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…
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- 8 minutes
…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.
- supernight52@lemmy.worldEnglish5 hours
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.
- CosmoNova@lemmy.worldEnglish4 hours
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.
5 hoursFrom 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.
- 4 hours
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
- rImITywR@lemmy.worldEnglish4 hours
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.
- XLE@piefed.socialEnglish4 hours
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.
- ramble81@lemmy.zipEnglish3 hours
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.
- XLE@piefed.socialEnglish2 hours
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
- zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish2 hours
My daughter has a flip phone with KaiOS and she texts well on it, but she also never used the older, better T9 implementations.
- FunkyCheese@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish4 hours
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
- zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish2 hours
I am literally that guy, but even I rarely need to look up something simple while I am out of the house. I don’t need to be protected from myself. It is both condescending and dumb.
- Tim_Bisley@piefed.socialEnglish5 hours
This phone should cost $150 max. What’s with dumb phones charging smart phone levels of money?
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.
- Foreigner@lemmy.worldEnglish1 minute
I think I just found my next phone. Do you have any experience with the phone?
- zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish2 hours
They are definitely charging way too much, the price and the browser block are the only reasons I am not buying one. I think they could reasonably price it at $250 based on the hardware and that it will certainly be a low production run which massively increases the price. Also, that Sony with SailfishOS is both old (it was released over five years ago) and refurbished, not exactly a fair comparison.
- FunkyCheese@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish4 hours
Higher end camera and a HD DAC (maybe high power audio output?)
Those sorta things are expensive
Also it runs 99% of android apps
Probably also a low volume product which increases price
- yeehaw@lemmy.caEnglish5 hours
Agree, was thinking the same thing. I would have considered it at that price…
- Mihies@programming.devEnglish4 hours
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
pphone at all.- zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish2 hours
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.
- GalacticRobot@lemmy.worldEnglish58 minutes
Isn’t there a whole lot of small volume ‘phone’ companies that are charging far less? Nothing Phone, or the plethora of Chinese companies like Unihertz come to mind.
its an initial offer model and it does look to have lots of modern tech components in it
the price seems reasonable to me, especially if its got a designer edge to it
- 5 hours
for that price AND using the make whatever great again slogan? fuck all the way off.
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.
- zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish2 hours
I’d be wary of putting more than that on an sdcard anyway, but I am with you. I have far more flacs than would fit within 256GB. I also wouldn’t bother loading up everything on the 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.
- zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish2 hours
They specifically state that you can do iMessage through third party bridges that could be stopped at any time. They didn’t lie, but it would be foolish to get the phone assuming iMessage capability is solid.
- [object Object]@lemmy.caEnglish5 hours
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.
- KingKong33@lemmy.mlEnglish2 hours
Because they want you paying for their streaming services, not getting free music over the airwaves.
- thallamabond@lemmy.worldEnglish3 hours
One reason is that the wire from the headphones acted as an antenna.
No, no. $299 vs. $599 is PS1 vs. 3DO. Commodore wasn’t part of that meme.
- tramdan@piefed.socialEnglish4 hours
If you’re going to spend that much on a SailfishOS phone you might as well get a good one.
i’ll stick to my nokia.
there’s a whole community of people who dedicate time to make even old WAP Phones useable again in 2026 - and that costs like 20€ instead of 499$
https://bs0dd.net/index.php?lang=eng&page=news%2Fmain&npage=7
if u keep looking in the vintagemobilephones subreddit you’ll find someone wrote a discord wap page aswell as a whatsapp client.
it’s incredible.
ps. i remember u from funhole :D nice!
- ALoafOfBread@lemmy.mlEnglish5 hours
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.
- XLE@piefed.socialEnglish4 hours
I understand custom hardware isn’t cheap, but this comes preloaded with WhatsApp apparently. Surely there’s a little kickback from Facebook for that.
- XLE@piefed.socialEnglish3 hours
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.
- zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish2 hours
Nokia sells flip phones for under $100 that use KaiOS. They were more like $60 before the current shitshow in the US.
So another ^^
stupid^nonsensicalweirdunexpected turn in the Commodore company epos. At least it is consistent with the lore.Although they’re filling it with “free albums and more.” So they’re actually installing more unwanted shit than Apple did a decade ago. Ugh.
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.
