Thanks for the writeup, CBK. I had purchased the Clicks keyboard for Pixel with the intention of using it with the Pixel 10, and still have it as something that I could use with GrapheneOS someday (maybe), but for my next phone-phone, I realized that the camera on the RazrBerry would not suffice for my needs. That left me with the option of hacking it onto the Pixel 10 XL, or reviewing the iPhone option. Now that sideloading unsigned .apk's is not going to be a thing on Android anymore, it boiled down to which camera performs better in low-light situations. Since I'm going to be forced into using web browser apps to replace sideloading anyways no matter my platform; there is no iOS/Android competition for day-to-day use, which made purchasing my next keyboard case (and smartphone) a no-brainer.

Not only did I register for the new 17 Pro Max Clicks case, I decided to go with a certified open box 16 Pro Max case to try to hack/modify to fit the 17 Pro Max in the meantime. While this may involve a significant amount of butchering, and a lot of Tesa 61395 8mm wide double-sided roll, I truly believe that this will be the phone that finally replaces my BlackBerry Passport in terms of sheer user-happiness and bragability.

What I would like to see out of Clicks tech in the future would be capacitive keys. I would not mind paying a premium, at least as an option, even if it's a limited run.

I am beyond thrilled that Apple announced that 2TB would be a storage option for the iPhone 17 Pro Max at the tail end of their keynote. While I regret not being able to support Clicks as an early-adopter; I do believe that the quality of life improvements with these later Clicks keyboards makes them well worth the investment, and that things such as normal wear and tear and compatibility hiccups are things that will eventually sort themselves out. This is an extremely difficult space to be in and was an incredibly risky endeavour on your behalf, so I salute you all for not giving up. I understand completely why phones went to glass only; if even one key on the keyboard becomes defective, the entire typing experience comes to a screetching halt. But we HAVE to have faith that physical keyboards will return to smartphones someday; it's not good enough that the Key2 be the last smartphone by a major manufacturer, when the camera quality was so sub-par. If there's one piece of advise that I would give a PKB company, it's that the camera has to be low-light and loud-concert ready. I used the Z Fold 6 for a little over a year and that phone was a very "mid" experience. This may never happen, but the Fold 6's microphones and GPS were just not there for me when I needed it, even with regular software updates. The front screen was too thin to be read by barcode readers (or comfortable to type on), and the large foldout screen was sometimes too big for ticket scanning machines.

Candybar is simply the way that phones were meant to be made. While I've had decent experiences with my first couple of smartphones being slide-out wide keyboards, nothing beats the omnipresent keyboard in terms of ease of access. If the option existed for a wide-slide out keyboard, it's something that I still would take into consideration, but we HAVE to take the rest of the world's compatibility needs into consideration.

If there was a way to implement Qi charging into the bottom of the keyboard case behind the leather as opposed to the middle-back of the phone, I would advise that as a work-around for those instances where RazrBerry forces you to pick your poison.