Clicks: A Real Keyboard For The iPhone! [Exclusive]

Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Clicks: A Real Keyboard For The iPhone! [Exclusive]”.
Sometimes in life we give up something good for the promise of something greater. I’M talking, of course, about smartphone keyboards, Steve Jobs was right 17 years ago. If phones were going to reach the next phase of evolution, the physical keyboard had to go, but sometimes we look back on something we threw out a while back and say you know what maybe there’s some good stuff we sacrificed along with the bad. In other words, maybe we threw the buttons out with the bath water. So let’s change that I’m Michael fiser – and this is the new accessory – that’s bringing real buttons to the iPhone introducing clicks. If you detected an uncommon overtone of ownership in that intro well to flip the old saying on its head, I’m not just a clicks customer, I’m also a co-founder for the first time in more than 500 videos, I can’t claim to be an impartial reviewer when it Comes to this product because I helped to make it a crummy commercial yeah. This is not your typical, Mr mobile Hands-On. For one thing, I got the benefit of incredible cinematographers and stunning models to shoot this. Video with and more importantly, I’m absolutely biased in favor of the thing in front of the lens. So, let’s talk about that thing, whether you call it simply clicks for iPhone or the delightfully pretentious Precision typing instrument at the end of the day clicks is a keyboard accessory enclosed within a unibody silicone case. The connection to the iPhone is made through its lightning or USB port. So there’s no Bluetooth Link to worry about, nor any onboard battery to keep weight and thickness to a minimum clicks is powered by your iPhone and in many months of testing many iterations on the way to the final product. I haven’t noticed any impact on battery life to keep the keys bright at night.

There’S a built-in backlight and a pass through port on the bottom lets. You charge your phone without taking off the case, because I’m a sucker for tactile Delights. The backside Bears a vegan leather grip plate done up in a contrasting color and, of course, the star of the show is around front 36 polycarbonate buttons made it to a silic con membrane, later top nickel-plated, Dome switches and arranged in a layout that took again many Revisions over many months to finally lock in that perfect click.

One of the interesting things about designing a mobile keyboard in 20124 is that you have to balance what was good about old Cordy phones with what makes sense on a modern one. One of my co-founders is the artist formerly known as crackberry Kevin, whose thumbs have logged thousands of hours on BlackBerry, and I too started my smartphone Journey on one of those fabled phones back in 2005 to get clicks to the same level of ergonomic Excellence. We engaged one of the designers behind the legendary Blackberry, Bold as well as another veteran of 10 years at blackberry and 10 years at Apple, and all this was built at top years of work by fxtec, the folks behind one of the last smartphones to ship.

With a great quiry keyboard, besides those folks, there are many other smart people on the clicks team and I’m grateful for that because they’re smarter than I am see while I might have been content just cloning, a prior keyboard that I’m already used to we’re not just Replicating what’s gone before this is a keyboard made for the iPhone, so while early versions arranged the number buttons and the old style dial pad layout, the final one spreads them across the top row. Just like the virtual keyboard in iOS, all the punctuation and alternate Keys follow suit, and the microphone button is also where you expect it to be invoking either Siri or voice dictation depending on context. But that takes us to the why? Why bring back something? So many consider to be obsolete. Well, it comes down to three big things: space shortcuts and sensation, and I’ve got a fourth S as well. Here’S the thing on iOS or Android: the virtual keyboard takes up a ton of screen space, a space, that’s hugely valuable. If you’re live streaming or spreadsheeting, or even typing inside a long message or document, this is a point I’ve been making.

Since I was reviewing cty phones way back in 2012 and it’s no less true in 2024, physical keyboards give you the whole screen to work on. So you can consume and create. At the same time, then, there’s short Cuts Apple reminded everyone how useful these can be when it rolled out the action button on the iPhone 15 and while iOS doesn’t yet. Let us make every key on clicks an action button.

It does have built-in shortcuts that’ll be familiar to anyone. Who’S used a Mac or an iPad with a keyboard command. H takes you home command. Space opens Spotlight, search, spacebar, Scrolls down and different apps like Safari and mail have their own quick actions too. We developed a list internally of how many shortcuts we could find, and I was surprised at how long it got by the end and finally sensation.

It’S tough to convey to folks who’ve only ever tapped or swiped on glass. But for those of us who came up on Palm trios and Motorola Q’s typing on a physical keyboard is just more satisfying sure. There are pragmatic benefits like being able to type without looking or avoiding the overreach of autocorrect, but to me there’s a more ephemeral satisfaction that comes with clicking instead of tapping now, even though I’m basically the polar opposite of an impartial reviewer. For the purposes of this video, I do want to cover a few drawbacks of clicks, both to preserve my credibility. So you still trust me and also so I can tell our marketing director Jeff that I was addressing push back proactively. You probably don’t need me to say it explicitly, but clicks makes the Iphone a air bit bigger. I usually try to turn that drawback into a distinction by stowing it in Shallow Pockets, so it Peaks out hashtag buttons out.

But if you prefer to keep your phone out of sight, you might want to pop it out of clicks. Fortunately, that’s as easy as putting it in it also just takes some getting used to in terms of usage. If you only give yourself 5 minutes with it, you might as well not even bother getting into a physical keyboard takes time and getting used to holding clicks. Does does too now we worked hard to get the balance right.

At one point, I asked for some metal ballast to be added to the lower portion, so the phone doesn’t feel topheavy and the end result works well, but it still takes a bit to shed your old muscle memory and adopt the proper cradle position for holding the Phone and finally, there are a few limitations, we’re hoping to address in future versions like right now you can charge with magsafe through clicks, but it’s a simple pass through since magnets aren’t built into the casing. So not all mag, safe accessories will work. Also at launch clicks is only available in English language quiry, but we do hope to offer more regionalizations based on demand and while at launch clicks is iPhone only eventually I’d love to see it come to Android because clicks isn’t just a product. It’S a company and we’ve got Big Ideas.

I’M not allowed to talk about just yet like I’ve had this fantasy for almost a decade to make each individ idual button its own busted. Okay, well just stay tuned, the most important question: how much and when well clicks for iPhone 14 pro is available to order today for 139 bucks in the US and it’ll start shipping on February 1st, if you’re the bleeding edge type, who carries the iPhone 15 Pro Or 15 Pro Max, you can pre-order clicks for those models today with each shipping in the spring. As for colors, the plan is to do regular, drops in various fun trims, based in part on feedback from you, if you’re among the first to buy you’ll, get an individually numbered Founders Edition unit in either London sky or Bumblebee colorways, as well as VIP support membership And a private channel of the clicks Discord plus a few other perks. Personally, I think you should buy one in every color, but even if you just swing by the website to Window Shop, be sure to to check out the signature feature that let you see what any word looks like in a Cordy finger flow pictogram.

I think I’m going to make this St mobile signature, my new autograph, so after 12 years reviewing other people’s products, I’m finally putting out one of my own, it’s something that goes back to the past, not just for Nostalgia, but to reclaim some of those good things. We shouldn’t have given up. I think it’s already made me a better reviewer, because while it’s one thing to intellectually understand how much effort and teamwork goes into building something worthy of people’s money, it’s quite another to experience those challenges firsthand and while I may be the member of the clicks team With the largest audience, I’d like to say for the record that I haven’t worked nearly as long or as hard on this as many of them, so I’d like to close by thanking them for that work, and I can’t wait to hear from those of you who Decide to try out what we’ve built disclosure Michael Fischer is a co-founder of clicks technology with a financial stake in the company, and portions of this script were reviewed ahead of publication for legal compliance purposes. But I made no changes to the script based on Creative or editorial direction, from my co-workers in fact classy folks they are.

They didn’t even ask to see this video ahead of time. Speaking of those compatriots, if you love keyboards, follow crackberry Kevin on in Instagram, and you can always follow crackberry.com for more clicks and Tech coverage also make sure you’re subscribed to the mrmobile on YouTube for my next article from CES 2024 in Las Vegas next week. Until next time, from Michael fiser, Captain two phones on threads thanks for watching and stay mobile, my friends .