r/Android • u/welp_im_damned have you heard of our lord and savior the Android turtle 🐢 • Jun 30 '26

Video Clicks Communicator: First Look - Clicks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMNdr8dV23A
555 Upvotes

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275

u/Rude_Influence Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

I'm exited for this device and am eagerly awaiting it, but I am NOT liking what I'm seeing. There seems to be too much reliance on the touch screen. For example, when he typed, 'Spotify', he touched the screen to open it. He should have pressed enter on the keyboard. When he scrolled Spotify, he used his finger on the screen. He should have swiped on the keyboard. If they don't get those details right then they won't fill the niche market they're trying to break into.

13

u/sigismond0 Jun 30 '26

It's an Android phone with Android apps. Unless Spotify and every other app adds physical keyboard navigation support, it's always going to be touchscreen centered for anything but typing and shortcuts. That should have been obvious from day 1.

16

u/VoriVox Pixel 10 Pro, Pebble Time 2 Jun 30 '26

You can navigate pretty much any app with arrow keys, enter and esc, because that's how android handles things.

5

u/sigismond0 Jun 30 '26

You can, and it sucks something awful. I would expect you "can" with this just about as well as you can with an external keyboard, but just using the screen is pretty much always going to be more user friendly for actually interacting with maps.

1

u/MaverickJester25 Galaxy S21 Ultra | Galaxy Watch 4 Jun 30 '26

You can, and it sucks something awful.

What do you base this statement on?

3

u/Captiongomer Jun 30 '26

Go hookup a keyboard to an android phone right now and see

4

u/sigismond0 Jun 30 '26

Having done it with the arrow keys on a remote on sideloaded apps on a Google TV.

2

u/MaverickJester25 Galaxy S21 Ultra | Galaxy Watch 4 Jul 01 '26

Android and Android TV/Google TV are not the same thing.

Android has improved support for physical keyboards a lot, Android 16 in particular.

Clicks already added Cursor mode to their keyboards in 2024, and the keyboard on the Communicator is touch sensitive.

1

u/sigismond0 Jul 01 '26

App navigation with arrow keys is pretty much wholly up to the developer, independent of how well the OS plays with physical keyboards.

Capacitive cursor mode would be a whole different thing though. So either this prototype doesn't have it, or they will highlight it in a future video. The pearl clutching over the idea that a user chose to use the touch screen on a touch screen device is just out of hand in this thread.

1

u/Rude_Influence Jul 04 '26

I don't know if you're referring to me, but I don't think the reasons I stated for being disappointed are out of hand. What makes this phone unique is not the touch screen, it's the keyboard. If I have to use the touch screen almost all the time, I am not interested in this phone anymore. I know I'll have to use it occasionally for certain apps, but for basic navigation around the home screen and inbuilt apps, I expect to be able to use the keyboard exclusively. This is not a unrealistic expectation. I've used Bluetooth keyboards on my tablet before and it's very possible.

1

u/sigismond0 Jul 04 '26

Just because one person in one video chose to touch the screen (because it's faster and more intuitive because all apps are designed for it) isn't any sort of indication of functionality though.

We already know the keyboard is capacitive and will function as a touchpad. The app search screen clearly shows "press enter to open". Really there's no indication here that you won't be able to use it for navigation, it's just a guy that happened to the touchscreen. Feels like a lot of drama to start getting folks riled up about disappointment from a first look video that's not even trying to be a UI/navigation deep dive.

1

u/Rude_Influence Jul 04 '26

There is no drama, just disappointment, and my statement is not to blame for that, the video is. The feature (the keyboard) that makes this phone different to every other phone is not utilised. Defeats the point of the video. I can watch a video of any other smart phone and see someone talk into a speaker and tap a piece of glass. I wanted to see the keyboard used more on a keyboard centric phone. I don't think that's being dramatic.

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3

u/SuperSubwoofer Google Pixel, Android P Beta, iPhone 7, Moto 360 V2 Jun 30 '26

Devices require the ability to control via external hardware devices for accessibility compliance. Apps need to also build for that, otherwise they are in violation of accessibility laws.

4

u/sigismond0 Jun 30 '26

Yeah and in practice it sucks. I've done it. Arrow-based control of apps designed with touch as the intended UX "function" but suck. I'd much rather reach up and touch the screen to do exactly what I want instantly than have to click around 15 times to try to get to a button, and learn different muscle memory for different apps.

1

u/SuperSubwoofer Google Pixel, Android P Beta, iPhone 7, Moto 360 V2 Jun 30 '26

It sucks because of however the devs implemented it. You’re complaining about something’s that’s entire the developer’s fault.

1

u/sigismond0 Jun 30 '26

I'm not complaining, because I don't care how well key-based navigation works.

Someone else complained about this video not showing key-based navigation. What I'm doing is describing the reality of trying to use Android apps with buttons instead of touch, and why regardless of hardware capabilities app interaction will pretty much always be better with the touch screen.

The expectation that this weird niche device is somehow supposed to solve the UI of hundreds of thousands of apps that were never optimized for button-based navigation is absolutely insane.