Clicks Keyboard Case Review
Nearly Unusable on the Moto Razr Ultra
Retail Price: $139.00
Still Waiting For It To work
When the Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) launched, I pre-ordered it from Best Buy where the big box retailer included a free unit of the Clicks keyboard case with the purchase. I’ve looked at a lot of smartphone keyboard combinations over the years here at The Sypnotix, but nothing quite matched the uniqueness that the Mr. Mobile backed Clicks product seemed to offer. My initial hype for the Clicks on the Ultra 2025 was quickly dampened by the numerous connectivity and functional issues that plagued the user experience. Months later, has the keyboard case improved upon its woeful launch or is this ultimately a botched implementation that is destined to be paper weight?
Let me just get this out of the way and say that unfortunately the Click’s keyboard still doesn’t function correctly. Even after a Motorola software update (sadly not the one needed) and implementing the settings changes circulating on Reddit and YouTube, the case still cannot reliably stay connected to the phone. In fact, it disconnects me mid-sentence so frequently now that I’ve all but given up on it and it’ll be going back into the drawer after the review.
I want to state explicitly that if you are purchasing this phone and keyboard combination under the impression from tutorials claiming that a 7 step tinkering of the settings will make the Click’s keyboard work flawlessly as it was intended, don’t do it. The disconnecting issue is significantly deeper than what a consumer can resolve themselves through Android settings modifications. Everything from locking the Clicks app in the recent apps tray, to unrestricting the “Allow background usage” setting, none of these alterations can permanently stop the Moto Razr Ultra 2025 from disconnecting with the keyboard.
I love seeing the community band together and proactively unite to try to make an intriguing product work, but I find the misinformation that has been circulating online to be more harmful for consumers than helpful. If coincidentally your Clicks keyboard temporarily holds a connection and it hasn’t disconnected from the phone after inputting these settings configurations, it still doesn’t mean this is a fix to the issue that plagues this device.
Anecdotally, I have a consumer model of both the phone and the case, and I’ve implemented essentially every internet settings combination suggestion I could find online and my keyboard still cannot stay connected permanently when attached together. I’m not the only one too. For every post claiming a settings change is all it takes to make the keyboard work correctly, there are posts from people saying it still doesn’t work with those changes.
As someone fortunate enough to have a vast amount of experience with a wide range of Android devices, I can tell you straight up that a lot of these “fixes” were logical places for the community to attempt to tinker, but it doesn’t address the root cause between the interaction of the way the Clicks keyboard communicates with Motorola’s Android implementation. The only true fix is for the Clicks team and Motorola to work out an OTA update that addresses the direct influence point that is hindering this experience. From my research, the update apparently has been waiting for processing from Motorola and although I have tried waiting for it to push out before publishing this review, it’s currently August and I got the phone and case in May. That’s an unacceptable amount of time for a consumer product to not be functioning as it should.
A Premium Case?
While the Clicks case carries a premium price tag by case standards, it does offer additional functionality that most cases don’t have. This particular product also functionally changes not only the form of the phone it latches onto, but also the usage style of that device. It’s rare to find a case that evolves the original design of the product it bonds to.
The case itself has held up relatively well over the last few months. The mixture of rubber and plastic material feels fine to hold if not somewhat underwhelming for a case that costs over $100. You can get a good handle on it with the right gripping spots through the rugged curved edges of the case. The bottom rear of the case contains what I believe is a vegan leather inlay. It’s nice to feel a different texture on an otherwise smooth surface, but it does little to elevate the case’s status as a “premium” offering as the company self-declares it to be. Unfortunately, the panel gap between this inlay and the rest of the rear has been a hotspot for lodging dust and debris into the crevices. It didn’t bother me much at first, but it’s painfully annoying to scrape out whatever seems to end up lodged between those gaps.
Unlike some other flip phone cases for the Ultra, the Clicks is technically contained in two separate pieces. The back panel is the larger piece that houses the keyboard and the USB-C connection that the phone will plug into. The bumper case that protects the frame of the external display on the Razr Ultra is independent from the rear piece. It has adhesives that stick onto the bezels of the external display that I chose to not use. This setup leaves the hinge fully exposed and uncased as well as the buttons on the frame. I don’t personally find that to be an issue, but I do hear many folding phone owners to be extremely paranoid about exposing their hinge and they require a fully covered case. That’s not my stance on it and I do like the relatively clean aesthetics the Clicks gives off when clamped onto the Razr.
Typing With the Clicks
The main physical keyboard area is nicely segregated and spaced between the external display of the Razr and the remaining space on the case. The keys themselves are made from a polycarbonate material and they feel decent to type on. With rounded keycaps that are slightly slanted in one direction or the other, I got used to typing on this little real estate after a couple of days. I honestly don’t know if having the keys slanted to the right for the right half of the board, and then left on the left side of the board actually helps with the typing experience, but I don’t think it detracts from it either.
Precision typing requires training your thumbs to input an action with the tip of the thumb just shy of the fingernail. Because the circumference of the keys is quite small, using the fatter portion of the thumb to input will heighten the chances of clicking into a neighboring letter cap. Initially, I was typing on it the way I did with my last Blackberry, the Key 2 LE, which had thicker squared keys. It was more forgiving and it allowed more space to press into on a key. While the keys technically do have space between them on the Click’s keyboard, I actually think it would have been more accurate to type on if they expanded each key to cover those dead spaces to give typers a little more error room.
Three Different Motos
Clicks sells different individual cases for the Razr, the Razr Plus, and the Razr Ultra.
The keyboard has a Gemini button next to the space bar that brings up Google’s current Assistant upon command. Combinations like combining the 123 button and the Alt key will bring up emoji and gif inputs from the keyboard. There’s also a magnifying glass button on the left side of the space bar that also acts as another shortcut combo key. Clicking that button and the B button will quick launch the Google Chrome browser open. It can also open the YouTube app from the keyboard by hitting the button with the Y key. Gmail can be launched with the G key and the magnifying glass button. Lastly, that key can also bring users back to the home page, pull down the Android notifications, as well as open up recent apps all through combinations on the keyboard. It takes a little bit of memorization to get a good feel for capitalizing on these quick shortcut combinations, but it does offer some speedy avenues to operate the Razr without touching the display.
This is more helpful if you’re operating the phone opened as the screen feels miles away from the keyboard in this form. This is a good time to talk about the other form factor that the Razr Ultra has with the Clicks keyboard. While I surmise most people buying this will envision using it with the phone closed, there are scenarios where it's likely the phone will be open with the keyboard attached. Yes, this case does add additional length to the phone when flipped open. It looks like a long face with an elongated beard. I didn’t think that the phone was unwieldy at all with this new longer shape. My thumb in its natural position could only reach the bottom half of the display which coincides with the real estate under the folding crease, but the keyboard shortcuts definitely help the work flow of Android operation. This is especially true for the notification drop down shortcut.
From a typing experience, which is the ultimate classifier for a keyboard case, the Clicks is a decent product that you can type relatively effectively on. It’s not my favorite physical phone keyboard that I’ve reviewed in the last decade, but the pickings certainly are slim nowadays and it does do the job. While the company produces Clicks cases for other slab phones, I personally don’t find them too viable in terms of form factor effectiveness. However, the Razr Ultra’s closed form is a match made in heaven for Clicks. I applaud them for the design and implementation regardless of the quality control issues that seem to plague this product. The case plugs into the Razr through the USB-C port. My case and phone don’t seem to perfectly align even when sliding the Ultra within the guidance of the grooves. Sometimes it takes a bit of finagling to attach the phone back into the case.
Not as Intended
The reason I have to detach the phone at all is because the Ultra does not wireless charge while the case is plugged in. Motorola does not seem to handle their plugged in peripherals intelligently when the USB-C slot is occupied. This means I have to take the phone out of the case to plop it onto a Qi charger, and have to reapply the phone into the case when it's done. As you can imagine, each time the case comes back onto the phone, some issues arise with getting the connection back up and running. Very rarely is the Clicks keyboard plug and play. This is because there is a companion app that is attached to the performance of the keyboard that I don’t think should actually be tied to it.
Supposedly, this is a pure plug and play keyboard if you choose it to be. The Clicks case is designed to just plug into the USB-C port of the Razr and just function right away. You don’t need the app for the keyboard to boot up and work as long as it’s getting power from the phone. The accompanying app was designed to compliment and add additional control over the keyboard functions. That of course has not been my real life experience with the product. Like a lot of internet chatter has surmised, the app needs to be running in the background for the keyboard to function at all.
The Android app is quite barebones. You’re able to lock in a couple of functions like Caps Lock and Sym Lock, as well as enabling or disabling the backlight for the keyboard. With the brightness level set to 100%, the keys are illuminated brightly. The backlighting for the board also doesn’t reliably work within the confines of the system’s settings. Sometimes when it's enabled, it doesn’t illuminate. It’s like the device has a mind of its own. The app’s last main function is to check for firmware updates. I don’t recall actually having an update since unboxing the case months ago.
final thoughts
One of the functions I saw advertised by Clicks that drew me to buy the Razr and by extension the case, is that the keyboard can act as a controller for Android emulation. While I did find it neat to be able to play a quick session of ModRetro Tetris or Pokemon Emerald without relying on an external controller or on-screen touch controls, it wasn’t actually that enjoyable to play on here. The key layout just isn’t the same as using a computer keyboard layout for gaming. The keys are also too narrow and compact to use the entire thumb for input like you would a switch on a controller.
A viewer made a comment saying they would instantly buy a case controller made by Clicks for the Ultra. I actually would too and it likely would be a much more logical product than a QWERTY keyboard. With all of this unreliability associated with a vital smartphone function like typing, this Clicks case just isn’t a viable everyday companion. A gaming controller case wouldn’t need to stay connected at all times to actually be used. It’ll just be plugged in and I wouldn’t mind starting an app up for the session of gameplay when it’s required. Since it’s attached to the phone anyway, this type of product is so much more beneficial than carrying another USB-C clip-on controller, or carrying a Bluetooth one in a bag or pocket.
Unfortunately, I can’t recommend the Clicks keyboard for the Razr Ultra 2025. I’m not completely certain how well the case works with other Razr models, but at least anecdotally, my consumer version of the case is nearly unusable from a reliability standpoint with the Ultra 2025 even after about three months. While it isn’t fully in the paper weight category as it does actually function occasionally, you’ll be more frustrated often than not using this as your daily driving case for the Ultra. So until there is an officially released fix that is confirmed by Clicks and Motorola that can be tested over time to verify that the disconnecting issues are resolved, this is definitely not ready to be in the hands of consumers.
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Having a keyboard case like this transforms the Moto Razr Ultra into a whole new phone. Sadly, it’s also barely usable.