Clicks might have cut its teeth developing add-on keyboards for various smartphones — first iPhone, then Android — but its latest announcement appears to be its most promising yet. The Clicks Communicator feels like the first real minimalist device to potentially provide a substantial improvement over your daily driver, even if many of us might feel it’s better as a secondary device rather than a replacement for whatever you already own.
No matter how you approach it, the Communicator looks and feels like a product from an entirely different timeline. Its wedge-shaped design and swappable backplates spit in the face of whatever glass-and-metal sandwich resides in your pocket. The physical keyboard and its 4.03-inch square-ish touchscreen have more in common with a BlackBerry Bold than any Pixel. Practically every feature — a customizable notification light, a microSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack — reads like a Samsung specs sheet from more than a decade ago. Nothing about this device feels like a modern 2026 product, and I mean that in the best way possible.
I’ve been looking for something like the Communicator for a while. More than ever, I’ve been seeking for my phone to actually act as a communication device first and foremost. It’s not that I don’t take photos, or use navigation apps, or constantly look things up on the internet — obviously, I do all of those things every day. But after nearly a decade and a half of being glued to a smartphone 24/7, I’m feeling some level of exhaustion. This isn’t disinterest with technology, or some kind of half-hearted attempt to disconnect from the web entirely. It’s, in theory, a way to create a healthier relationship with my smartphone, a goal I’m sure plenty of us can relate to.
With that in mind, practically everything about the Clicks Communicator feels like an effort to achieve that exact outcome. All of those legacy features I highlighted — the RGB notification light, expandable storage, a headphone jack — feel very specifically geared towards bringing back a friendlier era of technology, one where I wasn’t dumping cash every month across various cloud storage offerings while my always-on display begged me to answer one of my thousands of unread emails. Honestly, its approchable design reminded me more of holding an emulation handheld than any smartphone you’ll find in Best Buy.
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Even the software feels specifically chosen to guide me towards more productive uses of my time. Clicks is partnering with Niagara Launcher, by far my pick for the best third-party launcher you’ll find on Android. Its various enhancements should allow the Communicator’s home screen to feel more targeted directly to incoming notifications and other short, easy tasks that keep you away from doomscrolling through social media.
The big question for me, specifically, is the physical keyboard. I began my smartphone journey on Android, and the nostalgia for BlackBerry-style keys has never been enough to draw me in. But seeing as this is a secondary device meant to pair — and not replace — my phone, I feel far more willing to give it a shot. Even if I only find it comfortable enough (or fast enough) for firing off quick responses while relaxing in the evening, that’s enough of a change to give my brain a bit of a tech-focused break before bed.
I should note this is not a hands-on; while I’ve held some early prototypes, I haven’t used a fully functioning unit. That hasn’t kept me from feeling more excited about this device than any other recent smartphone, tablet, or foldable. The Clicks Communicator, like the brand’s keyboard cases, won’t be for everyone. But if you have a sense of nostalgia for Blackberry, or you’re just drawn to single purpose devices like I am, the Communicator is something to keep an eye on ahead of its launch later in 2026.
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