A year has passed since Commodore, the computer brand many of you know and love, came back from the dead under new ownership. The comeback is picking up pace too, with a lineup that already includes multiple Commodore 64 Ultimate editions, a C64X PC, and a licensing program that invites outside builders to use the name. Now, they have announced a return to the phone market, and not in the doomscrolling glass-slab avatar we are all used to, but in a retro, very equippable flip phone format…
Tad expensive, and my new Sailfish phone from the O.G. Jolla is preordered already.
It’s a tough market if you plan to make money only from the device and not from datamining like Google definitely does and Apple probably too.
Isn’t it just Commodore? Commodore 64 was a model of computer not the company name.
Not only are the phones extremely overpriced for what they are- the images they are using for advertising are AI images, and not real pictures. Also using “Make blank great again” format for their tagline is another scoop of excrement on the shit sundae.
What kind of miserable institution do you need to be to generate AI images for a supposedly real product that you will supposedly be selling??
I had a bad feeling about the whole C64 brand when it got overhauled recently. It had vaporware startup written all over it. Guess my gut feeling was on point once again.
The C64U that they make and that my wife bought me is one of the greatest things I have ever owned.
It had vaporware startup written all over it.
It can’t be “vaporware” when they are actually releasing products for purchase.
But they haven’t released yet, they’ve been announced and given no firm release date.
They haven’t released this product, but as far as I’m aware they are shipping C64s.
They are. I have one and it was delivered as advertised
This is an advertisement
Does this increase the value of my original Comodore 64?
It apparently will be able to remotely control some aspects of the C64 ultimate.
How would that work? Like I still have my original modem, that you put the phone receiver on after dialing into a BBS. But none of those things exist anymore.
And I’m pretty sure I have most of the peripherals. I even have the cassette drive. But I don’t remember any wireless tech back then. Granted, it’s all in a box in storage… and it’s been at least 30 years since I saw it so maybe I don’t remember correctly?
The C64 Ultimate, the new production model that Commodore sells, has Wi-fi built in.
I’m not interested in commodore or its phones but I do hope the company makes enough money to stay in business, the world is a better place with commodore in it
It’s literally just a name. This company has nothing to do with the Commodore you remember.
I watched the video on YouTube where what’s his name announced the purchase, he seemed like a weird old nerd who actually liked and wanted to make this work.
I could see myself using this as a daily driver.
Same. I’m eyeing that translucent one because they sure did hit that nostalgia button for me on a translucent cell phone from the early 00s.
It’ll be nice to see if Commodore can work better now, disconnected from Tramiel.
I think they gave Tramiel’s son an honorary role in the company.
Overpriced, stupid marketing, random proprietary crap, mildly interesting form factor, audio jack, microSD (but only 256GB, why?).
But more linux phones is more linux phones. I’ll pass on it, but I don’t hate it. You could probably just flash vanilla sailfish without much trouble.
Do you really need more than 256 GB on your phone?
This was my thought too. I’m going to wait and try and buy a used one, assuming some people will buy it, use it for a week and look to sell.
And when you want more music without algorithms, accounts, or another monthly subscription, just launch the built-in FM radio. Unlimited songs in your pocket, all powered by the MediaTek Helio G81 processor, with efficient passive cooling.
Why did they ever take this away from us? I was mad when they did.
One reason is that the wire from the headphones acted as an antenna.
It was gone way before the headphone jack was taken from us
on their tech overview and specs graphic
“sorry no U2”
🤣
Using Sailfish OS is just trading Android for another proprietary OS. Why even bother going to all that effort and still end up back in the same place?
We have real mobile linux distros like postmarket OS and actual open source desktop environments like Phosh or plasma/gnome mobile.
Sailfish is not proprietary.
Lipstick (the UI) is proprietary. The OS itself is not.
That said, as someone who uses a SailfishOS phone everyday, I both wish Lipstick was OSS and wish this Commodore thing didn’t exist. It’s only going to bring poor publicity to Sailfish due to its stupid pricetag and featureset.
Android is Linux-based.
…So is sailfish… But ultimately I think the reason they went with it is that it is much more secure than an android phone as it ensure your privacy is respected. You can still run android applications, but you don’t have to worry about Google apps spying on your activity. Similar to Graphene OS where you can actually manage the permissions of Google apps rather than allowing it to have unfettered access to everything. Or heck, you don’t even need to install any Google application to be able to use either Graphene or Sailfish. To me, they are just better ecosystems. And heck, sailfish isn’t the only one. There is also postmarket os, Mobian, Manjaro ARM, Arch ARM, Ubuntu Touch, PureOS, and many more.
I wouldn’t say that shipping the phone with WhatsApp preinstalled is privacy respecting.
I’m sorry, did I miss something? The commodore phone doesn’t have social media applications.
Edit: Yes I did miss something. True it comes with Whatsapp running in an emulator in an LXC container. https://factually.co/fact-checks/electronics-tech/android-app-compatibility-on-sailfish-os-real-tests-a787aa
Who verifies that the APK is safe to install? Commostore? I’m not putting my trust in that.
What about the fact that Sailfish OS uses Alien Dalvik to emulate the apps in an LXC container? More
This is a company that is committing to never selling customer data and I appreciate that. But yeah, I think blocking Web browsers is maybe a little much. Plus I need Lemmy to get my bean fix 🫘.
They have created a shit phone, but they are proud of it. It’s essentially a less dumb version of a dumb phone.
It’s one where you don’t have to worry about someone emailing you after-hours, see your aunt bitching about her 7th husband, or get you distracted when you should be remodeling the house.
I may not agree with it… I would be more open to A full blown sailfish install, but I see the vision.
iMessage
Lies too, that’s great!
Maybe they are using OpenBubbles or something.
From their FAQ:
Can I install my own apps?
Web browsers and social media apps are blocked at the system level. Email and work apps are not offered through the Commostore app store, keeping Callback focused on life outside work and feeds.
Users are still be able to sideload apps outside those that are blocked, using APK installer files, but Callback is designed first and foremost as a calmer, more intentional phone.
So I can receive an Email but if it has a link to a website I can’t click it? That’s just silly, Commodore. You’re doing a fine job being memeable and appealing to our nostalgia. Trying to “protect us from ourselves” like that kinda destroys that vibe. And no, the inevitable custom ROM circumventing your blocks won’t make up for it.
Its not made for you
Its made for those who wanna listen to music and take a few photos and not spend time on their phone
You forgot lack of discipline. Since that person can literally just do this with any phone.
I mean we say this, but I myself cannot do this. Its nearly impossible with a smart phone. Becuase you internally know you can do more.
Same thing with recording. I like my 4 track tape machine sometimes and I say “I/we are making a song, we have 4 tracks, we will utilize that best we can.”
Try doing that in a DAW and really restrict it to 4 tracks. I almost guarantee NO ONE would be able to. Theres a reason modern music has over 150 tracks on average (different discussion but its idiotic IMO). Some folks like me need a physical barrier.
Being a flip phone with a T9 keyboard is already a lot of built-in friction. And some people want a device that might intentionally limit them further. But I must admit, this phrasing (and a lot of their phrasing) is kind of weird.
Funny thing is, a T9 keyboard is actually a selling point for me. Current keyboards suck without any feedback and their prediction always causes so many typos I have to go back and correct. T9 I could type without needing to look at it and know I had it right.
Only if the T9 software is good though. KaiOS, a Mozilla initiated project to get web apps on T9 capable phones, absolutely failed with simple things like capitalizing the word “I” for example.
I didn’t realize how unintuitive dumb phones could be until I was trying to explain different functions that were triggered by different arrow keys on a KaiOS phone to an elderly person
So I can receive an Email but if it has a link to a website I can’t click it?
It says “Email and work apps are not offered through the Commostore app store”. So you can’t receive email unless you sideload an email app. And you could also sideload a browser as well to open a link. At which point you just have a smartphone.
You sure you didn’t misread? To me it looks like they allow sideloading Email apps but disallow sideloading web browsers.
How are they determining if an an app is a browser?
A hard-coded list of known browsers would almost certainly work. There aren’t that many of them. Or better, a list of the common support files that get installed alongside the main browser executable(s), so you can’t just rename the main one and have it work.
Anything cleverer than that is about as technical as removing the custom OS and installing standard Sailfish.
That seems pretty neat. I like that it’s a “dumb” phone that can still use most apps.
Price seems a bit steep at $600, though.
Only a bit?
I understand custom hardware isn’t cheap, but this comes preloaded with WhatsApp apparently. Surely there’s a little kickback from Facebook for that.
Lol ya this whole phone makes no sense
II get the appeal of a flip phone, but this product already exists for around $150 just with a crappier OS. There’s a whole brand called Qin (https://qinphone.com/) that sells Android phones with T9 keyboards, and I can find weirdly named Chinese flip phones like the Unifone S22 for just shy of $150. Sure, they run dated hardware and software, but there’s no guarantee they would perform any worse or get any shorter battery life than whatever Commodore is proposing.
Commodore is just giving us Jolla with a hefty freaking price tag.
but this product already exists for around $150 just with a crappier OS.
Qin doesn’t make a flip phone, they don’t use Linux, a worse camera, a shitty DAC, no headphone jack, and they’re all loaded with Google Apps / Spyware.
They aren’t the same product at all.
Then I mentioned the Uniphone S22
Is the camera $350 worse?
Then I mentioned the Uniphone S22
At least that one is flip phone so it’s closer but it’s still not running Linux, has a worse camera, no earphone jack, no FM radio, half the RAM, far less storage, worse CPU and so on.
Is all of that worth
$350$250? Depends on your use case I suppose but it’s absolutely not the same product.
