A QWERTY keyboard phone in 2026 might not be top of mind when it comes to new releases this year, but in the sea of black rectangular slabs and an increasing fixation on foldable phones – we might even see the iPhone Fold this year – Clicks has its sights set on a different market.
I was recently able to get my hands on the the Communicator during its debut appearance at CES 2026, albeit non-working units, to get a feel for what a QWERTY phone feels like in the modern age.
It’s been a while since BlackBerry offered relevant mobile devices, and while the Clicks team were quick to note this isn’t just a BlackBerry rehash, for those of you who miss the good old BB days, the Communicator will likely scratch an itch you’ve not been able to reach for years.
While Clicks is not affiliated in any way with BlackBerry, there’s plenty of experience from the Canadian company in its leadership.
Co-founder and CMO, Jeff Gadway, worked at BlackBerry for over seven years, while co-founder and President Kevin Michaluk – also known as ‘CrackBerry Kevin’- was one of the most influential and well-connected BlackBerry-focused journalists during the firm’s device heyday.
‘Helping you get shit done’
Perhaps slightly unusually, Clicks’ main focus for the Communicator is not to be your main phone, but your secondary phone. As Gadway explained; “we’re all carrying big touchscreen slabs that are really optimized around consumption and content capturing. We kind of said, well, what if your secondary phone was better at communicating than your primary phone.”
The idea with the Communicator, with its squat 4.03-inch AMOLED display and physical keyboard, is to offer a more focused experience when you want to work and communicate, rather than steal your attention and distract you, as many of today’s smartphones are designed to do.
Gadway said the focus was around “how can we build something that’s really optimized for helping you get shit done.” That’s not to say the Communicator will be distraction free. It’s still running full Android 16, and you’ll have access to all the apps you’d expect from a smartphone – but the form factor is less conducive to doom scrolling and watching video content.
And I’m also not saying the Communicator can’t be used as your primary, or only phone. It absolutely can, and for the keyboard die-hards out there that could very well be the case.
Keyboard know-how
Fair to say then, when it comes to phones with keyboards, the team at Clicks know a thing or two, and picking up the Communicator for the first time and resting my thumbs on its keys, it was clear where the inspiration had come from.
That’s partly because Clicks employed the skills of former BlackBerry industrial designer Joseph Hofer, who was behind the boards on a number of phones including the Bold 9000, Bold 9900, and BlackBerry Q10, to work on the keys for the Communicator.
Each key has an angle to it, helping you navigate your fingertips over the buttons and find the one you want, all without looking – a trait borrowed from those BlackBerry boards of old.
The keyboard also acts as a trackpad, allowing you to swipe up and down to scroll pages on screen, which makes one-handed use easier and more seamless.
Now, it’s been several years since I last properly used a phone with a QWERTY keyboard and I felt clumsy tapping away on the keys, with multiple buttons pressed at once with my cumbersome thumbs. It didn’t feel smooth or fast, but that’s to be expected.
The Communicator’s keyboard requires you to build up muscle memory and your typing style, just as we did with BlackBerry phones back in the day. While I can’t say I had a seamless typing experience during my brief hands-on time, all the components are there to provide slick input once you’ve got over the initial learning curve of typing on physical keys again.
Four more lost phone features, revived
It’s not just the keyboard which is a blast from the past, as the Communicator also packs four more features which have been lost in the recent years of smartphone evolution.
First up is a 3.5mm headphone jack, located on the top edge of the phone alongside the power button. A useful location which keeps the cable out of the way when held in the hand, while also allowing you to slip the phone into a pocket or bag and keep the headphones connected.
On the right side you’ll find a single button which Clicks calls the prompt key. Hold it down and it’ll trigger speech to text transcription, allowing you to quickly speak a message, note or email – another way the Communicator focuses on easy communication. Meanwhile, a double click of this key will trigger the voice recorder to start.
And this key hides the second retro feature returning on the handset, with a notification light running round its circumference. The LED can be programmed to illuminate in different colors, depending on the type of notification received – giving you a quick visual cue from just a glance whether there’s something urgent you need to pick the phone up for.
Flip the handset over, and the large back plate will be removeable and interchangeable with different colors and materials, allowing you to put your personal stamp on the phone. The units I got hold off didn’t have easily removable covers – they were pre-production models – but I was told they will be easy to take off, no tools required, when the handsets ship later this year.
The textured plastic covers shown to me had a pleasing range of hues, from business-like white and black, to attention-grabbing blue, lilac and yellow. There was also a leather-effect brown option, but the final selection of colors and materials are yet to be confirmed.
And the final retro rival on the Communicator can be found under its removable back cover, with a microSD slot present. This allows you to expand the storage (you get 256GB built-in) by up to 2TB. Expandable physical storage is a rare inclusion on today’s smartphones, with cloud storage now the default for extra space.
Clicks didn’t go as far as to include a removable battery though. I was told that would be a step too far, and would make the Communicator too thick.
The holy grail for QWERTY phone fans?
As mentioned, the Communicator blends nostalgia with current technology. The custom Niagara launcher will be the default interface, curating your messages from your favorite apps, but it’s run on Android 16, so you can change it if you want.
There’s Qi2 wireless charging, a USB-C port, NFC, 24MP front camera, 50MP rear camera, 4,000mAh battery and 5G connectivity. Also hiding under the back cover is the nano-SIM slot, plus there’s eSIM support as well. Clicks has confirmed the Communicator will get a minimum of four years of Android version updates – taking you through to at least Android 20 – and five years of security updates.
Gadway concluded “what I would say is we’ve kind of modernized the spirit of BlackBerry”, and that feels like an accurate summation of what the Communicator offers.
It might not have the mass-appeal of an iPhone or Samsung, but for those of you desperate for a high-quality, premium keyboard smartphone made for the modern age, this could be your holy grail.
When can I get one?
The Clicks Communicator is available for pre-order, priced at $399. That’s the current promo-price, with the cost set to jump to $499 from February 27. If you pay in full, you’ll also get two free back covers ($50 each), taking your early bird savings to $200.
Currently there’s no firm release date for the Communicator, but Clicks says it expects to start shipping handsets to customers “later this year”.
