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Commodore 64's New Flip Phone Skips Android for Linux-Based Sailfish OS (feed.itsfoss.com)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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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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[–] 6 points 1 month ago* (1 child)

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

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    99% of android apps

    I'm certain that the number is inflated by the massive amount of slop and shovelware that is in the play store. The missing 1% is the apps that you actually need, like banking and such

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    They actively hardcoded all web browsers and most social media (except WhatsApp) to be blocked from installing, hence the 99%.

    The social media I understand, but the web browser block is going to severely limit market appeal.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    No, the 99% is the android compatibility.

    Because sailfishos is not a Google certified platform, every app that uses root detection or play integrity check, won't run.

    And which apps use those checks? Not the freemium games. Those are designed to maximize ad viewing, so they want to block uncertified devices

    Also: an average freemium game can adapt the UI on a 480*640 screen (big buttons), while almost no developer tests normal UI in such a low resolution. And nobody tests movement of input focus with keypad. Chances of a broken UI that can't be interacted with the t9 keypad are very high.

    This is why they showed WhatsApp, Spotify (two commercial apps that are tested and working on the lowest end devices with tiny screens like the qin phones) and AntennaPod (which being open source they can send a PR to fix UI issues) and dismissed the rest as "we block all the useless stuff"

    So what I mean is, the phone can run 99% of android apps on the play store using aurora, but, because the play store has million of useless/slip/shovelware games, if you really need to run a specific app for work or for banking, chances is the app is in the 1% incompatible range and not the 99%

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    You're quite right, though I'm being a bit more uncharitable personally, and assuming they are only marketing it as 99% since they are explicitly blocking very popular utilities as a selling point. Were they not doing that, I get the feeling they would've just said it is fully Android compatible despite it not being true for the reasons you outlined.

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