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Commodore is back with a de-Googled feature phone for the anti-doomscrolling crowd

1d 13h ago by europe.pub/u/cm0002 in degoogle@discuss.tchncs.de from www.androidcentral.com

Holy shit.

  • Linux SailfishOS

  • Basically WINE for Android

  • iMessage? Somehow?

  • Swappable battery, cover

  • High quality DAC, 3.5mm, FM radio

  • “QR codes, maps, home security apps, global cellular bands, predictive text messaging, and popular communication app support”

  • No tracking

  • Physical buttons

  • Smol

  • $500

What black magic is this. That sounds way too good to be true.

This one has my attention, but I'm also curious about what others think

I am unsure about the "no browser" decision, while keeping Android compatibility.

That pushes people towards the privacy nightmare of running apps instead of just using websites...

On the other hand, the target audience of this is probably well aware of the issue and probably also has enough self-restraint to not install apps unless absolutely necessary.

Also, I am pretty certain there are workarounds.

I love the look and the philosophy. I don't know if I'd be able to commit but that thing's so pretty, I want to try.

Yes, it's pricey for sure

Is $500 really that bad these days? With how much anything thats not junk costs?

Especially with a nice DAC, and no planned obsolescence/data harvesting?

…I’m not sure it could be my only device, but I think it could be my only one with cellular. Keep an old phone for using incompatible apps over WiFi.

I think there must be some catch.

Maybe the app compatibility? I have serious doubts anything requiring Play verification, like banking apps, would work, and even beside that there must be issues with others.

I'm currently using Sailfish as a daily driver, and Android compatibility is indeed a mixed bag. I don't know about Remote Device Attestation, as my banking app luckily does not require it. However, there are also other limitations. For instance, Android apps don't see that the device has a display PIN set, and cannot access a fingerprint reader (if present), so apps like the Austrian government ID (ID Austria) refuse to work, because they need one of those "security" measures.

Play Services themselves do work, via MicroG.

I would never willingly switch back to Android again though. Compared to Sailfish, Android is just unusable jank.