The Clicks Communicator is a $500 Focus Machine

For several years now, we have been seeing a lot of backlash directed at modern phones. As it turns out, gluing one’s eyes to a small screen and doomscrolling through social media isn’t especially good for one's mental health. Who would have thought?

This realization has led a small group of individuals to ditch their fancy phones. However, it’s pretty hard to get by in today’s world without any form of mobile communication, so these people typically replace them with an older phone that can do little more than make calls and text. Of course, eliminating all of the conveniences of a modern phone, like the ability to do a quick web search or use an app for navigation, can make a person feel like they are living in the Stone Age. As such, these experiments with outdated tech usually don’t last very long.

So we find ourselves in a situation where modern phones are driving us batty, and old ones can’t do what we need them to. Where do we go from here? The team at Clicks Technology believes the answer to our problems is their new smart-ish phone called the Clicks Communicator. It runs on modern hardware with a recent build of Android, but it was designed to get things done without wasting time scrolling social media.

The Communicator has a wonderful, physical thumb keyboard beneath its display that is reminiscent of the BlackBerry of yesteryear. The 4.03-inch AMOLED display itself looks adequate for most use cases, yet it is much smaller than those found on traditional phones to make room for the keyboard. Aside from that, you’ll find a camera, headphone jack, and side keys embedded in the brushed aluminum case. The back covers are customizable with a variety of color options.

A nice touch on the Communicator is the signal LED: an RGB LED that illuminates a side button in different colors. This can be programmed to blink a different color for different types of notifications. This is not a new idea—older Android phones had this same feature—but it is a welcome return of an old idea that never should have disappeared.

Traditional grids of applications were replaced with a list that is meant to simplify and streamline phone use. But in reality, the Communicator is only as simple as you make it. It runs Android 16, so you can run any apps on it that you’d like. You can get emails, texts, and chats from your boss to no end, and there is nothing stopping you from doomscrolling through social media either. You can, of course, limit the apps you install on the Communicator, but you can do that on the latest phones as well.

The Communicator comes with a $500 price tag, which does seem steep for what you get. However, Clicks is offering a $100 discount for those who sign up for the reservation program and make a prepayment. The shipping date has not been finalized yet, but Clicks promises they will be on their way later this year.