Commodore's $500 Flip Phone Blocks the Web at the DNS Level
The revived Commodore brand's first phone has no browser and no social apps, enforced by system-level DNS blocking. It runs Linux — so the wall is a choice, not a limit.
Under the beige nostalgia it's a Sailfish-OS handset with Android app compatibility, reportedly sourced from an ODM, priced at $500 (about $700 in Canada).
The browser block is the flashpoint: critics note a browser is how you reach 99% of the world's information, and a firewall or DNS rule would target social media without nuking everything else.
The deeper question the thread can't answer: the people who loved a C64 and the people who loved flip phones aren't the same generation, so who exactly is this for?
A dumb phone that's deliberately, expensively dumb
Commodore's pitch, "Why a Flip Phone," frames the device as an intentional middle ground between a smartphone and a $30 dumbphone: it ships with no web browser, no social media, and always-on, system-level DNS blocking to keep them out. The source page blocked our fetch, but the spec picture is clear from the listing and the thread: a Sailfish-OS handset with Android compatibility, around $500.
The friction is that the OS is Linux-based, so none of the blocking is a technical constraint — the company built the walls on purpose.
"$500 (FIVE HUNDRED) you get a $30 dumb phone with Whatsapp… they just went out of their way to add always-on parental control." — a reader itemizing the value proposition
Blocking the browser blocks the open web, not just the feed
Even readers sympathetic to a calmer phone balked at killing the browser, since that's the gateway to nearly everything, not just the addictive parts.
"they are also used to access 99% of the world's info now. Seems like if you just wanted to block social media, a DNS block or even firewall would be a better option." — a commenter weighing browser vs. feed
Others flagged the trap of an all-or-nothing block: bank ID apps, local transit apps and other unavoidable utilities don't fit a clean "no apps" rule.
What does anyone actually want from Commodore?
The most useful skepticism is about the brand itself. A podcast's verdict, relayed in the thread, is that what people want from Commodore is "to be 12 again": a modern C64, not a phone.
"the people who have fond memories of growing up with a C64… are of an entirely different generation than those with fond memories of flip phones." — st_goliath, questioning the audience fit
Not everyone is sour. A hardware founder welcomed the swing:
"It isn't yet another iOS/Android clone, and I'm here for it!" — jwr, founder of PartsBox and a C64-era programmer
The skeptic's read that lands hardest: strip the logo and this is "a Commodore-branded Sailfish-OS phone from an ODM," priced as nostalgia tax. The retro feel one reader named is the Fonz on waterskis — a beloved name doing a stunt to stay relevant.
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