The Commodore brand is back, though not in the way you'd expect
The Commodore brand is back, though not in the way you'd expect
In the late 70s and early 1980s, Commodore International's Commodore series of computers dominated the personal computer market. The Commodore 64 in particular, is fondly remembered by many as a very flexible machine (for its time) which also had some pretty good games. In fact, Guiness World Records has the Commodore 64 as the world's highest selling computer model of all time. To say the Commodore 64 was popular was an understatement.
Still, despite their computers selling like crazy, Commodore International eventually went under in 1994.
The good news is that while the company may be dead, the brand that it birthed lives on. The Commodore is back, though we'd bet nobody could have predicted that it'd come back as a mobile device.
The new mobile device is a smartphone called the Commodore PET (named after the Commodore 64's predecessor). The phone is 5.5-inch device with a Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS display powered by a 1.7 GHz Mediatek 64-bit octa-core processor with an ARM Mali T760 GPU and a 3000 mAh battery. The rear main camera will be equipped with a 13MP Sony sensor, which can produce images up to 4096 x 2304 pixels as well as video up to 1080p. The camera on the front is 8MP. There's also a SD card slot, with support up to 64GB cards, though only a 32GB card will ship with the devices. The PET will also have dual-SIM 4G capabilities.
It'll run a customized version of Android Lollipop and feature two custom emulators; VICE (for Commodore 64 games) and Uae4All-SDL (for Amiga games).
At launch, the PET will have two different versions. One comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, while another comes with 3GB RAM with 32GB internal storage. The version with 2GB RAM will retail for around US$300, while 3GB version will be going for around US$365.
The PET will be only be available initially in Italy, Germany, France and Poland though there are plans to launch it in the other parts of Europe and in the US. No word on an Asian launch though.
Source: Wired