I spent 30 minutes with the Clicks Communicator and it’s now my most hyped Android phone of 2026

But as impressive as these phones are, there’s another Android device I saw at CES this year that impressed me even more. It’s called the Clicks Communicator, and after just a 30-minute briefing/hands-on session I can confidently say that this is the most excited I’ve been about a new Android phone in years.

If you’ve never heard of the Clicks Communicator, the general idea is this: it’s an Android phone designed with the sole purpose of being the best possible communications device. It’s not meant to be a mobile gaming powerhouse, the best phone for Netflix binge sessions, or a camera champion. Instead, it’s meant to be the best Android phone you can buy for managing emails and reviewing endless text messages.

It’s a fascinating mission, one I’ll discuss more later, but what’s also intriguing about the Communicator is how radically different its hardware is from virtually every other Android phone available today.

As you’ve probably noticed, the Clicks Communicator doesn’t look like most modern Android phones, mainly because it has a keyboard!

Below the 4.03-inch AMOLED screen is a full QWERTY keyboard, which feels excellent. The keys are about 30% larger than those on other Clicks keyboards (including the new Clicks Power keyboard) and are shaped like an oval rather than round. I definitely need more hands-on time to determine how fast and accurate my typing will be, but even after just a few minutes of playing with the keyboard, it felt noticeably more comfortable than Clicks’ other products.

That also applies to another hardware feature: the phone’s LED notification light. It sits around the Communicator’s customizable side button and lets you assign different colors to specific contacts and applications. The light is very bright and easy to see whether the phone is on the back or front. And if that’s not enough hardware buttons for you, there’s also a physical slider on the other side of the phone that you can assign to enable Do Not Disturb, Airplane Mode, your flashlight, etc.

Many of these hardware decisions feel like they were tailor-made for a phone geek like me, which makes sense considering that notable tech YouTuber Michael Fisher is the co-founder of Clicks. These are the things I’d like to see in an Android phone, and lo and behold, they’re all here on the Communicator. This also applies to many of the Communicator’s other specifications. There is 256GB of base storage with the option to expand this up to 2TB via a microSD card. Qi2 magnets are built into the interchangeable back covers, and there’s even a 3.5mm headphone jack.

At this point in the article I should note that the version of the Clicks Communicator I was using was not fully functional. I had to hold the phone, fiddle with the keyboard, and check the LED notification light, but the Communicator wouldn’t actually turn on; the version I used was just an early hardware example. That means we still don’t know what the display quality is like, how responsive/performing the phone’s chipset is, how good the cameras are, etc. In other words, there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

You can use the Clicks Communicator as your primary smartphone, but Clicks also markets it more heavily as a secondary phone meant to complement your Pixel 10 or Galaxy S25. That’s exactly how I want to use the Communicator. A compact phone with a full-size keyboard, a handy notification light, and multiple customizable hardware buttons checks all the boxes for me, and I can easily see myself using the Communicator in a variety of situations — whether that’s as a work machine while running around CES or having something simpler and more focused to use over the weekend.

I’ll be the first to admit that the concept of a secondary, single-purpose phone is an extremely niche product, but I think that’s the whole point of the Clicks Communicator. If the idea of ​​using two phones sounds ridiculous, the Communicator probably isn’t for you, just like if you don’t care much for a physical keyboard and notification LED. And that’s okay! The Communicator doesn’t try to be for everyone.

But for the people the Communicator is aimed at (people like me), it’s impressive how well it seems to suit us. I’m curious to see how the Clicks Communicator comes together in the final retail version, but even this early it’s quite promising.