- cross-posted to:
- clickscommunicator@thelemmy.club
- cross-posted to:
- clickscommunicator@thelemmy.club
All the other discussions I found on Lemmy dismiss it because they find the idea of a second phone ridiculous. Or because they don’t buy into the “dumb phone” concept. But I think it makes a compelling phone on it’s own, and you wouldn’t need a second.
But really look into it. By every indication it appears designed to be a fully featured main phone. It has some compromises made to fit the keyboard first philosophy, but it has everything you’d need and more. Dual SIM (eSIM+physical), a headphone jack, micro SD Card support, a 50mp camera with OIS (I know megapixels don’t mean much but I think it shows it’s not gonna be the cheapest crap camera), NFC/Google Pay support, Android Auto, Qi2… That doesn’t read “second phone” to me. It’s just… phone.
They have now said that it will have an unlockable bootloader too. I’m not finding much to dislike here. 8GB of RAM is somewhat low but should be fine. The processor is still a question mark but honesty as long as it’s not bottom of the barrel it should be perfectly fine. I have always gone for flagship phones but honestly I’ve started analyzing what I actually do on my phone and I pretty much never push the hardware. I like knowing I have the top of the line but I basically just web browse, message, read email, scroll Lemmy, and listen to music/podcasts. Very occasionally watch some YouTube but that’s usually on my TV or PC. No gaming or anything. I should be able to do all of that on this device, some of it won’t be as good on that screen obviously but it should still be doable. I need the camera to at least be decent. Not great just not garbage. Like it’s fine if the low light performance is meh and the video isn’t the best. But I don’t want to look at my photos and regret taking it with that device, so we’ll see.
I don’t want a dumb phone, and I don’t think this is one. You should be able to do everything any other phone can. I don’t think it’s a second phone either. I think they’re just leaning into that for marketing reasons, so that when anyone points out the tradeoffs of this form factor they can just wave it away as a secondary device.
It appeals to me because it’s a small phone. Seriously nobody makes one worth using. Unihertz sure, if you want a bad software experience with no updates ever. But otherwise you just have the non-plus sized iPhone/Galaxy S. Those are considered small. Or maybe the flip-foldables. It also appeals to me because it has major character and (imo) style. I’m bored of glass and metal sandwiches. Give me this! A plastic device with a swappable back that has a (vegan?) leather option? Hell yeah.
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Why the hell would I want a “second phone”? I don’t like my first phone. I want a phone that I don’t hate, not a second phone to add to my misery.
I think the intent is to be a “work device”
A lot of companies will be lazy or have a BYOD policy. You will likely be asked to install extra security and monitoring software on your personal device to view work related info or check email.
The simple way to avoid this is to just get a second phone, and given how this device is has a smaller profile than a mid-range smart phone, its a good marketing bit.
You will likely be asked to install extra security and monitoring software on your personal device to view work related info or check email.
You can set up another user on Android which will practically completely isolate this software from your main user. Since it’s your phone and it gets installed by you it gets treated as any other user app and AFAIK cannot break the isolation between multiple users like system or organisation apps probably could do. You just saved yourself few hundred dollars.
The only disadvantage I could see is you not getting notifications from your work user applications when you are using the main user.
The only disadvantage I could see is you not getting notifications from your work user applications when you are using the main user.
I’d reverse that. Not getting notifications of the personal user is a problem. Not getting work notifications during your free time is a big plus.
The average MDM software used to manage business phones won’t accept being a secondary user, usually they must be set as “device owner” as they need full controll on apps (automatically install apps, veto certain content, and so on), maybe they will allow the opposite, personal stuff in the secondary user
Most people I know that have a second phone have it paid for by that company.
All the other discussions I found on Lemmy dismiss it because they find the idea of a second phone ridiculous. Or because they don’t buy into the “dumb phone” concept.
Looks like OP made a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Yeah I thought I made it clear what I was trying to say. This looks like a good phone on it’s own. Like sell your old phone and buy this to replace it. Not a second phone.
Not a clue. Wouldn’t want that either. That’s why I want it as my only phone…
Echoing that I’m really tempted to get this as a work phone. It would be great to turn my work phone off at the end of the day and not see it.
My work is great about boundaries, too; I want this for my challenges cycling out of “work mode” to be present for my family (and myself, for that matter).
My guess is they want to preemptively Dodge the allegations thst it’s a bad phone because it might not have the top of the line camera.
If it has even decent custom ROM support I would 100% consider it. I hate it as a second device but as a main I love the design.
Someone in the last thread said that the Mediatek SOC makes ROM support unlikely.
“Smart enough” would have been nice marketing, no?
This looks awesome and would consider looking more into it as a real alternative to the current crap, BUT…
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I will never buy a product that isn’t already produced and ready to ship. Funding campaigns like this are imo most likely scams, very often not serious and if they truly are great, I’d rather wait for V2 or V3 to come, before buying
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the physical keyboard is great for english users but terrible for people who need to use 2 or 3 languages on their phones.
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I need android or iPhone to run the local authentication apps for banking, doctors appointments app and even some times payment methods
I will never buy a product that isn’t already produced and ready to ship. Funding campaigns like this are imo most likely scams, very often not serious and if they truly are great, I’d rather wait for V2 or V3 to come, before buying
To be fair this company already ships hardware in physical retail stores (keyboard cases for existing phones). I’m fairly certain they’re serious here but yeah waiting for the real deal is always a better bet.
the physical keyboard is great for english users but terrible for people who need to use 2 or 3 languages on their phones.
That’s true, or depends on which languages. Some use QWERTY layouts already like Spanish. I’m bilingual in Spanish and don’t forsee any issue with typing in Spanish on this. They have said that holding down a key works like you’d expect, bringing up diacritics/alternate symbols. The typing suggestions can be bilingual no issue. They said they do want to ship more keyboard variants (QWERTZ/etc) but can’t commit to more SKUs at this stage.
I need android or iPhone to run the local authentication apps for banking, doctors appointments app and even some times payment methods
Non-issue. This is an Android phone, that will supposedly have the latest version and full Play Store access.
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RIM should blow everyone’s mind and release a new QWERTY BlackBerry. The market would lose their shit.
While I fully understand why it doesn’t have umlauts that’s a dealbreaker for me for this and probably pretty much every such device that will ever come out nowadays.
If they make a model with a QWERTZ keyboard I might consider it as my next phone.
Same here. If you type in - possibly several - non-English languages, these keyboards will be pretty useless. But if all you need is a burner for work, then, it’s likely a little expensive.
I’m sure if this sees any kind of success more localization is inevitable.
Clicks did an AMA over on Reddit yesterday. Was actually pretty good.
$400usd to pre order a phone thats almost the same as the phone i had in 2011, but golly would I like to have one
I’m into it. Would make a great work device. The power keyboard product also looks like an interesting product.
That’s a cool idea
Only if you have a recent device. I have a older perfectly usable device that doesn’t rate one of these.
Not that I don’t understand why they can’t accommodate all models.
Cases that support magsafe/pixelsnap/qi2.3 (I think) can add the magnetic feature to a non-mag qi phone.
Something like this might work better on an iPhone or non-Pixel Android device. I own a Pixel 6 Pro that supports the Qi2 charging protocol, but it didn’t work properly from my personal experience. It would charge very slowly (well below the speed of other Qi2 capable phones). If I happened to be streaming audio or watching a video while charging, the battery would continue to drain even though it was receiving power, and it would eventually start heating up.
Just a data point, but I’ve been using wireless charging since the… Nexus 6? Maybe the 6p. And I’ve owned most of the nexus/pixel phones, including the 6 Pro. Never had issues with wireless charging, even when actively using the phone. It would warm up a bit from the constant use, but it would still fill the battery. It’s my primary way to charge, I only use the cable if I need the phone next to me (streaming twitch at my desk, watching Netflix in bed…) and the battery is low. As soon as I’m done/back home, it goes straight to the wireless charger. Get a text, grab the phone, reply, back it goes.
You might have a fault somewhere :/
Too bad it will not work in Canada for some carrier like Rogers who VoLTE blacklist phones they don’t sell…
Also what is the target price of this phone?
$400 pre-order, $500 normally.
I’m pretty sure that’s not even legal in the US where corporations have the same rights are humans.
Communicator will launch on Android 16, with support for up to at least Android 20. We’re committing to a minimum of 4 years of Android version updates and 5 years of security updates.
Idk, Pixels ate supported for like 7 years. So after about 5 years, this phone is toast?
minimum of 4 years of Android version updates and 5 years of security updates.
*if we dont go bankrupt
I agree, I would totally but it as a main phone. Especially if it gets Lineage OS!
But last year I already bought F(x)tec Pro 1X, which is also a great keyboard phone and I usually don’t update phones too often 🙂
This looks cool but what exactly is it doing to be productivity focused other than having a screen that would suck to watch videos on and a keyboard that never goes away?
The reason the Blackberry was adopted as a work productivity device was because other mobile options you had to type using T9 and with a Blackberry you could get your emailing done on a mobile device. But that’s been every phone now for almost 20 years.
So I get it as something nice for people who are nostalgic for Blackberries, but Click’s focus on this somehow being “communication focused” while a smartphone is, I guess, not, doesn’t make much sense to me.
I have no nostalgia for blackberry as I never had one. My first mobile phone was a touchscreen. It just appeals to me as it has a lot of style and personality, at a decent price. It’s also plastic in a world of glass covered phones, with a headphone jack and expandable storage. And I don’t watch a lot of videos (on my phone) and think this screen would work just fine for 99% of what I do. But it still CAN watch video or anything any smartphone can do.
The marketing stuff is whatever.
Yeah it’s a cool device, whoever is pitching it though needs to realize why people might actually want one. Cause it’s the reasons you said, it’s a cute little device that’s different, inexpensive, tough, and with features that other phones have taken away. “Teeny low-cost android phone with a keyboard and audio jack” would be way better positioning for them than this “second phone” and “productivity device” silliness. But for real at that launch price I might have to roll the dice on one and see if they actually managed to make something that doesn’t feel like baby’s first kickstarter blackberry clone lol.
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This a phone made by a youtuber. Do with that information what you want
True, though they do have help from some people who worked at/designed the old BlackBerry and have shipped several well received pieces of hardware before.
This Lemmy comment will be performed in the voice of that fat British guy on Youtube shorts that talks about marketing
You see, the problem with marketing it as a “second phone” is that you’re implying that it’s too shit to be someone’s first phone. Or that you’ve chosen to do something to it that would make it impossible to live with.
I remember in 2018, Verizon started offering a tiny little Android phone branded as a Palm of all things, and that small but vocal minority who insist they want small phones started clamoring for it only to be told that it’s a “companion device” and you still had to have another device active on that line. It cost $350 plus $10 a month on top of another device and plan.
There was essentially no one on earth who wanted a special phone they only used to take to the gym with them, they refused to sell it to people who specifically wanted it, and so it didn’t sell well, to say the least.
