Clicks’ Power Keyboard brings BlackBerry-style typing to any phone — with some compromises

The physical keyboard refuses to die quietly. Clicks is packaging that idea into a $99 slide-out accessory for MagSafe and Qi2 phones, and the pitch is straightforward: bring back BlackBerry-era tactility without abandoning the modern handset. The execution matters more than the nostalgia, because it turns an old input method into an interchangeable peripheral.

The honest constraint is physical. Adding hardware to a phone means adding weight and bulk, and the reporting is clear that larger phones become awkward once the keyboard is attached. That trade-off is the entire product. The accessory’s value depends on whether the feel of a real keypress outweighs the ergonomic cost, and that calculation shifts with every phone size, case choice, and user’s grip.

Customization is the smarter play. This is not an attempt to replace the touchscreen; it is a specialized input layer for people who want dedicated keys, shortcuts, and tactile control over a device that has run out of physical buttons. A slide-out keyboard with programmable mapping is less a typewriter revival than a control surface bolted onto a slab of glass.

At $99, it sits in impulse-buy territory, but it is not a frivolous one. The signal here is not that physical keyboards are coming back in a big way. It is that people who live in text fields are still willing to pay for a tactile edge, even when it makes their phone heavier and more awkward to hold. That willingness is exactly what keeps the smartphone accessory market alive.