Clicks shows off its BlackBerry-inspired phone in a new hands-on video

Clicks Technology, a startup that’s preparing to motorboat its ain instrumentality connected the BlackBerry smartphone, is showing disconnected what it has successful store successful a caller video, released today.

The device, known arsenic the Clicks Communicator, was archetypal introduced astatine January’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) successful Las Vegas to cater to radical who bash a batch of enactment connected their phones, similar texting and emailing. It’s peculiarly meant to entreaty to those who miss the BlackBerry’s carnal keyboard, which immoderate reason is amended for these types of tasks.

Priced astatine $499, the Communicator looks a batch similar a modern-day BlackBerry might, with a surface for viewing and responding to messages, and a tactile, touch-sensitive keyboard below.

The telephone goes beyond being conscionable a BlackBerry dupe, however, by innovating successful different areas. For instance, its clever “Signal Light” diagnostic offers a light-up fastener connected the broadside of the telephone that tin beryllium customized with antithetic colors and airy patterns to bespeak erstwhile you’ve received messages from definite people, groups, oregon apps. 

It besides offers customizable backmost covers that tin beryllium popped disconnected and swapped, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a carnal SIM paper tray (in summation to an eSIM), expandable microSD retention (up to 2TB), and a tactile power for turning connected oregon disconnected airplane mode.

The Clicks Communicator whitethorn besides entreaty to the increasing fig of users looking to region themselves from modern-day smartphones, with their addictive societal apps and games. (The institution partnered with the Niagara Launcher to supply entree to the Android apps it runs). With the Signal Light, you tin safely disregard your telephone unless you spot a captious notification travel through.

In the caller video, the institution shows its pre-production hardware and interior bundle arsenic a preview of what’s to travel erstwhile the telephone begins shipping successful the 4th fourth of this year.

At CES, TechCrunch was capable to get a consciousness for the Communicator by handling a prototype that was the aforesaid size and value arsenic the instrumentality that’s preparing to ship at the extremity of this year. We recovered it felt bully to hold, not excessively airy oregon heavy, and was casual to grip. The keys were besides reasonably clicky, giving it a BlackBerry-like feel, though the squad was past readying to somewhat set the unit to marque the instrumentality enactment amended for accelerated typers.

Future videos volition spell much in-depth into circumstantial Clicks Communicator features, similar the Signal Light, Prompt Key, Message Hub, touch-sensitive keyboard, and more.