After years of T9 texting on a Motorola Star Tac, seeing a BlackBerry phone with its comparatively ample physical QWERTY keyboard felt like a revelation. Texting and email had been a part of my job since the late 1990s. Being able to do both? On a slab I could slip in a pocket? Sorcery!
All of the clickity-clack was silenced, however, with the introduction of the iPhone and the first on-screen keyboard that anyone'd want to use. But not everyone was thrilled to say goodbye to the tactile satisfaction that comes from pounding out a message on actual keys. If you're one of those, the Clicks Communicator might be the piece of kit you've been waiting for. It made its debut this past January at CES, but it wasn't until today that we've had the opportunity to get a better look at the thing.
Designed with the input of BlackBerry enthusiasts, the Clicks Communicator runs a custom version of Android designed to make the most of the smartphone's decidedly old-school design. Available in a number of keyboard configurations, with swappable backplates, a headphone jack, and both SIM and MicroSD slots, the Communicator promises to restore all the features folks loved that were taken away in the name of making smartphones svelte and waterproof. What's more, at the time that this post was written, the device was being offered unlocked and contract-free for just under $500. It's early days for this smartphone, but I'm all for it. One of the great things about Android is the mad variety of handset designs that it makes possible. After using other Android tablets with physical keyboards that fell short, I'm very hopeful that Clicks gets this thing right.
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