This keyboard case made my Pixel 9 actively painful to use — but I can't stop typing on it anyway

Android Authority

4 days ago

Clicks Keyboard
The Clicks case brings a full QWERTY keyboard with physical keys to selected phones, including the Pixel flagship series. It provides excellent tactile feedback and keyboard shortcuts to your typing experience, but makes the phone taller, a bit imbalanced, and cramped to hold or use.
I lived through the early era of non-touch smartphones. My first 'smart' phone was a Nokia 3250 Xpress Music with a glorious T9 keypad, and my first QWERTY was an HTC Qtek 9100 running Windows Mobile. Physically pressing keys to type was in my DNA for years; I loved the tactile feedback of typing, and I relished the perk of typing without looking, especially during long college lectures. Over the years, I tried a couple of Blackberry phones, but my heart always brought me back to Nokia. The E71 was the best QWERTY phone I've ever used — nothing could even come close.
When the era of all-touch smartphones began in the late 2000s, I was a refractory skeptic. I missed all the perks of typing on a physical keyboard, but the world was changing, and I had to adapt. It took a few years before on-screen touch keyboards became properly usable, but it wasn't until Gboard launched in 2016 that they finally convinced me.
Now, nine years later, it's hard to remember a time when I physically pressed every letter I wanted to type. But the QWERTY dream on Android isn't dead yet. Clicks has made a keyboard case for the Google Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro that adds four rows of keys to the bottom of the phone. Obviously, I just had to try it to see whether physical keyboards still have a shot in 2025.
An experience of early frustration
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
The moment I slid my Pixel 9 Pro into the Clicks case, I knew I was in for a rollercoaster. Google's small, pocketable phone suddenly became too tall, too unwieldy. You don't think an extra 4cm (1.57 inches) will affect how you hold the Pixel until you have to actually hold the Pixel in this case. It becomes very unbalanced and top-heavy. For someone like me with Carpal Tunnel pain, it also physically hurt the first few days when I was testing it. A few minutes in, I had to put the phone down because my wrist was cramping up.
My first typing experience wasn't any better. The buttons aren't any narrower than the touch keys on Gboard, but they're shorter. They also felt significantly smaller, like I was pecking on teensy, cramped targets and had to rethink the entire way I type on my phone. I kept hitting the wrong keys, pressing two letters instead of one, and adding a space after ev ery V or B b utton press.
I kept hitting the wrong buttons, making typos, and adding spaces where there shouldn't be any.
I had hoped that this would be like riding a bike, that I'd find my familiar QWERTY bearings and fly through text in a few minutes, but after more than an hour of on and off usage, I was still making more typos than ever and typing slower than ever. I wanted my touchscreen Gboard back!
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
I found it even more frustrating that I had to reach up to the display to reposition the cursor each time I wanted to fix a mistake or rewrite something. I'm so used to swiping on the spacebar in Gboard to move the cursor that I found myself trying that on the Clicks keyboard and sighing when it wouldn't work. With no friendly arrow keys either, this made every cursor reposition an eyeroll moment. (Android does support a pointer/arrow mode, but it works with the keys 7, 8, 9, u, o, j, k, l, which aren't appropriately positioned on the Clicks keyboard: 7, 8, and 9 are to the bottom left, not the top right here.)
This brings me to my most significant adjustment: the missing standalone number row. I'm used to keeping that on top of Gboard so I can easily reach the numbers — an essential feature if you type transliterated Arabic, where certain letters that don't have a phonetic equivalent in the Latin alphabet are replaced by numbers. The famous 'habibi,' for example, is written '7abibi' if you use transliteration, because 7 replaces the hard H (ح), which doesn't have a proper equivalent in Latin letters. Because of this, access to numbers is essential in my everyday communication with my Lebanese friends and family members, and having to tap the number symbol along with the number key on Clicks got old very quickly. Having those numbers in a T9 configuration right next to the number symbol, instead of in a row, was even more frustrating.
Slowly relearning to type
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
A couple of weeks in, things started looking up for the Clicks keyboard case. I wouldn't say I'm a pro at using it yet, nor that I'm faster typing on this keyboard than I am on my phone's touchscreen, but I do make fewer mistakes now, and I'm starting to appreciate its benefits more than its issues.
The tactile feedback is fantastic. It is so satisfying to feel a button physically press beneath my finger every time I type a letter. And the click I hear is just right.
The tactile feedback and audible click each time a key is pressed is fantastic.
I'm also way more familiar with the button layout and the exact way I need to hit the keys to avoid typos. Each side of the keyboard slopes down outward, so it took a bit of practice to reconfigure my brain for that versus a perfectly flat touch keyboard. Don't get me wrong — the keys still feel cramped, but something clicked (ha!) for me after a few days, and I started typing faster, more efficiently, and I'm now at a stage where I can type without looking. Almost. Perhaps, with a few more months of practice, I could type blindfolded, but for now, I'll consider this a win.
I've also gotten a bit more used to holding the super-mega-tall Pixel 9 Pro in this case. There's still an imbalance and a cramped-up feeling because I have to keep my hands on the bottom third of the contraption to type, but I do feel less wrist pain. I still can't do more than 10 minutes or so at a time, but someone with no wrist pain might not have this issue and find it a joy to type on.
The perks that make this worth the trouble
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
You might be wondering why I'm putting myself through this horrible experience if I can take off the Clicks case and use my Pixel 9 Pro like normal. The answer is two-fold.
First, having a separate keyboard has freed up my entire screen. I no longer lose half of my display each time I want to type something; I can keep everything on the screen in front of me, and still type. This works wonderfully in apps like WhatsApp or Slack, where I can see more chat context before replying, or apps like JotterPad, where I can read more of my writing before adding to it. I can fill forms in Chrome without obscuring half the form, and reply to a comment on YouTube or an email in Gmail without hiding what I'm replying to. In many apps, this doesn't matter much, but in those examples, it really feels like I've gained double the screen estate by using a separate physical keyboard.
Android's support for physical keyboards is amazing now. There are shortcuts for everything.
Second, and most importantly, Clicks allowed me to discover — and enjoy — all of Android's keyboard shortcuts. I'd seen my Android Authority colleague Mishaal Rahman report changes in how newer versions of Android handle external keyboards, but I didn't have the chance to test these before getting this case. Now, I know.
Physical keyboard language pop-up
...with clipboard
...or emoji picker
...or translate box.
Android's compatibility with external keyboards has improved a lot since its early day barebones support. Now, there are shortcuts to trigger many features in Gboard (emoji, clipboard, translation), to interact with text (copy, paste), for multitasking and app switching, to launch apps no matter what you're doing, and more. I certainly like the option of opening the app list with one button or dropping down the notification shade with a shortcut. Having copy and paste be a quick shortcut away instead of a tap-and-hold process is also surprisingly handy. Plus, launching Gmail and my calendar from any app is a perk I didn't expect to enjoy this much, though I want Android to let me set custom shortcuts to launch any app, not just the few Google ones set by default.
Android's external keyboard settings
...with customizable modifier keys
...and accessibility settings
...as well as a mouse feature.
There's a bit of shortcut fatigue, though, I won't lie to you. It takes a while to memorize the important ones, and if you don't use the Clicks case for a couple of days, you have to relearn them again. My least favorite bit was having to memorize shortcuts to access Gboard's emoji and clipboard menus, which I use every day. Oh, and of course, my most-used shortcut ended up being the one that reveals all the shortcuts because I keep forgetting them!
Clicks also has a dedicated Gemini key that launches Google's assistant without having to reach for the power button, as well as a Clicks logo key that acts a bit like the Tab key on your computer, switching selection between on-screen menus and buttons. Both of them are excellent additions that come in handy.
QWERTY + Pixel 9 Pro: Romanticized vision versus harsh reality
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Part of me, the one who grew up in the 80s-90s and loved the early days of T9 and QWERTY Blackberry and Nokia smartphones, wants to love the Clicks keyboard case. In an ideal world, this is the most efficient way to type on any platform, and physical keys will always be superior to a touchscreen.
The reality of using this case, though, opened my eyes to how much the current smartphone landscape has changed and how much more practical it is to quickly touch-type with chunky thumbs and let the software decide that I wanted to write 'Hello' and not 'Jello.' Add in the super tall form factor that Clicks creates with its imbalance, top-heaviness, small keys, and cramped wrist feeling, and you have an overall product that sounds way too good as an idea, but isn't all that practical to use.
The Clicks Keyboard case is perfect on paper, but its usability is a victim of its form factor.
I really love the Clicks keyboard's passthrough USB-C charging, MagSafe compatibility, tactile feedback, shortcut support, and the way it liberates my entire display from Gboard, but I just have to be honest with myself and admit I'm not faster, nor am I more accurate typing on it. And it's still painful for me to use for stretches of more than 10 minutes. Perhaps on a shorter phone with a different balance equation, like the Moto Razr, this would be a better bet. Or perhaps a different case option that slides from the side and turns the Pixel into an old-school Communicator-style phone would make more sense for Clicks to solve both the imbalance and small-key issues.
Most buyers with a Pixel 9 Pro are better off sticking with their touchscreen, but if you really, really want a physical keyboard and you're ready to deal with the trade-offs I've mentioned, then by all means, this is the best option out there for Android. It's exceptionally well built, but its only fault is being a victim of what it's trying to achieve.
Clicks Keyboard
Full QWERTY keyboard • Impressive tactile feedback • Keyboard shortcut compatibility
MSRP: $139.00
Want QWERTY? Get Clicks!
The Clicks keyboard moves the physical keyboard off the screen, freeing up display space. It features backlit keys and supports app shortcuts, and for Pixels it provides AI interactions via a Gemini key. See price at AmazonSee price at Manufacturer siteSee price at Best Buy
Positives Full QWERTY keyboard
Full QWERTY keyboard Impressive tactile feedback
Impressive tactile feedback Keyboard shortcut compatibility
Keyboard shortcut compatibility MagSafe support
Cons Cramped keys
Cramped keys Causes phone imbalance
Causes phone imbalance No arrows or standalone number row
No arrows or standalone number row No tangible typing speed gain