Technologies

My Clicks Communicator Hands-On: Boldly Going Where Phones Have Been Before

The new Android handset is meant to be a secondary phone optimized for messaging, with a BlackBerry-like physical keyboard, headphone jack and other features lost to time.

It’s one thing to have a great idea and another to actually make it a reality. The newly announced Clicks Communicator phone, from the keyboard phone case company of the same name, is a refreshing breath of fresh air that is also oh-so-familiar. You might easily mistake it for a BlackBerry phone from circa 2007, and that’s because it was designed by a former BlackBerry designer. However, it runs Android 16 and has a nifty, minimalist app launcher that looks sleek and contemporary. In the hour I spent learning about it and using a non-working prototype, the Clicks Communicator quickly became my favorite CES gadget in years.

The Communicator is a surprisingly smart take that combines old and new phone features in a way that, aside from Motorola, very few phone makers have successfully done before. It’s a straightforward-to-use Android smartphone with seemingly every popular feature that companies have removed over the past decade.

In its small design, there is a physical keyboard, a notification alert light, a headphone jack, a physical SIM card tray, support for a microSD card and buttons, oh so many buttons. Jony Ive’s soul must be hurting right now.

At a time when phones have become overly complicated, AI-centric attention stealers, the Clicks Communicator aims to provide an experience optimized for typing and voice-to-text recording, all while minimizing distractions. It’s designed to be a secondary device that complements your regular smartphone. The idea is similar to what Palm tried almost a decade ago, when it sold a small Android phone meant to complement larger ones. However, Palm’s phone didn’t offer amenities like a physical keyboard.

«Communicator is to a smartphone what a Kindle is to an iPad,» said Jeff Gadway, chief marketing officer at Clicks, in a press release. «It’s a complementary product that stands on its own, optimized for a specific purpose. In the case of Clicks Communicator, that means communicating with confidence in a noisy world.»

We expect our smartphones to do anything we want, but that often means compromising on how features are implemented. On an iPhone 17 Pro, for example, I can definitely type and respond to texts, emails and jot down the occasional random thought in the Notes app. But for me, and I expect many others, I have a much more enjoyable experience typing on a physical keyboard. I prefer to use a laptop to respond to a long or complex email versus writing it on a phone.

But the Communicator’s singular focus on input, along with the fact that it can be your only phone, unlocks a much wider appeal (at least on paper). I could see the Communicator being the ideal «work» phone for those jobs where you want a separate device from your personal smartphone. You could quickly respond to a Slack thread without being tempted to check out TikTok or Instagram.

It might be an attractive option to a growing number of people who crave a phone that doesn’t need all their attention every damn minute. This could be someone burnt out from being obsessively online or someone who misses having a physical keyboard and features like a headphone jack. It could appeal to a person who wants a minimal-feeling smartphone like the Light Phone and Punkt, which each have their own take on what a less distracting phone might look like.

The Communicator costs $499 and launches later this year. However, you can preorder the phone for $399 or reserve one for $199 right now. It joins the Clicks Keyboard Pro and Keyboard Case.

«We’re really trying to help have people see us as a company that’s building purpose-built tech for people who want to do shit and not doom scroll,» Gadway told me.

Clicks Communicator’s stand-out features

Name: The phone is named in part for the iconic handheld voice device from Star Trek. Clicks co-founder Michael Fisher also explained that calling the device a «communicator» really captures what the phone was designed for: to provide the best typing and voice-to-text experience (in terms of both hardware and software) that you’ll find on a phone.

Design: The phone is compact. Its aluminum frame and polycarbonate body felt solid in my hand. Small phone lovers, this one seems aimed at you. It weighs only 170 grams. Compare that to the iPhone 17 Pro, which is 206 grams. It’s roughly the size of a small SSD or magnetic battery pack. It has a 4-inch screen and a keyboard similar to the one found on the Clicks keyboard case — with keys that are 43% larger on the Communicator.

Android 16 and Niagara launcher: The Communicator runs on Android 16 and has a custom version of the Niagara app launcher. Messages from apps like WhatsApp, Telegram and Slack are curated directly on the home screen, allowing people to review and respond quickly without having to open and jump between apps.

Prompt Key and Signal light: On the right side of the phone is a button called the Prompt Key. You press and hold it to record voice-to-text. Surrounding the button is the Signal light (think Android notification light from years ago) that makes it easy to distinguish messages and notifications at a glance. It can be customized with different colors and light patterns to glow when getting messages from specific people, groups, or apps.

Removable backplate: The back has a sloped, ergonomic, and interchangeable plate — think Moto X. During my briefing, there were half a dozen different plates made of polycarbonate and leather. The backplate also supports Qi2.2 wireless charging.

Other features:

50-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization
24-megapixel front camera
4,000 mAh silicon-carbon battery
256GB onboard storage plus expandable microSD
Physical SIM card tray and eSIM
A 3.5mm headphone jack
Android 16 with 5 years of security updates
Global 5G, 4G LTE, and 3G/2G support, unlocked
NFC with Google Pay, Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi 6
USB-C and wireless charging
4,000mAh battery
A 3.5mm headphone jack
A configurable mute switch

Technologies

GFiber Is Merging With Astound Broadband, Likely Expanding to More Areas

Technologies

Your iPhone Has a Hidden Flight Tracker. Here’s How to Use It

Apple quietly built a real-time flight tracker into iOS.

Flying can introduce an entirely new layer of stress to any trip. Flight delays, cancellations and everything that could go wrong can keep you on edge, so staying up to date with your flight’s status is never far away from your mind.

Luckily, we’re in a world where finding the information for your flight is easily accessible. You can check your airline’s mobile app or even Google your flight number and the latest information is readily available. But did you know there’s a secret way to get your flight information on your iPhone?

The iPhone has had a built-in flight tracker for some time now, but you’d never know it existed if you weren’t specifically looking for it — or searching for the correct terms to pull it up.

Below, we’ll show you how to access the flight tracker so you’re just a tap away from the latest flight stats, giving you a little more peace of mind before your trip.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source on Chrome.

How to track your flight via iMessage

Before we start, there are a few prerequisites you must meet:

Make sure iMessage is enabled (it doesn’t work with SMS/MMS).
You’ll need your flight number somewhere in your text messages, whether you’ve sent that information to someone (even yourself) or it’s been sent to you.
The flight number must be sent in this format: [Airline] [Flight number], for example, American Airlines 9707.

Launch the native Messages app on your iPhone and open the text message thread that contains your flight information. You’ll know the flight tracker feature works when the text with the flight information appears underlined, which means it’s actionable and you can tap on it.

If your flight is still several months away or it’s already passed, you might see a message that says, «Flight information unavailable.» You might also see another flight that’s not yours because airlines recycle flight numbers.

You can check your flight status from Spotlight Search, too

If getting your flight information from Messages wasn’t easy enough, you can also grab the details right from your iPhone’s home screen by swiping down and adding your flight number into Spotlight Search. This works with Spotlight Search on your Mac computer, too.

How to access the hidden flight tracker

Although the airline name/flight number format highlighted above is the best way to go, there are other texting options that will lead you to the same result. So let’s say we stick with American Airlines 9707, other options that may bring up the flight tracker include:

AmericanAirlines9707 (no spaces)
AmericanAirlines 9707 (only one space)
AA9707 (airline name is abbreviated and no space)
AA 9707 (abbreviated and space)

I would suggest you keep the airline name spelled out completely and add a space between the two pieces of information — like in the previous section — because for some airlines, these alternative options may not work.

Real-time flight tracking

Once everything is set, tap on the flight information in your text messages. If the feature works correctly, you should see the following two options appear in a quick-action menu:

Preview Flight: View the flight’s details. Tap this to view more information about the flight.
Copy Flight Code: Copy the flight code to your clipboard (in case you want to send your flight details to someone else via text or email).

If you select Preview Flight, at the top of the window, you’ll see the best part of this feature: a real-time flight tracker map. A line will connect the two destinations, and a tiny airplane will move between them, indicating where the flight is at that exact moment.

Underneath the map, you’ll see important flight information:

Airline name and flight number
Flight status (arriving on time, delayed, canceled, etc.)
Terminal and gate numbers (for arrival and departure)
Arrival and departure time
Flight duration
Baggage claim (the number of the baggage carousel)

If you swipe left on the bottom half of the flight tracker, you can switch between flights, but only if there’s a return flight.

For more travel tips, don’t miss our test on whether AI can help you fly more sustainably.

Technologies

Copilot Health Is Microsoft’s Doctor-Built Spin on Medical AI

Microsoft doesn’t want its AI to be your doctor. It wants to make you better prepared when you do see them.

Microsoft is taking a major swing at health AI. The company announced on Thursday that it’s introducing Copilot Health, a new experience inside its chatbot that will bring together all your medical records and wearable data with an AI that’s designed to help you understand it all.

«We are really on the cusp of building a true medical superintelligence,» said Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft AI CEO. «One that can learn everything about you, all of your health conditions, from your wearable data, your electronic health records, and use that to provide support and insights and intelligence at your fingertips.»

A recent Microsoft survey found that mobile Copilot users ask the chatbot health-related queries more than for any other topic. Copilot Health was built to answer those questions. Microsoft’s health AI was fine-tuned by its in-house clinicians and an external panel of hundreds of clinicians in more than 24 countries. It uses the National Academy of Medicine’s framework for evaluating credible medical sources and information from Harvard Medical School via a 2025 licensing agreement.

Copilot Health is inside the regular, consumer version of Copilot. But it’s an entirely separate experience, designed that way to keep your health information separate from your usual chats. Because it’s been specifically trained for health questions, it ought to be more helpful and accurate than the regular version of Copilot or another chatbot. ChatGPT introduced a similar experience earlier this year.

Your health information won’t pop up in responses from the regular Copilot, only in the new health tab. You can delete your data at any time by simply toggling off a setting — something so easy it raises the question why all AI companies don’t make it that simple to delete your data.

Your information isn’t used to train Microsoft’s AI models, the company says. But your medical information in AI tools like Copilot is not protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The benefit of using Copilot Health is having a place where all your medical and health information lives, with an AI that’s trained to help answer your questions about it. You can connect data from your smartwatches and rings, as well as upload your medical records. Through a third-party program called HealthEx, you can upload files from multiple doctors’ offices, hospitals and labs at one time.

Copilot Health is not a doctor

If you choose to share your electronic health record, the AI can make more informed recommendations and reference specific doctors’ visit notes and lab results. But don’t use Copilot Health as a replacement for a physician. What the AI can do is discuss your health concerns, help you prepare for upcoming appointments and help you build healthier habits.

«Copilot Health is not meant to give you a definitive diagnosis or a formal treatment plan, but it’s certainly here to support you in getting to the right answers,» said Dr. Dominic King, vice president of health at Microsoft AI. The former surgeon led the team that built Copilot Health.

For example, it can help you come up with a list of questions to ask your doctor, break down lab results and find a provider that accepts your insurance. Copilot Health can discuss your health concerns, like understanding any new symptoms, but it can’t diagnose or prescribe medication.

Microsoft is doing a slow rollout, beginning with adults (ages 18 plus) in the US, with English as the only language. You can sign up to join the waitlist for Copilot Health now.

There are some existing uses of AI in health care today, but they’re disparate. Wearables have new AI-powered data insights and coaching. Some doctors are using AI scribe tools to take notes during appointments with patients. Administrative and insurance work also has its own AI tools, particularly around claims processing (including making denials, in some cases). The common thread is that none of the AI is without flaws, and it should never be used to make important decisions without human oversight.

For AI believers, the tangled, bureaucratic web of American health care is the perfect place to prove that AI intervention can make a real difference. But AI in health care is like putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound — a halfway measure that doesn’t fix the underlying problems.

It’s too soon to tell if Microsoft’s goal of a medical superintelligence is viable. But for now, Copilot Health illustrates a more productive use of AI — more than filling the internet with slop.

«I think it is perhaps the most important and most positively impactful contribution that AI can make in the world,» Suleyman said. «And it’s enormously important to us.»