The Clicks Communicator is the BlackBerry Inheritor We Deserve

There’s a persistent ache for the tactile click on of a bodily keyboard that merely refuses to die out. At present, Clicks Expertise – the corporate that famously slapped a keyboard case on the iPhone final yr – has introduced a {hardware} pivot that’s each nostalgic and radically formidable. They’ve launched the Clicks Communicator, a standalone machine designed to not exchange your foremost smartphone, however to behave as a “companion” to it, very like a Kindle enhances an iPad.

Accompanied by a brand new common Energy Keyboard, this launch represents a shift from making equipment to defining a brand new class of cellular computing: “Anti-distraction {hardware}.”

The Communicator: “Mission Clover” Revealed

The headline announcement is the Communicator (codenamed “Mission Clover”). At its core, the machine addresses a contemporary paradox: we have to keep related, however the gadgets we use to take action are engineered to distract us.

The Communicator is constructed on the philosophy of “triage.” It’s a devoted messaging machine supposed to deal with your indicators – Texts, WhatsApp, Emails, Slack – with out the noise of Instagram Reels or TikTok feeds. Michael Fisher (MrMobile), co-founder of Clicks, explicitly compares the machine to an e-reader. You don’t browse the net on a Kindle; you learn. Equally, you don’t “doomscroll” on a Communicator; you talk.

To realize this, Clicks recruited Joseph Hofer, the economic designer behind among the most iconic BlackBerry gadgets of the mid-2000s. The result’s a tool described as having a “Goldilocks type issue” – sufficiently small to be pocketable alongside an iPhone 17 Professional Max, however substantial sufficient to sort on comfortably.

{Hardware} for the “Recovering” Energy Consumer

The machine is unapologetically retro-futurist. The underside half is dominated by a bodily QWERTY keyboard. However in contrast to the dumbphones of the 90s, this keyboard is capacitive. Customers can swipe their thumbs over the keys to scroll by means of emails or webpages, protecting their fingers off the small 4.03-inch show.

Probably the most distinct {hardware} characteristic, nonetheless, is the Sign Mild. Situated on the aspect key (dubbed the “Immediate Key”), this LED strip provides granular, color-coded notification contexts. The thought is to interrupt the behavior of lighting up your display screen for each buzz. If the sunshine pulses inexperienced, it’s household; if it’s blue, it’s work; if it’s crimson, it’s pressing. If it’s not lit, you don’t test.

For the true tech fans, the Communicator is a love letter to misplaced options. It consists of two ports which have largely vanished from fashionable flagships: a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot (expandable as much as 2TB). These inclusions sign precisely who this telephone is for – the utility-focused person who resents the “dongle life.”

Software program: Android, however Quiet

Working on Android 16, the Communicator avoids the usual grid of colourful app icons. As an alternative, Clicks has partnered with the builders of Niagara Launcher, a well-liked minimalist Android interface. The house display screen is an easy, text-based record of important apps.

The “Immediate Key” on the aspect additionally integrates deeply with voice and AI. A single press prompts voice dictation (for fast replies or notes), whereas a protracted press can set off an AI agent. There’s a “kill change” bodily key on the opposite aspect that silences the machine fully. Safety is dealt with by way of “Android Strongbox,” guaranteeing that regardless of its retro vibes, the machine meets fashionable encryption requirements for enterprise use.

The Energy Keyboard: A Common Pivot

Whereas the Communicator steals the present, the brand new Energy Keyboard is arguably the extra commercially viable product. Transferring away from the fitted “case” design of their first product, this can be a common Bluetooth keyboard that attaches magnetically (MagSafe/Qi2) to the again of any telephone.

It encompasses a slider mechanism that enables it to work in portrait mode or rotate right into a “Batwing” panorama mode – perfect for banging out spreadsheets or lengthy paperwork on the go. Crucially, it accommodates its personal 2,150mAh battery, which not solely powers the keys however wirelessly fees the telephone it’s connected to. Fisher highlighted its versatility past telephones, showcasing it as a text-input software for Apple TV and VR headsets, fixing the perennial downside of typing passwords in digital actuality.

The Gamble: Two Telephones in 2026?

The important query stays: will folks really carry two telephones? The “dumbphone” motion has been rising, however normally as a alternative, not a companion. Clicks is betting that professionals are bored with the psychological load of their major gadgets however can’t afford to disconnect utterly.

At $499 (approx. KES 64,870), the Communicator is priced like a mid-range telephone, however it lacks the digicam versatility and display screen actual property of rivals in that bracket. It’s a area of interest software for a selected sort of digital burnout. Whether or not that area of interest is massive sufficient to maintain a {hardware} startup stays to be seen.

Clicks Communicator Specs

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