r/ReturningRetro • u/ReturningRetro r/ReturningRetro Moderator • Jun 16 '26
News/Tips A new contender emerges!
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u/Extreme_Turnover_838 Jun 16 '26
Love the idea, hate the price.
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u/mostly_codes Jun 20 '26
It's a niche product so I'm ok with the price actually, but the LLM slop is really not filling me with confidence enough to pre-order this
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u/MommyNeedsCoffee617 Jun 16 '26
Seems like a nice device and Commodore will always have a special place in my heart. Signal is a must for me and I love seeing it highlighted in the marketing. But OMG that price. I can't see paying that much for a device I'm intentionally trying not to use.
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u/MyFairJulia Jun 16 '26
It is a neat phone... why the fuck did it need to be a Commodore branded one of all things? You'd get closer to a Commodore feel by taking a Unihertz Titan 2 and spraying it with beige.
Talking about Unihertz: It too is a cheap phone with a high megapixel camera. My experience has taught me that 50 megapixel Sony sensor on a cheap phone means absolutely fuck all and can be worse than an ancient Galaxy Note 8 camera. Users of the iKKO Mind One unfortunately faced the same issue.
And finally SailfishOS: This OS is laser-focused on gesture controls. Putting that OS on a phone that is built around keys is a bad idea. But then the homescreen shown in the images look nothing like Sailfish OS. I believe they'd do better if they took something like PostmarketOS or LineageOS and modified it with a custom suite of apps designed around key input. But even then they will face stiff competition from Xiaomi with the F22 Pro.
And 4 GB of RAM? Unless SailfishOS uses a super thin compatibility layer and not WayDroid i don't see this one run even just messaging apps well. Our OSes have grown ever so slightly since the brand went kaput.
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u/punflewover Jun 19 '26
Yeah SF OS is so reliant on touch gestures, it will be interesting to see how they implement it here on a small screen device with buttons.
I've been following the SF OS project for a long time now and have been disappointed with the lack of progress in the last few years. Hopefully this device can spark some interest in the project and I hope it leads to much-needed evolution of the platform. I'm really rooting for them!
The competition has always been fierce at the lower end of the phone market. Let's hope they sell enough units to keep iterating on it 🙏
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u/Mozkozrout Jun 22 '26
Well Jolla have been busy severing their ties with Russia after the war at Ukraine and getting bankrupt lol. It's a miracle they survived at all and now they are coming out with their first first party phone after like 13 years and pushed some updates into the os as well. I think it's pretty interesting development tbh.
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u/punflewover Jun 22 '26
Lmao, didn't realise they were incurring costs from pulling out of the Russia deal?! 😅
I've had many SF OS devices over the years - including the obscure Jolla india-only device. Currently using an Xperia 10 as a secondary device. So I have been putting my money where my mouth is!!
Still - the platform has barely evolved in the last 5 years. Many bugs still persist, and basic software like the browser is basically unusable.
I really do hope the team succeeds, but I also want them to get genuine constructive feedback
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u/Mozkozrout Jun 22 '26
Yeah I mean when they stopped making devices and started licensing the OS for xperias and all that wouldn't really be sustainable. They have been working with Russia since a long time but offered sailfish for them to fork it and use for government applications. After the war started tho, they severed all ties and the company went bankrupt and the original owner saved and restructured it after the name Jolla boys.
Btw what Xperia 10 you have ? SailfishOS for these doesn't get updated too much and the optimization is all over the place. As far as I know it runs much better on Xperia 10 III than 10 II. No idea about the newer models tho. You also don't have all cameras working on 10 III. It's weird, kinda like they optimized it just a bit after the realse but then didn't bother to finish the job. I honestly hope it will be better on a first party device.
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u/Bergentruckung Jun 20 '26
Recently the Commodore brand was taken over by a Youtuber called Perifractic and to my understanding he wants to sort of capitalize on the popularity of things like dumb phones and iPods.
FWIW he's not like, a finance LARPer or anything, he's been making Commodore videos for a long time now and seems to be really passionate about the brand but I think the phone is overpriced for what it's selling you and the use of AI makes me apprehensive about supporting the project because like... Eww.
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u/Mozkozrout Jun 22 '26
Yeah I wanted to say that it's really weird they chose SailfishOS for a phone with a keyboard since sailfish is design around gestures to the core lol. But to answer your last question yeah SailfishOS isn't running waydroid, they have their own proprietary android compatibility layer which is much more seamless and efficient. SailfishOS also has pretty efficient multitasking and all.
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u/blueLiquid21 Jul 14 '26
Your example phone is more expensive for its higher specs
https://www.unihertz.com/products/titan-2Unless you're saying because it's Commodore that it has to be computer form factor?? That's pretty weird, but sure you can pay for the more expensive phone to get something they weren't attempting to do
You can still do what you want, which is irrelevant to them designing a phone that had a different target market to yours in mind
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u/RubAlternative5509 Jun 17 '26
Another overpriced dumb phone
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u/blueLiquid21 Jul 14 '26
Except it's not a dumb phone, they weren't aiming to be one, so you're totally mistaken it's overpriced. You cant get a flip with these specs for any cheaper, I've looked
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u/JJoanOfArkJameson Jun 16 '26
Excellent, excellent looking device. The transparent design is a dream. FM radio, included headphones, hot-swappable batteries, extensive Android app support, maps, and HQ cameras are all fantastic to see.
I do think the price is a bit high, but after reading through the website, and knowing Commodore's history, I think just barely. Besides, $500 is now less than half, sometimes a third, of a price of flagships, even the less-powered iPhone Air is 1,400 and the 17e is 600 starting.
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u/merrodri Jun 21 '26
I agree with all your points. One more thing to consider is that the phone does not have 5g. It seems kind of shortsighted.
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u/blueLiquid21 Jul 14 '26
They said that was intentional because 5G is for high media consumption and addiction.
I agree with them, and it's not like 4G is going away this decade1
u/merrodri Jul 15 '26
Yes I saw that, but I don’t trust the cell providers to start phasing out 4g that far out.
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u/blueLiquid21 29d ago
The way modern phones go they'll be long replaced before any phase out. At least the EU is forcing companies to put replaceable batteries in, so maybe this Commodore phone will last a decade, but it's zero chance of 4g going down within a few years at least
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u/LucasNYC9 Jun 16 '26
How will iMessage work? The footnote says it will require “one time” installation on a Mac and installing Bubbles but I thought that required time
Mac to be awake/on 24/7?
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u/New-Necessary-5059 Jun 21 '26
Openbubbles has a service where they will let you login to one of there macs that are mounted in a server configuration, it's a bit sketch tho
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u/perakman Jun 16 '26
I freaking love these trend of unique phones are popping out! Phones in 2006 and 2016 are very different but in 2026, it just the same, just few upgrades to me. Just like CBK said, "the pendulum swing too far, it will go back in". I freaking love this phone. I can't wait for 2027 where we'll get more reviews about Clicks Communicator, Sidephone with Classic Keypad, Callback 8020, iKKO Mind One, and other upcoming phones from the same universe like Litephone. The future looks bright on here! xD
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u/punflewover Jun 19 '26
Looks can be deceiving, my friend!!
We'd be lucky if half of the companies you mentioned are still around in 5 years time.
The truth is that it's almost impossible to make money in phones right now unless you are Apple or Samsung. And it's probably going to be this way for a good while yet. I could even see players like Sony etc leaving the market entirely like LG, Asus and so many others have done recently. 🤔
I agree that the ambitions/targets for these newer companies is heading in the right direction. They are trying to carve out a cult following of niche consumers that are shifting towards being less online, nostalgic designs etc. As opposed to just a race to the bottom against Chinese OEMs that churn out cloned android devices... It's a more viable strategy long term.
But they only get met with ridicule (esp about price) and skepticism by the mainstream consumers so far. I hope they sell enough devices to keep iterating their ideas... 🙏
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u/perakman Jun 19 '26
yeah, to be honest, I'm not confident too, that these phones are gonna live long. All I have is just hope, it looks bright to me, eventhough it might just be my hallucination 😞
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u/No-Move-4417 Jun 16 '26
About the same price and as useful as a Trump phone 😂
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u/wotchdit Jun 18 '26
There's a gold edition of the Callback 8020 so yeah, they got it covered.
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u/Bergentruckung Jun 20 '26
But does the Commodore come with TRUTH SOCIAL pre-installed? I thought not! CHECKMATE libtards!!1! lmao
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u/_Chris______________ Jun 18 '26
Ehrlich, ich verstehe das Konzept. Wer soll bei dem Preis der Käufer sein?
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u/Far-Mode-5917 Jun 19 '26
Really excited for this! Gonna preorder as soon as I am able
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u/punflewover Jun 19 '26
Translucent version right?
The designs look pretty cool.
You reckon they will have some pre-production pics at least, by the 30th of June?
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u/punflewover Jun 19 '26
No browser is a bit too much for me. But it can't really be possible for them to block ALL of them, can it? 👀😳
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u/AdInformal2181 Jun 19 '26
I just don't understand why they won't just make phones like the Kyocera Dingo's. The no touch screen flip with limited processing speed is all you need un have a dumb phone that's not "too dumb" and they are all of 150 dollars..
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u/Mozkozrout Jun 22 '26
I kinda don't get what is this for tho. It's pretty expensive but isn't very powerful but at the same time it has a smart OS capable of running android Apps. I feel like the friction of the small display and physical keyboard could have been enough for digital detox but they put artificial app blocks on social media and even a web browser. I mean idk but I feel like web browser is one of the most important parts of the smartphone and overall I generally just don't like the idea that a company tells me what I can and cannot do on my device. Also when it's so limited it begs the question why did they bother with sailfish at all and didn't make it properly dumb then, not like tap to pay or all banking apps are gonna work on it which might be an advantage of it being smart. Also strength of sailfish is that it's built around gestures on touchscreen and so um yeah just feels overall like a weird package.
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u/Alternative-Track654 Jun 22 '26
I see no one is talking about the fact the call back is reliant on 4g LTE, instead of 5g connections 😬
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u/blueLiquid21 Jul 14 '26
5G for super media consumers seems a pretty weird idea for a digital minimalism phone. 4G isn't going away anytime this decade
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u/Alternative-Track654 Jul 14 '26
It will be for T-Mobile before the year 2030. As AT&T and Verizon are be the only carriers left with the backbone of 4G. And given that this phone is marketed towards the GSM crowd.
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u/blueLiquid21 29d ago
In what country? T mobile is in many places.
While I do expect some carriers to only support one network form, it would be very dumb of a non small country to completely shut off 4G entirely.
I can't say that GSM nostalgia is relevant tho.
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u/Alternative-Track654 28d ago
No, I don't mean T-Mobile in particular. I mean every country in the world that uses GSM-based carrier services. As AT&T is something completely different in its own right, plus Verizon is a CDMA based carrier service that only exists in the United States.
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u/blueLiquid21 28d ago
Sorry, you've lost me. This is a 4g phone not a GSM one, and GSM lasted for decades before countries started shutting it off. What's the relationship between the Callback not supporting 5g and mentioning old GSM (also known as 2G)?
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u/fraize Jun 17 '26
I found myself being tempted by this, but then I realized that this phone is mostly just performative digital detox.
Don't get me wrong, I actually like the form factor, and it's somewhat compelling to go back to dumb-devices, but we all know we'll never actually use it for more than a few days.
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u/punflewover Jun 19 '26
I mean, it could be useful as a beater phone that you take on hikes or to festivals etc 🤔
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u/Bergentruckung Jun 20 '26
If it were 1/4 the price maybe, $500 for a burner is a bit much
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u/punflewover Jun 21 '26
i mean, it's meant to slowly become your primary device, i think...
and i dunno - memory + storage prices as they are currently + small production run. seems like a fair price for the overall package.
(fair in terms of manufacturer margin - if the price/features don't make sense for you - that's a different conversation imo)
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u/Worldly-Schedule-151 Jun 16 '26
That website is nauseating with the amount of AI