Commodore Resurfaces With PET Android Smartphone Featuring Built-In C64 And Amiga Emulators
The name "Commodore" is one that incites the nostalgic cells in many people, and its copyright owners know it. A couple of years ago, an all-in-one PC that was modeled after the iconic C64's keyboard was released, and for the most part, it was awesome. After all, how could something modeled after the C64 not be?
Well, if you missed out on that AIO PC and want some legit Commodore hardware, you're going to get a second chance. As long as you're fine with that hardware being a smartphone, that is. And a plain-Jane off-white one at that.
Named after another Commodore PC, the "PET" smartphone makes itself a little unique by preinstalling two emulators that will let users play classic C64 and Amiga games. Hardware-wise, the phone is quite competent: 1.7GHz eight-core SoC, 32GB of storage, 3GB of RAM, a 5.5-inch screen (1080p), 13 megapixel camera at the rear and 8 megapixel at the front, dual-SIM (always a nice touch), a 3,000mAh battery, and of course, Lollipop 5.0.
When the PET becomes available later this week (you can be notified of it at the URL below), it'll come in both 16GB (includes 2GB of RAM) and 32GB flavors, which will cost ~$300 and ~$365, respectively. The pricing and specs seem decent enough, but there is one downside: it won't be immediately available in the US or Canada. It'll first launch in select Euro countries, and then become available on these shores in the near-future. In the meantime, if you want to relieve old C64 or Amiga games, there is no shortage of ways to do so.