All the other discussions I found on Lemmy dismiss it because they find the idea of a second phone ridiculous. Or because they don’t buy into the “dumb phone” concept. But I think it makes a compelling phone on it’s own, and you wouldn’t need a second.
But really look into it. By every indication it appears designed to be a fully featured main phone. It has some compromises made to fit the keyboard first philosophy, but it has everything you’d need and more. Dual SIM (eSIM+physical), a headphone jack, micro SD Card support, a 50mp camera with OIS (I know megapixels don’t mean much but I think it shows it’s not gonna be the cheapest crap camera), NFC/Google Pay support, Android Auto, Qi2… That doesn’t read “second phone” to me. It’s just… phone.
They have now said that it will have an unlockable bootloader too. I’m not finding much to dislike here. 8GB of RAM is somewhat low but should be fine. The processor is still a question mark but honesty as long as it’s not bottom of the barrel it should be perfectly fine. I have always gone for flagship phones but honestly I’ve started analyzing what I actually do on my phone and I pretty much never push the hardware. I like knowing I have the top of the line but I basically just web browse, message, read email, scroll Lemmy, and listen to music/podcasts. Very occasionally watch some YouTube but that’s usually on my TV or PC. No gaming or anything. I should be able to do all of that on this device, some of it won’t be as good on that screen obviously but it should still be doable. I need the camera to at least be decent. Not great just not garbage. Like it’s fine if the low light performance is meh and the video isn’t the best. But I don’t want to look at my photos and regret taking it with that device, so we’ll see.
I don’t want a dumb phone, and I don’t think this is one. You should be able to do everything any other phone can. I don’t think it’s a second phone either. I think they’re just leaning into that for marketing reasons, so that when anyone points out the tradeoffs of this form factor they can just wave it away as a secondary device.
It appeals to me because it’s a small phone. Seriously nobody makes one worth using. Unihertz sure, if you want a bad software experience with no updates ever. But otherwise you just have the non-plus sized iPhone/Galaxy S. Those are considered small. Or maybe the flip-foldables. It also appeals to me because it has major character and (imo) style. I’m bored of glass and metal sandwiches. Give me this! A plastic device with a swappable back that has a (vegan?) leather option? Hell yeah.
While I fully understand why it doesn’t have umlauts that’s a dealbreaker for me for this and probably pretty much every such device that will ever come out nowadays.
Same here. If you type in - possibly several - non-English languages, these keyboards will be pretty useless. But if all you need is a burner for work, then, it’s likely a little expensive.
True, though they do have help from some people who worked at/designed the old BlackBerry and have shipped several well received pieces of hardware before.
This looks awesome and would consider looking more into it as a real alternative to the current crap, BUT…
I will never buy a product that isn’t already produced and ready to ship. Funding campaigns like this are imo most likely scams, very often not serious and if they truly are great, I’d rather wait for V2 or V3 to come, before buying
the physical keyboard is great for english users but terrible for people who need to use 2 or 3 languages on their phones.
I need android or iPhone to run the local authentication apps for banking, doctors appointments app and even some times payment methods
I will never buy a product that isn’t already produced and ready to ship. Funding campaigns like this are imo most likely scams, very often not serious and if they truly are great, I’d rather wait for V2 or V3 to come, before buying
To be fair this company already ships hardware in physical retail stores (keyboard cases for existing phones). I’m fairly certain they’re serious here but yeah waiting for the real deal is always a better bet.
the physical keyboard is great for english users but terrible for people who need to use 2 or 3 languages on their phones.
That’s true, or depends on which languages. Some use QWERTY layouts already like Spanish. I’m bilingual in Spanish and don’t forsee any issue with typing in Spanish on this. They have said that holding down a key works like you’d expect, bringing up diacritics/alternate symbols. The typing suggestions can be bilingual no issue. They said they do want to ship more keyboard variants (QWERTZ/etc) but can’t commit to more SKUs at this stage.
I need android or iPhone to run the local authentication apps for banking, doctors appointments app and even some times payment methods
Non-issue. This is an Android phone, that will supposedly have the latest version and full Play Store access.
I suspect that since they already make the keyboard cases, that all they’re planning on doing is making that but a bit smaller, and getting a no-brand Chinese phone manufacturer to make a small stubby square phone that fits in it.
I’m curious what the average Android app will do when presented with that little square aspect ratio. I’ve vaguely dabbled in phone dev before and there’s lots of twatting about to deal with different device sizes (tablets vs phones) and ratios. The proliferation of folding phones may mean there’s decent support for some apps, but I don’t expect that to be universal by any stretch.
On their website, they have videos or renders of how some features work and there seems to be a lot of wasted space to the left and right of the interfaces. So maybe just transparent margins?
Whoah! Having recently tried the launcher, I could see how that would pair really well with a physical keyboard in that you can get to any app with ~2 clicks by typing it’s first letter and tapping the screen, or even without looking at the screen by typing the whole name and hitting enter.
I never had a phone with a physical qwerty keypad, I went straight from a T-9 and Palm Graffiti (the best input method for a decade!) to full touchscreens. Having said that, this looks interesting and I do think they found a market niche. I’d be interested to mess with it for a couple of days to see how the form factor would work for me.
This Lemmy comment will be performed in the voice of that fat British guy on Youtube shorts that talks about marketing
You see, the problem with marketing it as a “second phone” is that you’re implying that it’s too shit to be someone’s first phone. Or that you’ve chosen to do something to it that would make it impossible to live with.
I remember in 2018, Verizon started offering a tiny little Android phone branded as a Palm of all things, and that small but vocal minority who insist they want small phones started clamoring for it only to be told that it’s a “companion device” and you still had to have another device active on that line. It cost $350 plus $10 a month on top of another device and plan.
There was essentially no one on earth who wanted a special phone they only used to take to the gym with them, they refused to sell it to people who specifically wanted it, and so it didn’t sell well, to say the least.
I just want actual buttons like this thing has. If I can just get a keyboard that attaches to the phone without making it unwieldy, that would be sick.
My first thought is how well it actually stays connected to the phone and would work through a case, as it appears to attach via just magnets. Does look pretty slick tho, and it also doubles as a powerbank.
Yeah that’s the big question. I mean they also make keyboard cases which work well technically and are well made but having to redesign it for every new model phone seems unrealistic and also it makes your phone comically long and unbalanced.
Same. It would definitely be my daily driver. I’m using the Minimal Phone now but have often found that I would rather have this same form factor with a regular screen, and the Communicator seems to basically be that. I am still deciding if I want to pre-order but I’ve set a reminder to do or don’t before the window closes.
According to the support ticket I put in a week or so ago, the bootloader will be unlockable which is great news.
The only thing the specs don’t mention is how much RAM it will have.
The hardware is the same AFAIK but they’ve put out two three software updates since I’ve had it. One added some extra features to the eink control utility and the second fixed some really annoying bugs with the fingerprint sensor. Both also included the system security updates as well.
There was a 3rd one a few weeks ago, but I think it was just a security bump. It wasn’t announced and just showed up. There may have been some tweak to the QWERTY keyboard utility because now the annoying bar that only indicated the ALT/Shift status at the bottom is no longer there and was happy to no longer see.
The base system is stable. The only instability I really had with mine was the fingerprint sensor resetting every week. It would just stop registering until you turn fingerprint detection off, reboot, and re-enroll all of your prints. The second update they pushed seems to have fixed that.
Their default launcher could use some work. I replaced Minimal Launcher with a similar one that works identically. The problem with Minimal Launcher is it is hardcoded to certain apps. I’ve de-googled mine so I don’t use Google clock or calendar. Clicking the time or date in Minimal Launcher will only take you to Google Clock or Calendar (respectively) rather than asking what app to open or trying to detect the default app for that. I submitted a bug for that a couple months ago but so far no fix.
They also seem to only update their software (launcher, quick settings, keyboard config, etc) through system updates rather than via apps. You also can’t disable any of them either.
I also haven’t heard anything more about them supporting non-Googled or third party Android builds.
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It is way too expensive for me, and the keyboard only supports the english layout which is a no-go, but damn do I want one.
Same situation with all the fancy split keyboards - they have 10 buttons per row, my layout needs 12 buttons per row.
While I fully understand why it doesn’t have umlauts that’s a dealbreaker for me for this and probably pretty much every such device that will ever come out nowadays.
You’re in luck, they added a German layout - https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/02/27/3246299/0/en/Clicks-Brings-Communicator-to-New-Markets-with-Localized-Keyboard-Layouts.html
If they make a model with a QWERTZ keyboard I might consider it as my next phone.
You’re in luck. https://www.reddit.com/r/ClicksPhone/comments/1rg082s/clicks_communicator_coming_in_azerty_qwertz/
Same here. If you type in - possibly several - non-English languages, these keyboards will be pretty useless. But if all you need is a burner for work, then, it’s likely a little expensive.
I’m sure if this sees any kind of success more localization is inevitable.
This a phone made by a youtuber. Do with that information what you want
True, though they do have help from some people who worked at/designed the old BlackBerry and have shipped several well received pieces of hardware before.
deleted by creator
This looks awesome and would consider looking more into it as a real alternative to the current crap, BUT…
I will never buy a product that isn’t already produced and ready to ship. Funding campaigns like this are imo most likely scams, very often not serious and if they truly are great, I’d rather wait for V2 or V3 to come, before buying
the physical keyboard is great for english users but terrible for people who need to use 2 or 3 languages on their phones.
I need android or iPhone to run the local authentication apps for banking, doctors appointments app and even some times payment methods
To be fair this company already ships hardware in physical retail stores (keyboard cases for existing phones). I’m fairly certain they’re serious here but yeah waiting for the real deal is always a better bet.
That’s true, or depends on which languages. Some use QWERTY layouts already like Spanish. I’m bilingual in Spanish and don’t forsee any issue with typing in Spanish on this. They have said that holding down a key works like you’d expect, bringing up diacritics/alternate symbols. The typing suggestions can be bilingual no issue. They said they do want to ship more keyboard variants (QWERTZ/etc) but can’t commit to more SKUs at this stage.
Non-issue. This is an Android phone, that will supposedly have the latest version and full Play Store access.
I suspect that since they already make the keyboard cases, that all they’re planning on doing is making that but a bit smaller, and getting a no-brand Chinese phone manufacturer to make a small stubby square phone that fits in it.
I’m curious what the average Android app will do when presented with that little square aspect ratio. I’ve vaguely dabbled in phone dev before and there’s lots of twatting about to deal with different device sizes (tablets vs phones) and ratios. The proliferation of folding phones may mean there’s decent support for some apps, but I don’t expect that to be universal by any stretch.
On their website, they have videos or renders of how some features work and there seems to be a lot of wasted space to the left and right of the interfaces. So maybe just transparent margins?
The screenshot looks like Niagara Launcher.
It is, they’re partnering with them to make a customized version for the phone.
Whoah! Having recently tried the launcher, I could see how that would pair really well with a physical keyboard in that you can get to any app with ~2 clicks by typing it’s first letter and tapping the screen, or even without looking at the screen by typing the whole name and hitting enter.
I never had a phone with a physical qwerty keypad, I went straight from a T-9 and Palm Graffiti (the best input method for a decade!) to full touchscreens. Having said that, this looks interesting and I do think they found a market niche. I’d be interested to mess with it for a couple of days to see how the form factor would work for me.
Non-sens if it’s not as secure as pixel+GrapheneOS 🤷♀️😬
You always wonder how much support they will have?
This Lemmy comment will be performed in the voice of that fat British guy on Youtube shorts that talks about marketing
You see, the problem with marketing it as a “second phone” is that you’re implying that it’s too shit to be someone’s first phone. Or that you’ve chosen to do something to it that would make it impossible to live with.
I remember in 2018, Verizon started offering a tiny little Android phone branded as a Palm of all things, and that small but vocal minority who insist they want small phones started clamoring for it only to be told that it’s a “companion device” and you still had to have another device active on that line. It cost $350 plus $10 a month on top of another device and plan.
There was essentially no one on earth who wanted a special phone they only used to take to the gym with them, they refused to sell it to people who specifically wanted it, and so it didn’t sell well, to say the least.
I just want actual buttons like this thing has. If I can just get a keyboard that attaches to the phone without making it unwieldy, that would be sick.
Did you see their other product? The Qi2/Magsafe keyboard? https://www.clicks.tech/powerkeyboard
It looks like basically the best you can get with that concept and typical phones realistically.
My first thought is how well it actually stays connected to the phone and would work through a case, as it appears to attach via just magnets. Does look pretty slick tho, and it also doubles as a powerbank.
Yeah that’s the big question. I mean they also make keyboard cases which work well technically and are well made but having to redesign it for every new model phone seems unrealistic and also it makes your phone comically long and unbalanced.
deleted by creator
RIM no longer own BlackBerry. The Clicks Communicator has some of the blackberry team on it’s team.
I’d rather have a new Palm device, too bad their management shit the bed and destroyed the company.
I loved my palm. It was great.
Capitalize, folks.
Same. It would definitely be my daily driver. I’m using the Minimal Phone now but have often found that I would rather have this same form factor with a regular screen, and the Communicator seems to basically be that. I am still deciding if I want to pre-order but I’ve set a reminder to do or don’t before the window closes.
According to the support ticket I put in a week or so ago, the bootloader will be unlockable which is great news.
The only thing the specs don’t mention is how much RAM it will have.
Has the Minimal Phone improved much since launch? Always curious to hear the thoughts of those who use minimalist/intentional tech devices.
The hardware is the same AFAIK but they’ve put out
twothree software updates since I’ve had it. One added some extra features to the eink control utility and the second fixed some really annoying bugs with the fingerprint sensor. Both also included the system security updates as well.There was a 3rd one a few weeks ago, but I think it was just a security bump. It wasn’t announced and just showed up. There may have been some tweak to the QWERTY keyboard utility because now the annoying bar that only indicated the ALT/Shift status at the bottom is no longer there and was happy to no longer see.
Is the software mostly bug-free now? It seemed to have quite a few issues at launch (not unusual for a first-gen crowdfunded product).
The base system is stable. The only instability I really had with mine was the fingerprint sensor resetting every week. It would just stop registering until you turn fingerprint detection off, reboot, and re-enroll all of your prints. The second update they pushed seems to have fixed that.
Their default launcher could use some work. I replaced Minimal Launcher with a similar one that works identically. The problem with Minimal Launcher is it is hardcoded to certain apps. I’ve de-googled mine so I don’t use Google clock or calendar. Clicking the time or date in Minimal Launcher will only take you to Google Clock or Calendar (respectively) rather than asking what app to open or trying to detect the default app for that. I submitted a bug for that a couple months ago but so far no fix.
They also seem to only update their software (launcher, quick settings, keyboard config, etc) through system updates rather than via apps. You also can’t disable any of them either.
I also haven’t heard anything more about them supporting non-Googled or third party Android builds.
8GB of ram, confirmed in various places, most recently on an AMA.
I was prepared for 6, but I’m good with 8. Thanks!
If it has even decent custom ROM support I would 100% consider it. I hate it as a second device but as a main I love the design.
Someone in the last thread said that the Mediatek SOC makes ROM support unlikely.
Too bad it will not work in Canada for some carrier like Rogers who VoLTE blacklist phones they don’t sell…
Also what is the target price of this phone?
Not the phone’s problem
deleted by creator
$400 pre-order, $500 normally.
$400. Reservation 200.