Yes... yes it is that time again. π Keyboard π Phone π ! π Why π don't π I π just π give π up π on π Blackberry π Phones π ???.
I don't like phones, I liked BlackBerrys and used them for years. They make the few tasks I do with a phone (Quickly looking something up, navigation, messaging and calling people) the fastest and least cumbersome. I had a BlackBerry Priv, KeyOne and a Key2. All of them broke at some point and all had issues that could not repaired because f*ck the customer I guess and Android "stone-age" version. Then I had two Unihertz phones and I will not rant again here, check my older posts linked in the Sources to read more.
I descended for myself I enforce my believes where I can, meaning, for Phone's, of it has no battery removal cover, Source code, at least one VALID Linux option and replacement parts I will not buy or recommend it. The Fairphone 5 is the only phone I currently actually like.
I recently had to repair a Pixel 6A and mod its Software to be actually good (LineageOS) and holy sh*t I forgot how bad other phones sometimes, not all some are decent, but the Pixels, that was a hole story in of it self! Never again.
The Fairphone 6 is already on the edge because of the screwed-in battery but even its connector is a durable one and not the one almost all other phones use so fine, it is okay too. The reason why I mention this is that I know that there are other actual keyboard phones out there but either there are GPL-violating, terrible hardware, with no parts, unusable or to expensive and with repairability in the -10 region. What I want is a Fairphone with a Keyboard and that is what this entry is about.
First of: No, there is not an official one, at the time of writing, BUT I noticed a while ago that the iPhone 16 Pro Max is very VERY close in size to the Fairphone. The only issue is the thickness. It is about 1.3mm thicker. Sounds not like much but with such small tolerances this will be an issue to tackle.
To be honest I would have never bough it myself, maybe for under 100 euro AND for the Fairphone officially, but even that would be a hard question if I would. I only got it because I saw it second hand for UNDER 20 euros.
Could there be a more compatible case? Yes maybe, but I work with what I got.
But this dose not mean I don't keep an eye on
them, their new "universal" keyboard looks... interesting... but not usable for me in the slightest. I even sometimes get updated about "Blackberry" like phones from reader E-Mails. So cool! Thanks!
A good friend put it best, the clicks case I bought and modded to work with the Fairphone is cool but cheap af., looks and approach wise, when it comes to creating a "Fairberry, more like "Trashyberry".
There is actually a project out there called "Fairberry", it has many issues too and requires out of production Blackberry keyboards, good soldering skills, a circuit board and a half way descent 3D printer. Way to much work for a solution that has no USB-Passthrough or USB in general I think, and needs to be removed to charge the phone. Cool project but nothing for me.
A keyboard MUST be usable all the time and integrate as much as possible. Either by being integrated into the phone, aka. a Blackberry (or Blackberry like phone) or by just working without too much intervention. And that is where the clicks keyboard comes in. It existes only for overpriced trash hardware, aka. the iPhone and some very specific Android phones (one Android phone copied Apples homework so much it just fits into a iPhone case, well """Nothing""" to add to this), but works as a normal USB-Keyboard with some sort of internal hub to allow charging and "good enough" USB-Passthrough.
Would I ever push huge amounts of data or flash over the keyboard, NO, but to connecting Android Auto or headphones it should work and so makes it viable for most people and removing everything from the phone to flash with USB 2.0 directly or push data over USB 3.0 is best practice anyway and you can just remove the case, meaning 98% of the time it is not an issue having the case on.
The thickness is an issue, as predicted, but even more then I thought. I first removed the inner liner, then I needed to cut all the lower plastic away and finally removed the raised area around the camera area on the inside. That was already a lot of work because the liner sticks REALLY WELL but can be cleanly removed once lose. Strange glue... . The other issue was that the taps on top of the connection point still were to thick, so my husband tried to cut them into half the size but then we discovered the strange plastic the case is made of is kinda layered, meaning, if you cut length wise it flakes and you never get a clean cut, so I just removed them.
By now the phone fitted well enough with back-plate (After all the work and BEFORE cutting anything on the bottom parts, the phone was fitting without back-plate but I wanted it in place so that was not an option).
Now I had to find a way to fit and hold the phone in the case, it is too small to use the lip around the inner top part but to thick to press fit it in, so I used one of my back-plates with broken clips (yes the back-plates of the Fairphone 5 are not that sturdy and break over time (at least the clips holding it do)). At the end I came up with the idea of sticking it in, but the bottom part of the back-plate had such tight tolerances that it did not allow to move the phone up even without clips... so I cut it off and put some tape there. Now the phone can be removed and added, holds well enough (if any phone in a clicks case falls face to the ground you will have an issue, the lip is small no matter what, at least compared to my case I before). I also added a little bit of plastic to the top to better hold it in vertically.
The last thing needed where a hole on the top (drilled) and a hole on the left (pushed out the top button) for the microphones. On the right side I cut out a part for the buttons and that was it.
The fit and finish is... well sh*t xD, but I held a iPhone in such a case once and they also fill kinda sh*t, they don't look and feels as flimsy as this, but still not all that good. The phone is surprisingly good in there and needs a good amount of force to get the tape and top clips lose to remove but all my requirements were successful reached!
How well dose it type: Well! Surprisingly well! Sadly my self-modded version of BlackBerry-Keyboard detects that this is not a build in Keyboard (unlike on the Titan were I could fool it to work like on an original BlackBerry) so it disables itself. The other issues was I had to go to "Settings -> Security & Privacy -> More Security & Privacy -> Trust -> Restrict USB -> Always allow USB connections" to make it work 100% of the time. Only an issue on Android! On Ubuntu Touch and PostmarkedOS it just works. This setting in general blocks everything plugged in while locked and even after unlocking the phone you need to disconnect and reconnect the device you want to use to be detected.
I am happy with the result, it is as janky as I expect but works good enough that I will use it from now on. It will not get better then this, only if a official case comes out for the Fairphone 5. And no the new magnetic clicks keyboard dose not count. Would I recommend it... debatable. It is really jank, water protection goes from βtrust me broβ to βgood luck broβ and in general is just really big and unwieldy, like any phone in a clicks case. You know if you want this. And if so use my what I documented and linked below to do what you have to do.