It’s a cell phone with a physical keyboard? You mean, like a … BlackBerry?

Long-time readers of my blog will attest that I had a strong loyalty to the cell phone brand BlackBerry. Even when everybody else drifted off to iPhone and Android land, I stayed with my handheld phone with the physical keyboard for as long as I possibly could. And when new BlackBerry models came out, I would stick with them for as long as I possibly could. That included the BlackBerry Q10 model (I had the rare white version), the BlackBerry PRIV (the one with the slide-out physical keyboard), and the last one I owned, the BlackBerry KeyOne. And I rocked that KeyOne until Verizon Wireless – in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic – essentially bricked it by shifting to a new network standard. Have I ever mentioned about how much I hate Verizon?

That being said, I needed a new phone, and I eventually snagged a Google Pixel 6 Pro, which I still own. It’s an okay phone … I mean, it’s no BlackBerry, but then again, nothing was.

So now comes a startup company – Clicks Tech – that features a physical add-on to your cell phone that allows you to use a physical keyboard.

Yep. Kinda looks like the photo on the right.

So I’m looking at this, and I’m thinking …

So you’ve essentially made a keyboard add-on and now I’m supposed to treat this as a BlackBerry resurrection?

Yeah, I don’t know …

First off … although this device is available for Google Pixel phones, it only works with the Google Pixel 9 and 9 Pro, which is three generations past what I currently use. The device does exist for iPhone 14, 15 and 16, as well as for Samsung Galaxy and Razr phones.

No word if it’s compatible with those Nokia burner phones you see on those spy television shows, but I digress.

But here’s the thing. BlackBerry phones were not just phones with keyboards. They were built with incredible security and safety. They were built to be durable. They were built to last for a very long time (I can attest to this). It’s not like you can just go down to the auto parts store, purchase a vintage Pontiac emblem, slap it on your Tesla Cybertruck and tell everybody you’re now driving a tripped-out Pontiac Aztek.

What I wanted – and never got – was a BlackBerry 5G model with all those features.

And for this, we have to go back to a startup company named OnwardMobility. At one point in time, OnwardMobility claimed they were working with BlackBerry on a new 5G phone with all the trimmings. Well, that “working on a new 5G phone” was nothing more than vaporware. As in … it only existed to get people excited for a product that would never be made. Ugh. That’s like someone saying, “Sure, Chuck, I’d love to go on a date with you,” and then you show up at the location and she ghosted you. Ugh.

So, yeah. Don’t front me with these add-ons that make your phone look like a glorified surfboard and tell me it’s the return of the phone I really want.

That’s like pissing in my face and telling me it’s raining.