After a few years of laying dormant, Commodore is finally back, oddly enough, with a mid-range smartphone, Wired reports.
Talking to the outlet, Italian entrepreneurs Massimo Canigiani and Carlo Scattolini claimed they acquired the rights to the Commodore name in several countries around the world. With the rights to the name in hand, the entrepreneurs set out to design the new Commodore PET smartphone, though it has no direct association with the famed 8-bit computer it shares its name with.
What sets the Commodore PET apart from other Android handsets is the inclusion of two emulators: VICE C64 and Uae4AII2-SDL Amiga, which can emulate Commodore 64 and Commodore Amiga games, respectively. Unfortunately, aside from the Commodore branding and logo, there’s not much else that separates the PET from any other Android smartphone.
Taking a peek under the hood reveals a 64-bit, 1.7GHz octa-core Mediatek processor, along with a respectably sized 3,000mAh battery. The front reveals a 5.5-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 IPS display protected by Gorilla Glass 3, while an 8-megapixel camera sits above the display. Both cameras can be controlled with the dedicated shutter button found on the right side of the phone.
Finally, the polycarbonate rear shell can be swapped for other colors, if you choose to do so.
Forking over $300 gets you the 16GB “light” variant with 2GB of RAM, while the more premium $365 variant gets you 32GB of internal storage and 3GB of RAM. If you want to expand the storage, you can do so with the MicroSD card slot. Regardless of which variant you get, however, a 32GB MicroSD card is included in the packaging. The PET will initially be available in Europe, though it could be offered in other markets, including the United States.
There is one more thing to note, however: as previously hinted, the Commodore PET shares no relationship to the company of yore, except branding. Canigiani and Scattolini registered the Commodore name as “Commodore Business Machines Limited” in the United Kingdom. The pair of entrepreneurs likely acquired the name after “Commodore U.S.” in 2013, which has since fallen from the face of the Earth.
