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…

  • gnufuu@lemmy.ca
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    9 hours ago

    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.

    • Wispy2891@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Web browsers are blocked at the system level

      Did they ever try to use a browser on a 2" clamshell at 480*640 with a T9 keypad??? It’s so painful that it’s already for emergency use only, don’t need to protect me from myself…

    • rImITywR@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      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
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        8 hours ago

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