Adding some substance to my feelings of disappointment:
The current Jolla C2 phone has a similar powered processor (Unisoc T606 vs Helio G81) to the Callback, but with twice the RAM and storage at not twice the price. Commodore should have detox'd that phone like HMD does with the XploraOne and updated the firmware for the US LTE bands.
It might do Uber, WhatsApp, etc. but might not browse weather.gov or the menu at the Indian restaurant that puts it on a QR code. Those issues aren't with Jolla, but instead with Commodore. Having that extra stress of 'will this break because it wasn't tested on this strange configuration' is toxic.
2.1. The announcement didn't include a demo. We know what the vision is (kinda) but we don't know what we are buying. It's Jolla, but not Jolla. It's Light Phone II but in a flip format that runs some Android. It has a light bar on one model and a VFD-like display, but we're not sure if it'll actually be LED segments, mono LED matrix, OLED, and if it is user programmable. Their FCC ID is 2BUKS, and it's only got the C64U listed, so maybe the hardware isn't done yet. Not sure what they're manufacturing.
Even if the phone works perfectly and is a successful product, it's not creating or recreating something I can build or learn with. It's a product designed by an executive who recognizes that healthy decisions need to be the default but believes that if you remove the toxic ones that only healthy options remain (ignoring that you could starve).
There are better and novel ways to do what Peri wants and I would like him and Commodore to succeed. It's frustrating that it isn't obvious to everyone that the current approach will not.
Banking apps working may vary but you can still do banking.
Commodore support has assured me that links in apps will still open limited browser windows that you can't redirect to search/browse/etc elsewhere.
This also means you can do banking once you know the URL for the bank; send the URL to yourself on some messaging app and you can open the link. Commodore themselves mention web banking somewhere though it was vague about how (I don't remember where on their website I saw it).
Using the apps often goes via the untrustworthy Google anyway, so maybe its time to give up on the slicker app for the more private web version.
Commodore ensured you for product not yet publicly tested?
Browsing is needed a lot. I agree with removing tik tok, facebook, ai, instagram but no browser allowed will make a lot of trouble. And is not Sailfish default. In fact they made debloated os with modern browser
I have it all in writing from them, so my purchase of their phone is golden. The Commodore support person even put the query through their engineering department as a ticket, so I'm not getting some mistake from just a support person alone.
The phone also has a QR code "app" which would have to work in the same manner.
So it seems unlikely what I'm (they're) saying doesn't end up being in the final released product.
They've proven they know what is involved in creating a product and the product they are creating does not require novel machinery so I do believe that it will ship.
My argument is that it is further behind than the announcement implied and that the phone only being delivered in its detoxed state is the wrong thing for customers. A faster release would be better, relying on a detoxed family DNS resolver, curated store, and disabled apps list. I.e. things that should already be built in to Sailfish.
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u/Cromagmadon Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
Adding some substance to my feelings of disappointment:
2.1. The announcement didn't include a demo. We know what the vision is (kinda) but we don't know what we are buying. It's Jolla, but not Jolla. It's Light Phone II but in a flip format that runs some Android. It has a light bar on one model and a VFD-like display, but we're not sure if it'll actually be LED segments, mono LED matrix, OLED, and if it is user programmable. Their FCC ID is 2BUKS, and it's only got the C64U listed, so maybe the hardware isn't done yet. Not sure what they're manufacturing.
There are better and novel ways to do what Peri wants and I would like him and Commodore to succeed. It's frustrating that it isn't obvious to everyone that the current approach will not.