Priced at $499, the Communicator isn’t chasing camera supremacy, benchmark scores, or social media addiction. Instead, it positions itself as a purpose-built “second phone”—one designed for messaging, focus, and getting work done.
Long before slab smartphones took over, Nokia’s Communicator series defined what serious mobile productivity looked like. These were devices built for emails, documents, and real work—phones that opened up to reveal full keyboards and treated communication as the core feature, not an afterthought. The Communicator wasn’t just a product line; it was a mindset—one that valued intent and utility over excess.
This also isn’t the first attempt at challenging the smartphone’s dominance. Over the past two years, a wave of alternate devices has emerged, including the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1. While those products were far more AI-centric than communication-focused, they were built on the same core assumption: that users want an alternate device alongside their smartphone, not necessarily a replacement. Where many of those experiments tried to remove screens altogether, Clicks is taking a more grounded approach—leaning into familiarity, physical input, and deliberate use.
Clicks describes the Communicator as a modern take on communication-first devices from a different era. Think BlackBerry—not as nostalgia, but as philosophy. This isn’t a phone trying to replace your primary flagship. It’s a companion device, meant for moments when you need to focus.
Running Android 16 with Niagara Launcher, the experience is intentionally minimal. Apps live in a clean vertical list rather than a cluttered grid, keeping distractions at bay and placing emails and messages front and center.
What truly sets the Communicator apart is its hardware—much of which feels almost rebellious in 2026. There’s a backlit, touch-sensitive physical QWERTY keyboard that supports scrolling, a dedicated Prompt Key for instant voice dictation, and a color-coded Signal light on the back that lets you identify notifications without waking the display. Clicks has also brought back features power users have quietly missed: a 3.5mm headphone jack, expandable storage via MicroSD, and even a physical switch for Airplane Mode.With the Communicator, Clicks isn’t trying to win a spec war. It’s questioning whether the smartphone needs to be everything, all the time. In an industry obsessed with doing more, this device makes a case for doing less—deliberately.
