this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2026
429 points (92.8% liked)

Technology

85571 readers
3668 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
technopagan@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@hackingne.ws
429
Commodore 64's New Flip Phone Skips Android for Linux-Based Sailfish OS (feed.itsfoss.com)
submitted 2 days ago by cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca to c/technology@lemmy.world
103 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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....

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] gnufuu@lemmy.ca 47 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (20 children)

From 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.

[–] rImITywR@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (3 children)

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.

[–] gnufuu@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

You sure you didn't misread? To me it looks like they allow sideloading Email apps but disallow sideloading web browsers.

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

How are they determining if an an app is a browser?

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 8 points 1 day ago

A hard-coded list of known browsers would almost certainly work. There aren't that many of them. Or better, a list of the common support files that get installed alongside the main browser executable(s), so you can't just rename the main one and have it work.

Anything cleverer than that is about as technical as removing the custom OS and installing standard Sailfish.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (17 replies)