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 sliding keyboard for smart devices, the company also announced its first smartphone, the Communicator. This is a smartphone with a physical keyboard designed to be carried around as a second device.
Yes, it looks a lot like a BlackBerry. (Hurry up, someone please tell famous blackberry hoarder Kim Kardashian.)
The $499 smartphone is described as “purpose-built” for people who carry two phones, one for work and one for personal use. In other words, the company believes its market is people who do a lot of real-world work on their devices — tasks that could benefit from using a physical keyboard, such as messaging, sending emails, and working with documents.
Communicator provides a screen to view and respond to messages, but it doesn’t provide access to addictive social media apps or games. Instead, the company partnered with Android launcher maker Niagara Launcher to provide access to messaging apps and productivity tools like Gmail, Telegram, WhatsApp, and Slack.
The standout feature of this phone is the signal light, which is a light-up button on the side of the device. This button can be customized with different colors and light patterns to indicate when you’ve received a message from a specific person, group, or app. For example, you can make messages from VIPs glow purple and chats from WhatsApp green.
Known as the prompt key, this button allows you to dictate a message when you’re in a text field, or create a quick voice note if you’re not. The company has hinted at the possibility of integrating AI applications into this button, such as a notepad, voice recording, and an AI agent, but nothing like that is available yet.
Like other Clicks products, Communicator features a tactile keyboard with ergonomic keys designed to help you type faster. The keyboard is also touch-sensitive, allowing users to scroll through messages, lists, and web pages without using the touchscreen.
The device also includes other old-school features like a 3.5mm headphone jack, a physical SIM card tray (in addition to the eSIM), expandable microSD storage (up to 2TB), and a tactile switch to turn airplane mode on or off. The company says the switch can also be configured to work with signal lights and keyboard touch input.
The back cover is removable so you can change the style of your device by replacing it with a different color. The phone itself comes in three colors: smoke, clover (dark green), and onyx.
The device will be available for $399 to early bird customers who make a $199 deposit by February 27th. Customers who prepay the full early bird price of $399 will receive two additional back covers. The phone is expected to ship later this year.
The complete technical specifications of the phone include:
Android 16 with 5 years of security updates Height 131.5 mm. Weight 170 grams Global 5G, 4G LTE, and 3G/2G support, unlocked 4,000 mAh silicon carbon battery 50MP main camera and 24MP front camera with 256GB onboard storage and expandable microSD OIS NFC with Google Pay, Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi 6 USB-C, wireless charging Interchangeable back cover in different colors to customize your device
Clicks CEO Adrian Li said in the announcement that the company has shipped more than 100,000 initial keyboards to customers in more than 100 countries.
“The response confirmed what we strongly believed: there is a growing demand for purpose-built products that help people communicate and take action with confidence. Clicks Communicator is a natural evolution of that idea,” he said.
Another new product from the company is a sliding keyboard that can be attached to smartphones, tablets, and even smart TVs, eliminating the need for tedious on-screen input using a remote control.
The keyboard is powered by a built-in 2,150 mAh battery and attaches to your phone via MagSafe or Qi2 magnetic connection. The company claims it can also be used with existing phone cases. Multiple slider positions allow the keyboard to accommodate different sized phones and allow you to attach the keyboard when the phone is held in either portrait or landscape mode.
When used with other smart devices such as tablets, TVs, or AR/VR headsets, the keyboard is used independently of the device to which it is paired.
Like other Clicks keyboards, the Power Keyboard has tactile buttons, and its settings can be customized using the Clicks mobile app for iOS and Android.
The Power Keyboard will be priced at $79 for early purchasers and $109 thereafter. Pre-orders will begin on January 2nd. The company says the device will ship in the spring.
Source link
