Miracle! You can finally turn your iPhone into… BlackBerry

As I have been using mobile technology since 1997, I was lucky enough to experience the glorious era of physical QWERTY keyboards on BlackBerrys, HTC, Nokia and others. Of course, these tactile gadgets have become rare nowadays.

This is the raison d’être of the Clicks keyboard for iPhone, created by the British company Clicks Technology and two industry veterans who are well versed in the use of physical keyboards, Michael Fisher (aka Mr. Mobile) and Kevin Michaluk (aka CrackBerry Kevin). The removable case allows iPhone users to have a full physical keyboard – including the addictive touch feedback – without using the available space on the device’s screen.

It is announced this week, pre-orders are available now and sales will start on February 1st.

The Clicks keyboard connects via Lightning or USB-C

I already tried a similar keyboard in 2017 on my Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus. But I’m much more excited about trying out the new Clicks for iPhone keyboard. First of all, the Samsung keyboard that I tested, as well as the old BlackBerry and Nokia keyboards, suffered from limited sizes. The Clicks keyboard attaches to the bottom of the iPhone, which allows you to display the entire screen for your applications and your content. In addition, a backlight is present for use in low light conditions.

Keyboard shortcuts are a strong point of BlackBerry and, thanks to Apple’s native support, the Clicks keyboard for iPhone also supports iOS keyboard shortcuts. Since I can hardly stand the default iPhone keyboard, I can’t wait to see if a physical keyboard like this can improve my typing experience.

The Clicks keyboard connects via Lightning or USB-C, while allowing users to charge their iPhone as they normally would thanks to an extension port located under the case. This eliminates the need for a Bluetooth connection and makes the pairing experience much more seamless for users.

Clicks Technology

The Clicks keyboard for iPhone comes with a Clicks application that brings new features to the keyboard. The keyboard is available in the colors BumbleBee (black and yellow) and London Sky (gray), with more colors to come.

As I mentioned, both Michael and Kevin have many years of experience in using physical keyboards on smartphones, Kevin being responsible for a website on the BlachBerry.

So, if you had to design the perfect keyboard accessory, these are the two people who can do it right. I have used a few decent keyboards and a few not terrible keyboards in the past, so hopefully everything will be for the better when I go to see this accessory at CES next week.

Source: “ZDNet.com “