Commodore phone
Shares rank 38 of 46 smartphones by recommenders
Recommended for its cool, appealing design and Commodore 64 styling, though critics say it lacks iMessage and RCS support and that its renders were made with AI.
5 people recommended Commodore phone in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 11 comments.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- mixed feelings
- 3
- warn against or regret it
- 4
The record
Recommended in 3 of 12 months
In 4 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
- Recommended in 4 threadsNeeds 5 or more, not met.
- The biggest thread supplies 40% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 11 of the 12 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Looks cool and appealing
“I've had a chance to buy a new Commodore phone and they are really cool, but in the end I decided against it”
Comment from 18 Sep 2026 in “Minimal Phone 2” “the design looks a lot more appealing than the all clear cases”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “The Commodore 77, an All-New Cyberpunk 2077 Collaboration” Good idea overall
“I thought it was a great idea in general, regardless of the renders”
Comment from 21 Sep 2026 in “Amiga Unix, Again” “Now, that’s a Commodore phone I can get behind.”
Comment from 22 Jun 2026 in “1983 Northern Telecom Commodore Phone”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Seen as pointless or stupid
“They are useless because they're identical to the customer's own phone except for the fact they say Commodore.”
Comment from 22 Jun 2026 in “1983 Northern Telecom Commodore Phone” “the insane decision that is the commodore phone”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “Amiga clarifies Commodore rights and the future of AmigaOS” “Of course the phone is stupid.”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “Amiga clarifies Commodore rights and the future of AmigaOS”
Other smartphones people recommend
The four most recommended other smartphones, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone | 438 | 190 | 789 | 36% | 12 | 7 yrs97 people | — |
| Fairphone | 110 | 42 | 94 | 54% | 12 | 3 yrs14 people | — |
| iPhone 13 mini | 105 | 32 | 44 | 70% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Apple iPhone Pro | 90 | 45 | 138 | 39% | 12 | 4 yrs24 people | — |
| Commodore phoneThis page | 5 | 3 | 4 | 56% | 3 | — | — |
Also compared with iPhone SE, Jolla Phone, Nokia N900 and Apple iPhone 12 mini.
What people said
11 of the 12 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I thought it was a great idea in general, regardless of the renders”
“tried to sell people a phone that was rendered entirely using AI”
“I've had a chance to buy a new Commodore phone and they are really cool, but in the end I decided against it”
“It's a semi open FPGA platform and latest one here is still not MiSTer grade on many fronts”
“it's kind of neat to see a C64 rerelease wearing cyberpunk”
“the design looks a lot more appealing than the all clear cases”
“Of course the phone is stupid.”
“the insane decision that is the commodore phone”
“No RCS and iMessage via bridge (which effectively means no iMessage via phone number and a number of privacy concerns) makes the communication part an…”
“Now, that’s a Commodore phone I can get behind.”
“They are useless because they're identical to the customer's own phone except for the fact they say Commodore.”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.