It’s been more than a decade since we typed on Blackberry keyboards.
Now, a new device called Clicks hopes to bring back the physical keyboard, but this time, on the iPhone.
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“We had to throw buttons away about 17 years … But in doing so we sacrificed a lot of the utility and frankly a lot of the fun that buttons still provide. So we thought, why not bring them back?,” said Michael Fisher, co-founder of Clicks.
Fisher is a popular YouTuber known as MrMobile. He reviews smartphones and other gadgets.
“If you don’t have Clicks attached, your virtual keyboard pops up and it uses up half of your available screen real estate. So, having the physical keyboard allows you to keep all of that,” said Fisher.
You can also take advantage of keyboard shortcuts like CMD + H to go to the home screen or CMD + Space to launch Search on the iPhone.
“What is nice is that you can remove it or add it with very little hassle. So, similar to an iPad… people use a magic keyboard sometimes. People pop it off when they don’t need it. It’s just as easy to do that with Clicks. So, you can kind of have your own experience,” said Fisher.
Clicks is $139 dollars for an iPhone 14 Pro or 15 Pro version, $159 for an iPhone 15 Pro Max version. The keys have a backlight and the device comes in several fun colors.
My first impressions of using it?
It takes a bit of getting used to. After all, my brain has been trained off of a physical phone keyboard for some time, so it will take some time to develop that muscle memory again.
What I like is that although the phone is longer because of the case, it doesn’t feel much heavier or unwieldy.
The Clicks device is nice and grippy. They nailed that aspect for sure.
The last time someone built a keyboard case for the iPhone was in 2014. It was called Typo and backed by none other than Ryan Seacrest.
Cicks seems to be more thoughtful with a higher quality build that better integrates with the iPhone’s own software and hardware.
Listen to my full interview with Michael Fisher on the Rich On Tech Radio Show. (35:38 in)
“Look, I’m kind of an old-timer. I came up on QWERTY keyboards that were physical in nature. It’s more fun to type on, it’s more tactile. It’s a more personal, more human experience for me than typing on glass,” concluded Fisher.
The question is, are you ready to go back to a physical keyboard experience? Guess we will find out when Clicks is available starting February 1.
