My new favourite Android accent is not meant for Android in any respect

Abstract

  • Clicks Keyboard enhances typing expertise on iPhone, providing over 36 shortcuts to simplify duties.
  • Android customers may profit from Clicks with the proper match on the Nothing Telephone 1, supporting key shortcuts.
  • Android’s customization makes it a super platform for Clicks, however native assist for extra gadgets is on the horizon.



From new Pixels to single-purpose AI devices, this yr’s seen no scarcity of tech bulletins, and my private favourite simply so occurred to be one of many highlights of CES 2024. The Clicks Keyboard, constructed completely for the iPhone by my mates Michael Fisher — higher recognized on YouTube as Mr. Cellular — and Kevin Michaluk, provides bodily buttons whereas permitting you to virtually double the quantity of content material you possibly can match in your iPhone display screen.


I’ve been making an attempt out Clicks on the iPhone 15 Professional Max for the previous couple of weeks, and it’s been transformative to my workflow. Though I believed it might simply be the BlackBerry expertise for the trendy era, after a number of days of typing away, it was the keyboard shortcuts that shined by means of, simplifying my each duties whereas the buttons themselves turned my favourite approach to sort on my telephone.

Nevertheless it’s not at all times an iPhone in my arms. I exploit an Android telephone alongside Apple’s newest {hardware} day-after-day, and switching from Clicks to a non-Clicks typing expertise made me marvel if I may use this keyboard with any Android telephone. In any case, with Apple’s transfer to USB-C, the one factor protecting me from utilizing Clicks on Android is not the connector — it is the form and dimension. And after testing varied telephones, I spotted that the Nothing Telephone 1 is the proper match.



Why I really like Clicks

An adjunct made for ex-BlackBerry followers

As nice as predictive textual content could be, it is also ceaselessly unreliable, particularly when utilizing swipe gestures on the on-screen keyboard. To that finish, I’ve observed that Clicks makes me sort higher the primary time round. We’ve all heard the phrase, “Suppose earlier than you communicate.” Clicks is the web model: “Suppose earlier than you sort.”

It goes additional than that. Buttons imply mixtures and shortcuts, and Clicks helps over 36 keyboard shortcuts utilizing varied mixtures of the modifier keys and the QWERTY keyboard. This makes use of iOS’s native accessibility choices and {hardware} keyboard assist, together with shortcuts like rapidly accessing your Residence Display screen, Notification Middle, and Command Middle.

Nevertheless, that assist comes from iOS. Whether or not or not I may get the identical performance on Android took slightly extra experimentation.


Extra than simply buttons for Android

Energy customers rejoise

The Nothing Phone 1 sitting in a Clicks iPhone case with the keyboard settings show.

Android tablets have confirmed time and time once more that Android can assist {hardware} keyboards and key shortcuts — until you are rocking a Pixel Pill, after all, the place Google makes you store for third-party choices. The Galaxy Tab S9 Extremely is my Android pill of alternative, and utilizing Samsung’s first-party keyboard, it’s able to the standard array of shortcuts you’d anticipate from a strong pill that additionally runs Home windows apps. However what about an Android-powered telephone?

My favourite factor about utilizing Clicks with the Nothing Telephone 1 is that the keyboard shortcuts simply work precisely in addition to you’d hope. The CMD icon on the Clicks Keyboard acts because the modifier key (the equal of the Management key on Home windows or the Command key on Mac) and allows you to rapidly entry OS shortcuts or launch apps.


Clicks-Nothing-Phone-1-AP-exclusive-3-1

Right here’s the checklist of shortcuts accessible on Android. The Android menu describes the Magnifying glass icon, however from my testing, it principally interprets to the CMD key on the Clicks keyboard and allows the next shortcuts:

  • CMD + N: Entry the notification middle
  • CMD + Enter: return to the house display screen
  • CMD + Delete: return a step
  • ALT + TAB: Current apps (cycle ahead)
  • ALT + SHIFT + TAB: Current apps (cycle backward)
  • CMD + /: Open the keyboard shortcuts menu in an app
  • CMD + B: Open the default browser
  • CMD + L: open the default calendar app
  • CMD + C: Open Contacts
  • CMD + E: Open the default e-mail app
  • CMD + P: Open the default music app
  • CMD + S: Open Messages

These are those proven within the Android bodily keyboard menu, however there are additionally a number of extra that work despite the fact that they don’t seem to be listed in any menu:


  • CMD + M: Open Google Maps
  • CMD + A: Open the Calculator app
  • CMD or Mic key: Press as soon as to launch Google Assistant

There does not look like a approach to customise the above shortcuts, at the least not natively. Clicks is out there in numerous types for various areas, together with AZERTY for Europe. And sure, I’ve checked: you possibly can simply program the bodily keyboard to match your Clicks keyboard in a distinct area.

The proper mixture

The Nothing Phone 1 sitting in a Clicks iPhone case.

Android is the proper OS for a product like Clicks, because of its capability to customise the general expertise and countless prospects, however the varied dimension and shapes of even the preferred gadgets makes assist tougher than you would possibly suppose. So whereas Clicks isn’t accessible natively for any Android telephone simply but, assist could possibly be across the nook if sufficient individuals demand it — or, you realize, sufficient OEMs make gadgets the dimensions and form of the Nothing Telephone 1.


Such as you, I can also’t wait to see Clicks formally assist a few of my favourite Android telephones, however for now, when you’ve been craving {hardware} buttons for Android, Nothing’s first-gen gadget is your greatest guess. In any case, the very best iPhone accent mixed with an incredible all-round telephone that’s inexpensive and highly effective? That’s a successful mixture.

Nirave is a creator, evangelist, and founding father of Home of Expertise, which covers the very best well being and know-how merchandise. Following a coronary heart assault on the age of 33, he’s been targeted on the affect of know-how in serving to us dwell longer, extra fruitful, and happier lives. He will also be discovered on Instagram and Twitter and publishes the Affect Publication at affect.sizzling.tech.

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