I miss the tactile experience of typing on a cell phone. BlackBerry is the one everyone remembers — I never owned one. The smartphones I actually carried in the early 2000s did the same job, with real keys and real travel.

I keep every device I've ever owned. I don't get rid of them unless I'm handing one down. Three of these are still in a drawer at the house.

Palm Treo

The Treo was the first time I realized a phone could replace my laptop for short bursts. Front-facing keyboard, chrome bezel, jog wheel on the side. Email, SMS, web — all without lifting my thumbs.

PalmOS made it weird in good ways. You could write your own apps if you wanted. Most of us just typed faster than our friends and called it a win.

Motorola Backflip

The Backflip was a swing. Full QWERTY hinged behind the screen so the keys folded out backwards. It looked like a science fair project and felt like one too.

It was also the first Android phone I owned where typing didn't feel like an apology. The hinge wore out. The carrier bloatware was the worst I've ever seen on a phone. I still defend it.

Motorola Charm

The Charm was the BlackBerry-shaped Android. Square screen, full keyboard underneath, tiny. It fit in the watch pocket of jeans.

It was slow. The screen aspect ruined half the apps. None of that mattered when you could hammer out a long text on a real grid of keys without ever covering the screen.

Then they all went away

Phones got bigger. Screens got better. Soft keyboards got smart enough that most people stopped noticing they were typing on glass. I noticed.

It's not muscle memory. The iPhone landed in 2007 — that part is long gone. What I miss is the speed. The tactile click. The sound. It's the same thing a mechanical keyboard gives me on my desktop: weight, travel, the feeling that I'm doing something that matters. Glass never gave that back.

Clicks brings it back

Clicks shipped a magnetic keyboard in 2024 that snaps onto the back of an iPhone — full BlackBerry-style keys hanging off the bottom. I ordered one. It's the first time in fifteen years I've typed on a phone without flinching.

It magnets onto the back. Real keys with real travel. A shortcut row across the top, Cmd+Space search, the whole thing. You give up some screen real estate at the bottom — I give up zero typing speed.

The Power Keyboard

Clicks already showed off the next move: the Power Keyboard — a magnetic power bank with a slide-out keyboard. 2150mAh battery, MagSafe and Qi2 wireless charging, Bluetooth to anything within range.

It works detached too. Pair it to a smart TV, a tablet, a folding phone in landscape. The keys pull power from the integrated battery, so your phone doesn't lose its charge to keystrokes. Clicks calls that "protecting milliamp-hourage." I call it the right call.

The form factor handles every awkward situation the snap-on keyboard can't — Samsung trifolds, Pixel Fold, anything where a fixed attachment is impractical. Slide, type, snap it back to your bag.

It was supposed to have shipped already. I've been in line for six months. Still waiting.