Clicks debuts its own take on the BlackBerry smartphone, plus a $79 snap-on mobile keyboard
The company behind the add-on mobile keyboards with physical buttons is now doing its own phone.
Clicks Technology, a company known for making physical keyboards for smartphones, is launching two new devices ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week. In addition to a new, $79 slide-out keyboard for smart devices, the company is also unveiling its first smartphone: the Communicator, a smartphone with a physical keyboard, designed to be carried as your second device.
Yes, it looks a lot like a BlackBerry. (Quick, someone tell Kim Kardashian, famous BlackBerry hoarder.)
The $499 smartphone is described as being “purpose-built” for people who carry two phones — one for work and one for personal use. That is, the company believes its market will be people who do a lot of actual work on their devices — meaning messaging, emailing, working with documents, or other things where using a physical keyboard could be an advantage.
While it offers a screen for viewing and responding to messages, the Communicator doesn’t provide access to addictive social media apps or games. Instead, the company partnered with the maker of an Android launcher, Niagara Launcher, to provide access to messaging apps and productivity tools like Gmail, Telegram, WhatsApp, and Slack.
The phone’s standout feature is its Signal Light, a light-up button on the side of the device that can be customized with different colors and light patterns to indicate when you’ve received messages from certain people, groups, or apps. For instance, you could make messages from VIPs glow purple while chats from WhatsApp are green.
**Image Credits:**Clicks
You can press on this button, known as the Prompt Key, to dictate messages when you’re in a text field, or otherwise take a quick voice note, if not. The company is teasing the possibility of integrating AI applications with this button — like note takers, voice recordings, or AI agents — but nothing like that is yet available.
Like Clicks’ other products, the Communicator features a tactile keyboard with ergonomic keys designed for faster typing. The keyboard is touch-sensitive too, allowing users to scroll through messages, lists, and webpages without needing to use the touchscreen.
**Image Credits:**Clicks
The device also includes other old-school features, like a 3.5mm headphone jack, physical SIM card tray (in addition to an eSIM), expandable microSD storage (up to 2TB), and a tactile switch for turning on or off airplane mode. This switch can also be configured to work with the Signal light or keyboard touch input, the company says.
