Some may know, but I’m not new to the smartphone space. I’ve been around to watch the entire segment form, growing around pocket computers and the traditional phone merging. This has included owning phones from every major player across the last two decades from the likes of Nokia, BlackBerry, Apple, and Google/Android.
Through all of these devices, I’ve held a certain soft spot for Palm and the webOS line of smartphones. I still own every device that ever held that name and software platform. The Palm Pre and the later debacle around the fall of the HP TouchPad tablet got all the press, but the Palm Pixi was an unsung option from Palm that was a fantastic QWERTY candy-bar phone.
Lineage I Trust
I laid down this bit of backstory to say that a new phone has piqued my interest more than anything in recent years. The recently unveiled Clicks Communicator is giving me strong “grown up” Palm vibes all over the place, and I’ve already reserved my personal Communicator. Formed by a triad of former webOS and BlackBerry faithful, it should make it no surprise that this new device was up my alley.
Honestly, the people behind these devices couldn’t be more suited to create the Communicator. Crackberry Kevin Michaluk was crucial in the early days of the media presence surrounding the cult of BlackBerry. In a similar vein, Michael “Mr. Mobile” Fisher has been an avid webOS supporter and historian like myself. The final creator is Jeff Gadway, who spent seven years as head of product marketing at BlackBerry itself.
This lineage jumped off my monitor screen when I saw Mr. Mobile reveal the Clicks Communicator on social media. The overall dimensions give me a strong BlackBerry Classic recall, which is strong praise as holds in my heart as one of the most solid pieces of smartphone hardware ever produced. Pair that with the keys and over all shape of a Palm Pixi, and it’s like two of my favorite vestiges of the physical keyboard market were combined into a single device.
Full of Promise
And then they did it. They gave me a place to flop down my hard-earned money to reserve one. If this had been from any other group, I don’t think I’d have moved much further than “that’s neat”. Other companies are still making phones with physical keyboards, like the Unihertz Titan 2, but this core of creators really was the tipping point for me.
Not only do I believe they’ll succeed on bringing the promises they’ve made already, I believe hardened veterans of the market like Kevin and Michael will hold fast to things like frequent updates and software tweaks. I sincerely hope this includes direct consumer feedback as well. When it looks like a labor of love, and I think that’s true here, then usually you get real world results that match that passion.
I for one, can’t wait to get my hands on the Click Communicator. If this device also intrigues you, hit the Click’s website to find out more, or reserve your model today.
