Clicks Communicator is phone purpose-built for taking action and communicating in a noisy world with deeper context, versatile input and greater control in a compact design.
I think the element of it that I don’t particularly like is how they frame themselves as people who value their time and mental health because they carry around a second, intentionally limited device. They kind of play this “social media is really bad, phones are really addictive” angle but then they don’t actually give up on any of that stuff because they still have their extremely expensive high-end folding phone on them at all times as well. It all feels so performative to me, like they’re not actually willing to make sacrifices themselves but still want the social cred/respect from pretending to be aware of the problem and part of the solution. But they’re not, really, because they’re entertaining this fantasy where phone addicts can magically get their lives back without changing their relationship with phones. If anything, they are contributing to the problem by encouraging people to buy and use even more devices.
I much prefer the anti-addiction/“minimal” phones that are either a) very small or b) have an e-ink screen, but are still marketed as an actual phone (not a “secondary” device). Those manufacturers intentionally put up walls to frustrate and force the owner to change their habits and re-wire their brain, rather than pushing this fake “you can have your cake and eat it too” philosophy to combating addiction.
Right now I’m super interested in the Minimal Phone, and the SLEKE Phone, and to a lesser extent the Communicator (lesser of course because but for its wonky screen size, it can essentially ‘do’ everything a smartphone does). I understand the Minimal Phone’s often clunky compromises and that it can also technically install any Android app but as you said, the amount of friction introduced by the e-ink screen is severe enough one would hope it would help. If I had to pick one to buy today, it would almost be the SLEKE phone, because to me the idea of simply perma-banning all the apps I struggle to keep deleted myself seems just about perfect, and they also have a Communicator-esque ‘notification-forward’ home screen with no icons trying to incentivize you to open apps just to pass time. The one and only thing holding me back is that because they’ve de-Googled the phone, they appear to have broken Android Auto, and in the spirit of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I’m not too proud to say I don’t find GPS mapping to be a terrible drain on my life (even though it’s increasingly used as a data point about a kind of thinking that has atrophied in our modern-age brains) and I simply will not give up its inclusion in my car. I know Garmin still exists, but…that’s just a little too boutique, even for me. Any in-car mapping solution I’ve ever used short of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay has taken way too long to input or adjust destinations, been to quirky (I’m specifically thinking of a BMW I once borrowed and its awful built-in nav), and of course, AA and AC give you that ‘single pane of glass’ to manage not only your maps but also your music / podcasts / audiobooks through. I just can’t give that up for a minimalist phone.
But if SLEKE can figure out how to add AA back in, I’d jump ship on my old iPhone the second my Clicks Power Keyboard arrives in the Spring.
I think the element of it that I don’t particularly like is how they frame themselves as people who value their time and mental health because they carry around a second, intentionally limited device. They kind of play this “social media is really bad, phones are really addictive” angle but then they don’t actually give up on any of that stuff because they still have their extremely expensive high-end folding phone on them at all times as well. It all feels so performative to me, like they’re not actually willing to make sacrifices themselves but still want the social cred/respect from pretending to be aware of the problem and part of the solution. But they’re not, really, because they’re entertaining this fantasy where phone addicts can magically get their lives back without changing their relationship with phones. If anything, they are contributing to the problem by encouraging people to buy and use even more devices.
I much prefer the anti-addiction/“minimal” phones that are either a) very small or b) have an e-ink screen, but are still marketed as an actual phone (not a “secondary” device). Those manufacturers intentionally put up walls to frustrate and force the owner to change their habits and re-wire their brain, rather than pushing this fake “you can have your cake and eat it too” philosophy to combating addiction.
Yes, you’re absolutely right.
Right now I’m super interested in the Minimal Phone, and the SLEKE Phone, and to a lesser extent the Communicator (lesser of course because but for its wonky screen size, it can essentially ‘do’ everything a smartphone does). I understand the Minimal Phone’s often clunky compromises and that it can also technically install any Android app but as you said, the amount of friction introduced by the e-ink screen is severe enough one would hope it would help. If I had to pick one to buy today, it would almost be the SLEKE phone, because to me the idea of simply perma-banning all the apps I struggle to keep deleted myself seems just about perfect, and they also have a Communicator-esque ‘notification-forward’ home screen with no icons trying to incentivize you to open apps just to pass time. The one and only thing holding me back is that because they’ve de-Googled the phone, they appear to have broken Android Auto, and in the spirit of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I’m not too proud to say I don’t find GPS mapping to be a terrible drain on my life (even though it’s increasingly used as a data point about a kind of thinking that has atrophied in our modern-age brains) and I simply will not give up its inclusion in my car. I know Garmin still exists, but…that’s just a little too boutique, even for me. Any in-car mapping solution I’ve ever used short of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay has taken way too long to input or adjust destinations, been to quirky (I’m specifically thinking of a BMW I once borrowed and its awful built-in nav), and of course, AA and AC give you that ‘single pane of glass’ to manage not only your maps but also your music / podcasts / audiobooks through. I just can’t give that up for a minimalist phone.
But if SLEKE can figure out how to add AA back in, I’d jump ship on my old iPhone the second my Clicks Power Keyboard arrives in the Spring.