There are many phones that look towards the long run at MWC 2026, however just a few take inspiration from the previous.
The Unihertz Titan 2 Elite is a pocket-sized handset with a bodily keyboard that brings again BlackBerry nostalgia and introduces a ton of recent methods besides. It is the most recent in a collection of telephones from Unihertz, following its BlackBerry Passport-like Titan series.
Although the shift to glass touchscreens heralded by the unique iPhone has enabled far larger visibility and performance in cell expertise, a subset of tech followers longs for the bygone days of physical keyboards and buttons, iconicized by BlackBerry’s traditional gadgets.
Trendy accent firm Clicks stuffed that retro area of interest with bodily keyboard circumstances, even debuting its personal model of a BlackBerry. It is launching the Clicks Communicator, which the Titan 2 Elite could possibly be competing towards when each arrive available in the market.
Very like the Communicator, the Titan 2 Elite intends to be a full-fledged smartphone with half the display of a typical handset to make means for the keyboard. The Titan 2 Elite would not have pricing or launch particulars but, however it’ll launch on Kickstarter subsequent month.
In hand, the Titan 2 Elite is a pleasant throwback. But even a cursory use of its 4.03-inch (1,080×1,200-pixel decision) AMOLED touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh charge reveals how trendy it’s, with easy looking and a house display filled with apps. It’s a bit thicker than immediately’s telephones (particularly the Samsung Galaxy Edge and iPhone Air), however that solely helps it relaxation higher between my palms.
The large function is the keyboard, which has a full QWERTY structure and jogs my memory of the outdated BlackBerry Curve.
Nevertheless, whereas that older telephone used a rolling ball to manage its cursor, the Titan 2 Elite has an excellent answer — all its bodily keys use capacitive sensing. I actually ran my thumb up and down the keyboard, watching the display roll up and down as if I might finished the identical movement on its touchscreen. It is a gesture borrowed from a number of the remaining BlackBerry telephones within the 2010s, and is featured on a few of Unihertz’s prior Titan telephones.
The contact keys are a pleasure to make use of, and the performance cleverly sidesteps one of many greater pitfalls of going with a bodily keyboard, i.e., much less room for a show. If my thumbs aren’t blocking the display as a result of they’re scrolling on the keys, it would not matter as a lot that it is half the scale of the show on most trendy telephones.
There’s one other scrolling trick with the capacitive keyboard, too. You may set it so the left facet strikes the cursor whereas the suitable nonetheless scrolls up and down, after which merely faucet anyplace on the suitable to “click on” the cursor, enabling mouse-like navigation. Who wants a BlackBerry-style scrolling wheel?
The Titan 2 Elite has two 50-megapixel rear cameras and a 32-megapixel front-facing digicam.
Admittedly, this function was just a little tough in execution. I used to be instructed that the Titan 2 Elite fashions proven off at MWC are working a beta model of the ultimate software program, so this might enhance when the telephone launches.
However wait, there’s extra. You may dive into the settings and set long-presses on every key as shortcuts to apps — for example, setting the “Y” key to open YouTube. This performance means house owners have over 26 shortcuts, although there’s additionally a bodily button on the suitable facet of the telephone that may be set as its personal shortcut.
Past the keyboard, the Titan 2 Elite has first rate specs to rival some other smartphone: both a Dimensity 7400 or higher-end Dimensity 8400 chip, 256GB of storage (expandable as much as 2TB, Unihertz mentioned), two rear 50-megapixel cameras and a 32-megapixel selfie shooter.
Vacationers will love its twin bodily SIM card slots and single eSIM. It launches with Android 16 and guarantees 5 years of software program and safety updates. It is available in black and the most recent iPhone 17 Pro-style orange. And in some way, somebody managed to cram a 4,050-mAh battery into the gadget.
The one thriller lies in how a lot reminiscence will likely be included within the fashions heading to Kickstarter backers.
Unihertz instructed me that the RAM shortage and skyrocketing costs have created uncertainty about how a lot will likely be allotted to manufacturing items. For what it is price, the demo items I used had 12GB of RAM and 12GB of “reminiscence extension,” although it is unclear what that meant. It is attainable the function borrowed short-term reminiscence from storage, a trick that some budget phones have used.
If the Titan 2 Elite that comes out has the identical performance because the one I received to play with, I might think about it a novelty throwback that is additionally a useful, well-designed smartphone. I want extra phone-makers took such inspiration from the previous.
