The Clicks Communicator is a Blackberry for your phone

You ever find yourself thinking, “I wish my phone had a phone?” Good news, friend. Clicks — the company behind the QWERTY keyboard case for your iPhone — has just the thing: the Clicks Communicator. It’s intended as a kind of complement to your smartphone for when you just want to stay in touch without all the other distractions of your device. The Communicator comes with a full QWERTY keyboard, along with its own cellular connection, so you can leave your main phone behind. But that privilege comes at a price: $499, to be exact.

Let’s set aside the fact that the Communicator costs as much as a Pixel 9A and focus on the glorious gadgetness of it all. For starters, the Communicator comes with interchangeable back plates so you can switch up your style. There’s also a built-in headphone jack, a physical mute switch, and expandable storage via microSD — all the little things that mainstream phone makers have dropped over the past decade. The keyboard keys are physically larger than what you’ll get on the Clicks phone case, and the whole keyboard is touch sensitive so it can act as a trackpad.

The Communicator is a complete standalone device on its own. It comes with its own 5G data connection and runs Android 16, so you can download any app you want. But the concept behind the Communicator is to limit the device to only your essential apps when you want an escape from your main phone. In that way, it’s definitely easier to fit into an Android ecosystem, where you can download Google Messages to sync it with your main device. Clicks isn’t trying any Beeper-style tricks to bring iMessage to the Communicator.

In the spirit of a secondary, less-distracting device, the Communicator comes with a minimalist launcher designed with Niagara that organizes apps into a list rather than an attention-seeking grid. There’s a side key with an LED signal that can be customized to light up in different colors to indicate if a particular contact is calling, or when a notification comes in from a specific app. Pressing the side key can also run a custom shortcut.

The device comes with a 4.03-inch OLED screen, front and rear cameras, and a 4,000mAh silicon carbon battery for plenty of power. In addition to the colorful rear panels, the Communicator will come in three colors: an olive-ish green clover, off-white smoke, and a not-quite-black onyx. If the idea is appealing but the price is a bit steep, then you’re in luck: Clicks is running a promotion to “buy” a reservation starting today for $199 and bring the total price down to $399.