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Clicks Communicator

clicksphone.com

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Re: Clicks Communicator

#201

Post by solaire_oa »

jaustin wrote: post #137
paxys wrote: post #93

Seems like they have a good idea for a phone and want to fund the development using "pre-orders" (aka a Kickstarter). I went through the website and all the marketing and watched the launch video to find out how this thing works, but all I see is the same rendered home screen and lots of promises. Even in the video they show plenty of models of the phone lying around but not a single shot of one turned on and working…

I have a Clicks Keyboard and love it. As far as I can tell the team behind the Clicks are pretty intertwined with https://www.fxtec.com/ - in that FX Tech staff seem to be involved in Clicks support, etc. The Clicks Keyboard for iPhone (14) was a great concept, and pretty well executed for a V1 - I haven’t tried their follow-up devices. But assuming it’s the same team, there’s a history of shipping devices behind the…

I can confirm, this is sensible advice. I backed the FxTec Pro 1x during a depressive period in depths of COVID. It took ~years of hamstringing for them to deliver, but they did eventually deliver the phone. Even aged as the phone is, it's really well designed, and I occasionally use it with Claude from my couch in the evenings.

Being LineageOS capable is a strong selling point (for the Pro 1x), so if that's on the table with this new phone then I would consider reserving one. But I wouldn't hold my breath that it will ship in 2026.

Re: Clicks Communicator

#202

Post by weikju »

lanyard-textile wrote: post #139
SkyPuncher wrote: post #54

I had the Unihertz Titan for a while . It was a fun experiment, but I ultimately found it too annoying for continued daily use First, typing was actually slower and more error prone. Even nearly a year into owning it, I was constantly misclicking and spending loads of time correcting myself. Second, you loose a ton of navigate functionality with the hardware keyboards. Holding space to navigate between characters is…

Holding the spacebar down... I never knew about this... are there any other Apple keyboard secrets?

While holding it down, tap with another finger to start selecting text instead of just moving the cursor around.

Re: Clicks Communicator

#203

Post by turtletontine »

growt wrote: post #158
philistine wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A second phone market has never been a thing. History is filled with failed attempts. They should focus on the largest potential market: parents who buy a phone like this to text with their kids without allowing them to have a completely internet connected phone.

From my experience as a parent, that market is also very small, because the time between “child is old enough to text and be away from parents for long enough” to “child wants to have a real phone” is not that long.

Is there any potential market of parents like this: "my child wants a real phone, but I won't give them one because they'll melt their brain with tiktok and instagram"? I'm not a parent, but I imagine I'd feel something like this.

Re: Clicks Communicator

#204

Post by com2kid »

RajT88 wrote: post #178
kh_hk wrote: post #125

My recommendation for someone considering a minimalist / dumbphone / detox / whatever is to avoid expensive products that over-promise their utility. There's no middle ground, it's either usable or it is not, so any in between will just become e-waste eventually. The alternative I went with, and which I recommend, is getting both a smartphone and a nokia shitphone (no internet). Then ask the carrier for a sim duplica…

Speaking of e-Waste: > Can Communicator be used as my primary phone? Without them making a statement of how long they will provide security updates for, this could easily go like past phones of mine. My work tightens their mobile security policy, and the device can no longer meet it. This is for both Android version and security updates. Happened to me a few times where I had to stop using a perfectly good phone whic…

I've never had a pixel phone last more than 3 years before it stopped turning on, all the way back to Nexus devices.

I'd stop buying them but everything else is bad in some other way. It is hilarious that the official Google phones have the fewest ads and forced app installs.

Re: Clicks Communicator

#205

Post by nicksergeant »

coder543 wrote: post #99
nicksergeant wrote: post #45

Pretty neat. I have the Clicks keyboard and I just wish the keys weren't so stiff. Too hard to type on, sadly.

Is it their original launch edition keyboard, or the later refined version? The launch edition one I have is like you describe, but I hope they have improved things since then.

Yeah I think I have the original, and reading this again seems like these new ones are more "touch sensitive". It's a neat idea if they can nail the haptics.

Re: Clicks Communicator

#206

Post by hrimfaxi »

turtletontine wrote: post #203
growt wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience as a parent, that market is also very small, because the time between “child is old enough to text and be away from parents for long enough” to “child wants to have a real phone” is not that long.

Is there any potential market of parents like this: "my child wants a real phone, but I won't give them one because they'll melt their brain with tiktok and instagram"? I'm not a parent, but I imagine I'd feel something like this.

The problem is other kids will get real phones and use them to talk to each other and your kid will be left out. And unlike the old days, kids can't just ring up the house line to chat.

Re: Clicks Communicator

#207

Post by obvi8 »

SkyPuncher wrote: post #54

I had the Unihertz Titan for a while . It was a fun experiment, but I ultimately found it too annoying for continued daily use First, typing was actually slower and more error prone. Even nearly a year into owning it, I was constantly misclicking and spending loads of time correcting myself. Second, you loose a ton of navigate functionality with the hardware keyboards. Holding space to navigate between characters is…

I had no idea holding the spacebar moved between characters now. Your comment fixed a years long gripe for me.

I was insanely disappointed when Apple took away the pressure sensitive functionality almost solely because I routinely used it for this purpose, and it never occurred to me that they moved it.

Re: Clicks Communicator

#208

Post by BrenBarn »

I don't see how a smaller screen is "designed for doing". I already find regular phone screens to small to do any meaningful work on. For me it's basically impossible to do actual work on anything smaller than a laptop (and even a small laptop makes it stressful).

Re: Clicks Communicator

#209

Post by ksec »

I submitted this as well and I think it capture something much deeper than the product itself. I think there is a market for Blackberry type of devices again. Not for messaging but for business.

Apple could have made an iPhone Mini with customised OS that does not cater for massive screen and social media entertainment.

But Apple is too focused on making money from services sector which is the App Store.

Re: Clicks Communicator

#210

Post by Ezhik »

solaire_oa wrote: post #201
jaustin wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Clicks Keyboard and love it. As far as I can tell the team behind the Clicks are pretty intertwined with https://www.fxtec.com/ - in that FX Tech staff seem to be involved in Clicks support, etc. The Clicks Keyboard for iPhone (14) was a great concept, and pretty well executed for a V1 - I haven’t tried their follow-up devices. But assuming it’s the same team, there’s a history of shipping devices behind the…

I can confirm, this is sensible advice. I backed the FxTec Pro 1x during a depressive period in depths of COVID. It took ~years of hamstringing for them to deliver, but they did eventually deliver the phone. Even aged as the phone is, it's really well designed, and I occasionally use it with Claude from my couch in the evenings. Being LineageOS capable is a strong selling point (for the Pro 1x), so if that's on the t…

Pro 1x also has pretty solid Droidian compatibility, so it can run a full on Linux.
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