BromSwolligans

Yes, you're absolutely right.

Right now I'm super interested in the Minimal Phone, and the SLEKE Phone, and to a lesser extent the Communicator (lesser of course because but for its wonky screen size, it can essentially 'do' everything a smartphone does). I understand the Minimal Phone's often clunky compromises and that it can also technically install any Android app but as you said, the amount of friction introduced by the e-ink screen is severe enough one would hope it would help. If I had to pick one to buy today, it would almost be the SLEKE phone, because to me the idea of simply perma-banning all the apps I struggle to keep deleted myself seems just about perfect, and they also have a Communicator-esque 'notification-forward' home screen with no icons trying to incentivize you to open apps just to pass time. The one and only thing holding me back is that because they've de-Googled the phone, they appear to have broken Android Auto, and in the spirit of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I'm not too proud to say I don't find GPS mapping to be a terrible drain on my life (even though it's increasingly used as a data point about a kind of thinking that has atrophied in our modern-age brains) and I simply will not give up its inclusion in my car. I know Garmin still exists, but...that's just a little too boutique, even for me. Any in-car mapping solution I've ever used short of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay has taken way too long to input or adjust destinations, been to quirky (I'm specifically thinking of a BMW I once borrowed and its awful built-in nav), and of course, AA and AC give you that 'single pane of glass' to manage not only your maps but also your music / podcasts / audiobooks through. I just can't give that up for a minimalist phone.

But if SLEKE can figure out how to add AA back in, I'd jump ship on my old iPhone the second my Clicks Power Keyboard arrives in the Spring.

You're right. I was thinking of the 'report a bug' page.

They have a feedback page. Never hurts to toss that idea out. I'm sure they've brainstormed like crazy but they are surely likelier to take that idea seriously, if they have thought of it, if they hear it from the people. I wished dearly that the FxTech X1 or whatever had turned out not to be a scammy piece of shit because I agree, that landscape style is really enticing. As you say, if they could make the same basic thing work as a horizontal version of the Power Keyboard, I'd be super here for it. Everything they advertise as a positive about the Power Keyboard, like controlling other devices, would be better if it was just...way bigger. Haha.

100%. His handle on social media is CaptainTwoPhones, haha. It's a positively, ridiculously insulated angle. But I don't think they're entirely naive, either. I think he even acknowledged in the announcement that it's a pretty uncommon, upper-crust, eNtHuSiAsT thing to do. I can only speak for myself, but I find the notion of being so engulfed in obsession with these horrible little gadgets that if you keep two of them on you for any reason except being a professional tech reviewer or needing a second one for your job...that is, if you carry two phones just for the love of phones...well, that's extremely off-putting to me to the degree that I have nothing polite to say about it, and I think I just should stop myself instead. I know life is short and it's unsavory to 'yuck someone else's yum'. But. Meh.

I guess we'll have to see!

This is going to sound super generalized and possibly ethnocentric, but that's not my meaning: buying shit on Amazon since the advent of the non-brand (you know, like ZMDRROI or BRRWE or CLQQIU or whatever) has brought to my ordinary consumer attention how much overlap there is in suppliers overseas. You can buy like, a skin care set, and a cake decorating set, and a nail care set, and a model kit set, and a clay working set of tools and there will be overlapping pokers and curvy pokers and hoopy-doos that appear in every single one. And I put this crude topology together in my head of what must be going on over there, and it's just like, "I'm a factory that churns out little pokers the way some villages produce nails or bullets from raw metal, and I need to sell to second-level manufacturers and convince them that my poker is a good fit for skin care, cake decoration, nail scraping, Gundam model detailing, and clay art," and then those second tier manufacturers (if indeed they aren't the same guys as the first tier) are like, "I've got to use these taco bell ingredients to make as many conceptually varied remixes as I can, to cast as wide a net as possible in the marketplace."

Sorry, had a few drinks, I hope I'm making sense. I know it isn't really interesting, but I do think it's kind of interesting. In the pre-Amazon age we just didn't have much cause to think about generic elements of consumer products. But also, especially in the age of maker stuff, it's very obvious. I built a little smart typewriter thing, and I bought an eink screen which was prescribed in the design, but that thing was originally marketed for like...digital signage at supermarkets, or whatever, to update prices on the fly.

I dunno. It's kinda interesting. Kinda cool in a 'scrappy manufacturers versus the world' kind of way. At least, I'd rather think of it in those terms versus "cynical companies tricking us into buying the same shit over and over by putting new labels on it" :p

It's made in collaboration with them, but Fisher claimed it was made for the phone.

I'm fascinated by the accusation (guess?) that the Titan 2 Elite and the Communicator share a platform from some common manufacturer. They have the same screen (just to eyeball it; I have not checked the specs to compare so please don't flame me if I'm wrong) and they both have the top-left punch-out camera. They both look slick as hell and if I was in need of a phone right now I bet I could have a good time with either one, but between them I've definitely got a little more brand loyalty for Clicks since I've enjoyed their QWERTY experience more, and I also think their launcher looks slick as shit. But I've always wanted to love the Unihertz phones I've bought and my heart is always open to them finally nailing it one day. If they were built on the same platform and they both turned out to be...ya know, pretty good...I think the world would be in a great place (at least as far as QWERTY resurgence is concerned).

I heard that the designers of that phone were involved with the original Clicks, but it's kind of an over-generalization to say that because those guys are involved with this by-now well-established company, that this will turn out to be some kind of rip-off scheme. Clicks Technology have delivered on every promise they have made to this point. Even if their products aren't for everyone, and even if (in my experience) the first generation have some serious issues with wearing down too quickly, they absolutely do make products, they do feel good to use, they do what they say, and there's no reason to doubt they can deliver on this next one.

It's meant to be your real phone. They're just afraid to advertise it that way. It's truly bizarre to choose this advertising theme, because it almost causes confusion, since there have been phones in the past which truly are companion phones, totally tethered to your primary phone for their connection but besides that little (huge) dependency, were meant to be like...minimalist, distraction-free devices. Advertising the Communicator as a "second phone" absolutely summons up that same idea, in my head at least. If they did some of the app curation or de-googling of, for comparison, the SLEKE phone project, then they could full-throatedly sell this as a minimalist dream. But they don't want to lock out any kind of customer, and so they're struggling to make a case for who the customer even is supposed to be here. So they just call it a "second phone" and let you decide for yourself whether it could be a primary or a second or nothing at all. I'd buy it in a heartbeat if I didn't have a bunch of frugal reasons not to, and if they hadn't also announced an accessory so seemingly excellent that it encourages me not to give up my current phone for many years to come.

Yeah their messaging is a bit fucked. At the same time they announced the Communicator they announced the potentially best and most flexible keyboard accessory they have put out to date, and for remarkably the least cost of anything they've released. It's compatible with any phone or case that supports MagSafe, so...it's just maybe not the best time to also announce a phone whose defining feature is its keyboard?

Not to sell it short, because the colored notification LED and notification-centered launcher are both nice concepts, and the squarish screen appeals to the would-be digital minimalist in me, since it will definitely ruin many apps like Unihertz phones have been doing for years. I bet that I could own and really love this phone. The thing is though, the Power Keyboard they announced, which is compatible with my existing phone, costs less than a fifth of the price, and comes out sooner, and does more things (because you can connect it to multiple Bluetooth clients), and the format is more flexible (because you can spin your magnetically-connected phone horizontally, and your phone can maintain a traditional aspect ratio by...being your existing phone), and...yeah. It's just a weird time to announce a phone and a super cool accessory that almost completely undercuts it.

Still, I love what this company is up to, and I hope they keep at it.

They're afraid to go full bore advertising it as a minimalist alternative. If they weren't, they would have offered more thoughtful features beyond the (admittedly great) notifications-only home screen. But that's secretly who this phone is for. I am sure they're just afraid to pigeonhole it. Calling it a second phone is silly and will sell it to about 50 people but it leaves any other potential buyer to interpret what it is and why they might want it for themselves. It's a...whatever strategy.

I know why I want it, and the early bird price (slash threat of the higher price later) is certainly compelling, but:

1. I just put a fresh Clicks case on my existing phone
2. I just paid that phone off and I don't see any need to upgrade
3. I ordered a Clicks Power Keyboard or whatever they're calling the other thing they announced at the same time (and doesn't that purchase contributing to diverting me from the Communicator suggest they're cannibalizing their own moment by announcing both at the same time?) so I'll have that as well as my fresh Clicks classic case to buy me further years (one hopes) with my current phone and
4. I expect that when my phone DOES finally die, yes, I will absolutely look at the Communicator if it's still around / affordable used (which it should be since it's affordable new). At that time, it'll also have come out and been reviewed extensively, so there also won't be any guesswork in whether it's worth picking up.