The hyperfocus cycle has begun, yet again, and pretty soon this year. Some of you might know how obsessed I am with PKB phones, going as far as getting a Blackberry Classic Q20 last year just to have some fun with it. And it is really fun! But also way too limited for a casual use nowadays. I had to bypass BBM activation, manually update TLS certificates and dig for some modified apks that worked specifically on the Android 4.4 compatibility layer and even then they are slow as fuck and the browser engine is so outdated that most webs don’t show properly.
Introducing my new obsession
Two days ago Clicks (a phone keyboard cases company co-founded by Mr. Mobile) introduced both a bluetooth MAGsafe/Qi 2 sliding keyboard and a new PKB Android phone. The bluetooth keyboard is cool, but the phone? It’s GORGEOUS.
Obviously, I couldn’t help but get excited about it because it looks awesome:
- BB Classic form factor
- Bigger and more usable keyboard
- Android 16, so full compatibility with current apps
- Colored backplate
- Notification led with different colors for different notification groups
- Custom version of Niagara Launcher that looks amazing
- Affordable1
Which it’s not to say it doesn’t come without doubts, both for the device and for myself.
It’s all about trade-offs
The first question is if it will be powerful enough: They have stated they’re using a 4nm Mediatek SOC without specifying anything else. At the same time, they’re promoting it as kind of a “second phone” device. It would make sense to be a low-end phone considering its price, but it comes with many tradeoffs. I mostly use my phone for social media, music and Carplay so the requirements are not that high, though I wonder if it will really make the cut as a daily device.
For sure, it is perfect for communicating (it is called the Clicks Communicator, after all) and writing overall, but as a media gal I kinda value having a proper camera too. It’s not that I don’t have a proper portable camera with my Sony ZV-1 II, but more often than not you want to have quick access to make a proper picture for unexpected moments— and it doesn’t seem to be the case.
Another case would be to get it as a temporary alternative to play with the idea. My current iPhone 11 can take care of Carplay and the ocassional Pokémon TCGP draw, so I could carry it in the backpack as kind of a backup for quick pics while using this one more like a primary phone. Thinking about it, it seems the most sensible choice. I didn’t have any intention of replacing it yet as it works wonders for what I use it, and this way I could even delay it even further.
Footnotes
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The price is $400 (380€ with shipping and taxes) on Early-Bird discount, which is considerably cheaper than the 1200€ I’d spend on an iPhone Pro otherwise. ↩