[Gracana]

Retrocomputing Roundtable has talked about the new Commodore company over the course of a couple episodes, and I thought they brought up a good point about “what is it that people actually want from Commodore,” and the best answer they came up with is “to be 12 again.”

A new C64 with modern video output, a disk emulator, a SID chip replacement so you don’t need an original… that’s all good, but beyond that, it’s hard to say. This phone, though? I don’t think anyone saw that coming, and I don’t see how this could possibly be the right move.

[gschizas]

> I don’t think anyone saw that coming

Perifractic (the CEO of Commodore.net, and a prominent YouTuber) has made a few videos that describe his anti-smartphone stance. It's not that big of a surprise.

[Gracana]

Ah, I don't follow him directly so I only ever hear about the computer-related stuff.

[nkmnz]

I had my first flip phone at the age of ... 12! And I can definitely see myself replacing my iPhone 12 with something like that once its battery has died. I don't need 99% of functionality of a smartphone, because I own (and carry along with me) a computer with a physical keyboard at all times - except those where this phone would do 99.9% of the jobs a smartphone would do.

Edit: just saw the price point. Nevermind, not going to spend more than 50 bucks on that.

[Gracana]

I'm at my computer now and I took a second look, and honestly that beige edition is damn good nostalgia bait. I still find it to be an odd direction to go, but it does look very good for what it is.

[kamma4434]

At 50/100$ it would be great but for 500$ I’m not sure

[jonhohle]

Not only that, but this is exactly the kind of phone I get for my 12 yo. I love that it doesn’t even have a browser that I’d need to try to disable via ADB or some other hack. If it’s nicer than KaiOS, and compatible with the right networks, it could be a win for the parents and tweens.

Edit: then I saw the price. Holy crap, I’ll stick with a $25 Blu.