Sailfish OS

The pitch: a Dimensity 7100, replaceable battery, assembled in Finland, “no tracking, no calling home,” and Android-app support on a real Linux OS. The price is €649, with a refundable down payment to lock a delivery slot.

The skepticism is specific, not vague: Sailfish carries closed-source UI components, MediaTek chips spook the bootloader crowd, and banking and 2FA apps remain the wall every Linux phone hits.

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?