Watching the Clicks Communicator (but not buying, yet!)

I remember when I first read about Clicks Communicator on Tweakers. It was the end of June 2026. A smartphone. With keys. Physical keys. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was hooked, and I would read a lot more about it in the future.

What it is

So it’s a smartphone and it has a physical QWERTY keyboard. It’s not a BlackBerry, but you can’t help but realise that’s the first thing everyone will think of. It’s scheduled to launch Q4 2026, with a price of $499. It’s got an AMOLED screen, slightly bigger than 4 inches across. I swear it’s more than 4 inches 😉.

It’s got a fingerprint scanner in the space key, a signal ring light on its side button, a front and back camera, and ticks all the other boxes you expect on a modern smartphone.

What I want from a phone

I’m a simple man. I want a simple phone. I need some basics, like messaging apps such as Signal, and WhatsApp (Unfortunately haven’t been able to convince all my friends and family to switch yet), navigation, camera, banking, that sorta stuff. I don’t need to track my health, play games, doomscroll social media, and all the other stuff it can do. And yes, I can hear you hammering your keyboard (if I’d actually build a comment section on this site) that the phone runs Android, so any distraction on another phone will work here as well. And you’d be right. But I hope the square screen, buttons and design focused on the opposite of that, will do the heavy lifting.

Also, and I probably should’ve started with this, I really dislike typing on a touchscreen. I make a lot of mistakes. I like to say I’ve got fat fingers, but that’s not true. It’s likely a skill issue and I’m just getting old. Regardless, physical keys are just better. Sue me.

Finally, and this could just be me, but when was the last time you were excited for a new phone? For me that hasn’t been for a few years using my iPhones.

There are more

Of course, being the curious type, I started looking around. Is this a new trend arising? Is this a movement that was hidden from me all these years? Is there a secret religion dedicated to bringing smartphones with physical keys back into the mainstream?

Well, not quite, but there surely are more phones out there with a physical QWERTY keyboard. So I held the two I found up against the things I said I wanted.

The most notable is probably the Unihertz Titan 2 (or the Titan 2 Elite). On keys, it’s the closest thing to what I’m after. On the simple phone front it does nothing at all: it’s a big slab of Android with the full app store and a screen you can comfortably scroll for an hour. Put the two side by side and the Communicator wins on design for me, but that’s a tiebreaker, not the argument.

Then there’s the recently announced Kickstarter project “Minimal Phone 2”. It looks good, and I was glad to see they replaced the e-ink display with a modern AMOLED. Although, thinking about it a bit longer, that trade probably cuts both ways. E-ink was the thing that made the first one bad at doomscrolling. Swapping it for AMOLED makes it a nicer phone and a slightly less minimal one. Which is funny, because it’s the same bet I’m making on the Communicator, just from the other direction: I’m hoping a small square screen and a keyboard do the work that e-ink used to.

The other thing I like about the Communicator over that one, is that you can ‘program’ it (read: set up keybinds).

Why I’m cautious

Trust me. It looks good, but there are definitely reasons to be cautious. First, it’s the first phone released by Clicks. They made cases with keyboards before, so it’s not a new company in that sense, but it’s their first phone release, unlike the other two mentioned in the previous section.

Second, Clicks themselves frame it as “the ultimate companion phone”, to keep next to your iPhone. I’m sorry, what? You’re making such a cool product and you’re setting yourself up to be a background dancer? From their product page:

Just because we designed Communicator as the ultimate complement to your iPhone, Galaxy or Pixel, doesn’t mean it can’t be your new main.

Look at the comments on the video where the CEO has been using it for three weeks straight, and you see I’m not the only one flabbergasted by this positioning.

Third, all footage of working devices is from content by Clicks itself. Until I’ve seen other people holding and using it, I’ll remain sceptical. And Clicks, if, by the grace of god, you are reading this, I’ll happily take one and be that person 😁.

And last, I’m wondering about app compatibility. The screen has a nearly square aspect ratio. I’m not worried about the bigger name apps out there, but that one app you need to identify yourself with your government? Local city app? Some other smaller app? Will they all work properly on square displays?

What it’d cost me

This is the primary fuel for my doubt. There’s quite a hefty price to pay (figuratively) here. Let’s start with the obvious. I’m pretty deep in the Apple ecosystem. I’ve been on iPhone and Macs for years. The AirDrop feature is pretty nice and works quick and easy. I have shared albums with friends and family. Cats with AirTags (Don’t do it, it’s not worth it). I’ve bought AirPods this year (Not because I really wanted to). So yeah, all solvable, but definitely some work and regression there.

Then, there’s another big one. I’ve not had a phone with physical keys since… many years? I can’t even recall. What if I don’t like it? What if I can’t get used to it? What if it feels off? It’s quite a switch, obviously, so I really hope I can hold it and try it somewhere first, but I doubt it’ll be in phone stores anytime soon.

I’m keeping my eye on you, Communicator

So that’s where I’m at. I’m not going to lie, I’m super stoked for this phone and hope it’ll be good. It can be my stepping stone out of the Apple ecosystem. But I’m not going to purchase this yet. I’ve been following their updates and content, but I remain sceptical, with good hope.