum order quantities and these tiny keyboard phones are hardly mainstream devices, so they often end up with MediaTek chips which have absolutely terrible mainline Linux support (and even worse bootloader quirks).
Your options are things like the CHIP (which is dead, now, I think?), Pocket GPD or other gaming focused ultra-portable, or something like the Pinephone.
Just get a Pixel with GrapheneOS and put one of ZitaoTech's USB-C BB keyboards under it (or get a BT one).
So I have a lot of hope for this working and it will be fantastic influence on others. Niagara launcher, if they tweaked it, can be nice as well with keyboard.
I want them to succeed. I am on Google Fi, I have data card with my plan, this would be perfect use. I don't chat nearly as much but this would just me fantastic.
I watched full keynote, it is very good presentation, that thing alone should sell phones.
Price... I don't know, it is OK, it could be lower, but it is fine if it delivers. I am not getting anything until I get it reviewed by multiple people.
Wish them success.
If they're using the same keyboard in this phone, it won't be of interest to me.
>Communicator will run Android 16. We’re comfortable committing to 2 years of Android updates and 5 years of security updates