At Mobile World Congress 2024, I tested out one of the most interesting iPhone accessories out there right now, Clicks. Though this might be obvious to many, it’s important to make it clear that Apple isn’t behind Clicks and that the keyboard attachment has been created by three co-founders: Mobile Nation‘s co-founder Kevin Michaluk (Crackberry Kevin), Adrian Li and Michael Fisher (Mr. Mobile).
Clicks is an accessory that brings a physical keyboard to iPhone 14 or iPhone 15 series handsets. Right away, I noted that the accessory feels like an extension of your smartphone and part of its unibody design, despite its size. While Clicks makes your device feel like a BlackBerry, the keyboard is actually designed with Apple’s iPhone virtual keyboard in mind. This means you don’t need to have used a BlackBerry to get up to speed with typing with Clicks, which is good for the Gen Z-ers interested in trying out the accessory.
I really like how Clicks felt in my hand, and as someone who grew up with phones with keyboards, my fingers were naturally ready to start typing away again on a physical keyboard. However, I found typing on the Clicks to be a bit difficult. At first, I assumed this was because I’d never actually owned a BlackBerry; my keyboard devices included the Palm Pre and the candy bar phones with keyboards that slide out. But one of the representatives at the Clicks booth was 21 years old, and he typed on the accessory just fine, so it’s definitely not an age or experience thing.
The team behind Clicks says it takes about two hours to a day to get used to the experience of typing with the case. This is likely accurate because, despite only spending roughly 20-30 minutes with the accessory, my typing experience started to improve. Maybe I just need to spend more time with the accessory to get the hang of it.
But those who’ve been using Clicks for a long time aren’t necessarily all that quick at typing, either. Fisher mentioned that people aren’t buying Clicks because they want to be the quickest typer and that, instead, the accessory focuses on precision and accuracy. The idea is that someone might want Clicks if they write a lot of emails or are writing a book. There’s also another reason why people would want Clicks, and that’s screen real estate.
When you attach your iPhone to the Clicks accessory, the physical keyboard replaces the virtual keyboard, allowing you to see your entire display when typing. I’ve never realized how much space you’re missing out on when the virtual keyboard is on-screen, but after using Clicks, it’s very apparent.
Clicks also offers other benefits like shortcuts, allowing you to use the space bar to scroll through websites on Safari, launch Spotlight like on an iMac using the command key and the space bar, and returning to the home screen by pressing Command and the H key. You can also pull up the virtual keyboard easily when you need to and press the microphone to start using voice-to-text.
Other features include a backlight, pass-through charging and wireless charging. The keyboard comes in a sick ‘Bumblebee’ colour variant that’s yellow and black and another colour option that’s gray and black called ‘London Sky.’
Though I only spent a brief period of time with Clicks, I walked away impressed with the accessory, but I can’t firmly say yet whether it’s worthwhile — I need to spend more time with it first. For example, the case adds a fair amount of bulk to the iPhone 14/15, and I don’t necessarily feel that trade-off for a physical keyboard is worth it
Canadians can purchase Clicks from the accessories’ official website starting at $139 USD (roughly $188 CAD). That said, the company aims to officially bring Clicks to Canada later this year.
Expect more on Clicks from MobileSyrup in the coming months.
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