by Topfi | 2026-01-03 00:07:33+00:00
> [...] not sure if that makes them a power user [...]

If they are willing to pay quite a lot over alternative smartphones, wait half a year to have it delivered, then sit down for roughly two weeks, forcing themselves to slowly touch type so as to build the muscle memory required to actually be able to type on a Clicks then I'd say they are more than likely power users and dedicated ones willing to sacrifice quite a lot of convenience for quite a long time.

Nowadays I easily get 80wpm on my Clicks, but it took a while and I can assure you, anyone who doesn't have a true need for a physical keyboard on a smartphone in 2026, something they know they'll get a benefit from if they can type faster and without looking, they won't spend more than a minute trying it and won't be able to use it.

Heck, Michael Fisher, one of the cofounders said, for this very reason: "If you only give yourself 5 minutes with it you might as well not even bother. Getting into a physical keyboard takes time" [0]

Be honest, for a secondary device that is a massive effort to invest.

> [...] why do you equate second device with digital detox? [...]

Because if you are not willing to use a Clicks as your sole device for two weeks (so it cannot be your second phone), you won't be able to type on one in any meaningful way. Which is what happens if it were your second device. At that point the digital detox idea of "it introduces friction" is the only other angle you can have.

> [...] use a phone with a physical keyboard when chatting on WhatsApp and then switch to a regular phone for Instagram and browsing web [...]

But, again, Clicks has been making cases for regular phones for years now, which allow this far better than carrying a dedicated phone with a second contract alongside a phone solely for media consumption.

If you want a physical keyboard and also want the 21:9-16:9 aspect ratio of most smartphones, use a Clicks case. No need for a second device.

And once, like me, you've actually invested the effort, once you've gotten used to a Clicks and are reliant on it, you'll likely not want a device without it, so again, the idea that someone buys and uses a Clicks Communicator alongside a regular smartphone without a Clicks cases is not really realistic for me. If I am browsing social media or the web, I now want a reliable keyboard that doesn't steal screen real estate just as much as when I am working on a document.

Basically, Clicks enabled phones are devices that encourage users to become dependent on a unique input approach and thus make switching to devices without the keyboard less pleasant. In other words, Clicks, in my opinion, is detrimental to a two phone lifestyle, unless both phones have Clicks. The amount of effort you have to invest to become comfortable with it and the experience you get once you are both make it an appealing secondary device, unless again, one wants to have a worse experience to "detox".

> some people even use a phone and a laptop at the same time, they are already a second device person, so they could be a three device person

By that logic the average person nowadays is a fifteen+ device person, but I suspect you know this conversation is focused on within a device category.

Regardless of the viability of the second device category, what is confirmed in the Youtube comments, on Reddit and here on Hacker News, is that this secondary device approach has muddled their communication and confused potential customers.

If you are faced with questions like "can this make calls", "is it like a smartwatch" and "can I use this on its own", you have not communicated what you are doing properly and no matter how large the alleged second device market is, you can't reach them either if these are unclear even for your previous customers.

[0] https://youtu.be/e2n2ftM-MwI?si=IUf1fZuLlegPYXgW&t=409