This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Price aside, as somebody who has gotten pretty good at ignoring my old normal slab smart phone, this might only make sense for nostalgia and conversation starter reasons.
Now if I could force this thing upon other people in my life who cannot separate their eyes from their doom-screen, we'd be on to something!
Isn’t it just Commodore? Commodore 64 was a model of computer not the company name.
It was the most popular model. Anyone that knows Commodore, knows the 64.
I was excited about this until i saw it was $500!! For a freaking flip phone.
Same. $200 was my cap.
This is an advertisement
That's a bit far, isn't it?
Let's see what the article actually says...
Making Flip Phones Great Again
The Specs
Get Yours
This is an advertisement.
"Great again" seems a very tone deaf way of advertising... unless you are trying to advertise against the product, or advertise to inbreds
I don't think Comodore uses that phrase in its ad copy, the phrasing comes from itsfoss
They probably think their audience is here and they've been spamming this place so much, it's insane.
I have itsfoss in my RSS feed mostly to keep an eye on the FOSS community news in general, but will agree most of their articles seem to lean quite heavily into soft endorsing certain brands.
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.
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.
A headphone jack with an audiophile-grade DAC? 🥵
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.
This phone should cost $150 max. What's with dumb phones charging smart phone levels of money?
For real. You can grab a cheap used phone for 80 bucks, put lineage on it, and never install any apps except for the very basic preinstalled ones. Boom, dumb phone
I agree it's too much money. But for the record it's not a dumb phone, it is a smartphone running sailfish which can run android apps in a sandbox
However for less money, the Sony Xperia 10 III with Sailfish OS (Xperia 10 mk3) is a better buy.
I love how people throw around "it's too expensive". But did you ever try developing a relatively small batch gadget for the market? Plus as others said, it's not a dumb~~p~~ phone at all.
Being too expensive doesn't mean they are necessarily gouging. My wife crochets blankets as a hobby, but she'd have to charge a stupid amount to sell them at a profit if she used decent yarn and valued her time at even minimum wage. Said blanket would be "too expensive" without a doubt.
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.
Web browsers are blocked at the system level
Did they ever try to use a browser on a 2" clamshell at 480*640 with a T9 keypad??? It's so painful that it's already for emergency use only, don't need to protect me from myself...
yeah, i'm intrigued by the idea of a pseudo-"dumb" phone to reduce mindless usage, but this is too restrictive to really work as a phone for a lot of people. those banned work and social apps have and will continue to supplant the phone features of a modern phone. if i got one of these, it would have to be a supplementary device, defeating the whole point! and for those of us who can use a "dumb" phone, they can just got get one for a fifth of a price
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
for that price AND using the make whatever great again slogan? fuck all the way off.
Commodore fan here, but srsly, the flip design has so much more failable mechanics than a simple rectangular slab. Will anybody buy it except for the nostalgia? I expect that will soon wear off when they realize how much they miss a bigger screen.
I had a flip phone once. I kicked it due to being angry that I don't have a smartphone and it split in two. I was 12 maybe
Funny enough I could still recieve calls on the bottom half.
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.
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.
FM radio is jam-packed with ads and most stations don't even have human DJs anymore. I don't miss it
