I had the Unihertz Titan for a while . It was a fun experiment, but I ultimately found it too annoying for continued daily use
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.
I feel like I see an independent low-noise phone project like, every 3 months. Clearly there is some latent demand here. I wonder why the big players (Google, Apple, Samsung, HTC) haven't made a big-corp product for this market.
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?
This actually looks nice! I'd prefer a slide out horizontal keyboard like the X10 Mini Pro[1], but beggars can't be choosers.
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 :/
The first rendering made me think it was as thick as a brick, and that got me kind of excited for a moment…
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.
Wow I wish they had announced this sooner. I just ordered a keyphone but this looks way more suited to my use case. I just want a basic feature phone + qwerty keyboard + signal + whats app.
I've been using a lightphone for 3 years but i can't stand the touch screen and only having SMS is annoying.
What do you use for maps? Or paying for parking which maybe isn't the case for you but in my city requires use of a smartphone app. What about music and podcasts? Asking cause I would like to use a dumb phone if possible but it seems like it would actually introduce a lot of friction into daily life.
This is looking great, hope the camera can at least produce decent photos. So many other phones with a QEWRTY keyboard just have awful cameras.
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.
Cool, I have a friend who always mourned the loss of his physical keyboard, I will tell him. I wish it could run standard Linux though (perhaps it can) - would make it a sweet little cyberdeck…
What's funny is I actually use to have a Palm Treo and I feel like I stopped being able to text even remotely efficiently ever since I switched from that to my first iPhone.
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.
You need to stop worrying about what letters you’re hitting and just type; autocorrect will get your intent 99% of the time.
Once I stopped worrying about what keys I was hitting I was able to type just as fast as when I was using my Sidekick with full Qwerty back in the days before iPhone.
Hell yeah it is. They've found some success with their cases, and I'm excited to switch to their new magnetic keyboard for horizontal portable work, but I do worry this is a moonshot that will sink them.
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!
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).
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.
There is nothing preventing the use of IG and TikTok. It is a regular Android phone and unlike a Light Phone can have a target market beyond those thinking if they buy a treadmill, that spend will force them to keep exercising. It rarely works, of course, same with second phones.
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. This just confuses the messaging for the core audience of Clicks.
Keep in mind, Clicks has a loyal consumer base, made up of power users who mostly will use this as their sole smartphone, just like we did 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 have fond memories of my LG enV2, so much that I tried a hardware keyboard again a few years ago. Hardware solves the tactile problem but the most painful part of mobile typing is cursor navigation, basic editing, and tiny text areas. So, now I can feel the keys, but it does nothing to enhance navigation, or basic editing; I get a smaller screen for text areas (and all other non-typing related tasks); and if any of those tiny keys breaks, the entire device is useless.
It's a MediaTek SoC, so the Linux experience will be Bad to say the least. This thing will be running the oldest kernel possible with all kind of nasty vendor hacks.
I'm with you. But what phone are you using day to day? I keep watching for linux phones or even start to wonder if Apple is finally the "lesser of two evils" :/
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 :(
I had the Unihertz Titan for a while . It was a fun experiment, but I ultimately found it too annoying for continued daily use
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.
I feel like I see an independent low-noise phone project like, every 3 months. Clearly there is some latent demand here. I wonder why the big players (Google, Apple, Samsung, HTC) haven't made a big-corp product for this market.
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 feel like I see an independent low-noise phone project like, every 3 months. Clearly there is some latent demand here.
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.
> I wonder why the big players (Google, Apple, Samsung, HTC) haven't made a big-corp product for this market.
Because it impacts ARPU. It's really not that difficult, you're the product being sold.
This actually looks nice! I'd prefer a slide out horizontal keyboard like the X10 Mini Pro[1], but beggars can't be choosers.
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...
Actually, this was initially a phone accessory (1) with a keyboard.
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.
1. https://www.clicks.tech/en
2. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.clicks.com...
The first rendering made me think it was as thick as a brick, and that got me kind of excited for a moment…
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.
You could create a 3D printed case maybe
Wow I wish they had announced this sooner. I just ordered a keyphone but this looks way more suited to my use case. I just want a basic feature phone + qwerty keyboard + signal + whats app.
I've been using a lightphone for 3 years but i can't stand the touch screen and only having SMS is annoying.
What do you use for maps? Or paying for parking which maybe isn't the case for you but in my city requires use of a smartphone app. What about music and podcasts? Asking cause I would like to use a dumb phone if possible but it seems like it would actually introduce a lot of friction into daily life.
I pay for parking with quarters or a credit card.
If necessary I use a piece of paper for maps.
For music I have an ipod.
Ah man this hardware looks amazing — I just don’t know if I could give up living on iOS…
They have a standalone keyboard product that snaps with magsafe.
Looks great and the price is a pleasant surprise. Can we flash a custom OS to it?
I'm missing having LED colours for notifications on my current phone.
Loved the LED on my Blackberry Passport.
I had two Blackberry Passport even after EOF. Best email experience ever and LED for emails was particularly useful.
> What languages will be supported?
> As a real keyboard with the QWERTY layout, Communicator supports languages that use the Latin alphabet: [...] Russian
Weird
Japanese too
This is looking great, hope the camera can at least produce decent photos. So many other phones with a QEWRTY keyboard just have awful cameras.
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.
The site lists the following specs for cameras:
> Cameras
> Rear: 50MP OIS
> Front: 24MP
Honestly, this sounds like a great deal
Cool, I have a friend who always mourned the loss of his physical keyboard, I will tell him. I wish it could run standard Linux though (perhaps it can) - would make it a sweet little cyberdeck…
It looks more like hype than a real product.
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.
Pretty neat. I have the Clicks keyboard and I just wish the keys weren't so stiff. Too hard to type on, sadly.
For people who miss blackberry.
What's funny is I actually use to have a Palm Treo and I feel like I stopped being able to text even remotely efficiently ever since I switched from that to my first iPhone.
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.
You need to stop worrying about what letters you’re hitting and just type; autocorrect will get your intent 99% of the time.
Once I stopped worrying about what keys I was hitting I was able to type just as fast as when I was using my Sidekick with full Qwerty back in the days before iPhone.
Hell yeah it is. They've found some success with their cases, and I'm excited to switch to their new magnetic keyboard for horizontal portable work, but I do worry this is a moonshot that will sink them.
If only form factors like these could run general use/free OS's...
This is running Android
Me.
Sounds like a competitor to the Minimal Phone?
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!
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).
I've been very impressed by the attention to detail Clicks puts into their products. It might be a niche but it seems like one that deserves to exist.
Isnt this just a blackberry?
This feels very scammy.
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.
people still need their IG and TikTok
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
There is nothing preventing the use of IG and TikTok. It is a regular Android phone and unlike a Light Phone can have a target market beyond those thinking if they buy a treadmill, that spend will force them to keep exercising. It rarely works, of course, same with second phones.
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. This just confuses the messaging for the core audience of Clicks.
Keep in mind, Clicks has a loyal consumer base, made up of power users who mostly will use this as their sole smartphone, just like we did 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 may eventually get one of these just to use with Claude code. Been looking for the lightest best machine to use with agents.
Maybe dictation is the way to go? It’s a quick way to interact with agents and works really well.
I have fond memories of my LG enV2, so much that I tried a hardware keyboard again a few years ago. Hardware solves the tactile problem but the most painful part of mobile typing is cursor navigation, basic editing, and tiny text areas. So, now I can feel the keys, but it does nothing to enhance navigation, or basic editing; I get a smaller screen for text areas (and all other non-typing related tasks); and if any of those tiny keys breaks, the entire device is useless.
>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
Sooo a Blackberry?
One of these running linux would be nice, but definitely not buying one to run Android.
I wish they'd specify if the bootloader was unlock/relockable. Could have been cool to see GrapheneOS support.
This device misses some of the requirements for GrapheneOS. It wouldn't be as secure as a Pixel.
Just get a Pixel with GrapheneOS and put one of ZitaoTech's USB-C BB keyboards under it (or get a BT one).
It's a MediaTek SoC, so the Linux experience will be Bad to say the least. This thing will be running the oldest kernel possible with all kind of nasty vendor hacks.
why not?
Had to use it at a prior job and hated it. Plus, you know, Google.
I'm with you. But what phone are you using day to day? I keep watching for linux phones or even start to wonder if Apple is finally the "lesser of two evils" :/
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 :(
do you have so little agency that you can't stop yourself from installing TikTok?
what will stop you then from keeping your existing TikTok phone after buying this?
Uhhh judgey…
You do you. It was ment as a glimmer of hope for society at large.
ah, sorry, you just want to control what apps other people can use
Education is the hope we need, not yet another "innovative", centrally controlled device.