I'm not stopping anyone from buying one, Paulie. I've been called a D*ck, and far worse, today alone.
My apologies if I am coming off as patronizing to anyone sincerely interested in a "badged" device like this. It's a free market, and all that.
What gets me mostly is news sites like Wired and their original article on this device that read like ad material. Wired should be ashamed of the initial article they wrote on this. A noobie copy intern would have wrote a better researched article.
No one bothered to dig into the fact it *is* a rebadged China phone at 2x+ the price. It's easy to identify what the device actually is, a WaPhone. No one at Wired bothered to check the legality of the license this new company has. No one at Wired bothered to take into account that these guys had already reportedly screwed over a quite well known designer over what was quite frankly (the C64 phone mock up), an abortion of a design. The whole article was linkbait solely written to get all the C= aficionados all worked up and thinking Commodore was back, ready to save the marque and brand and restore the grand hope of The Faithfuls. One of which I am. it was easier for Wired to take the lowbrow clickbait route, and Wired usually isn't too bad in that regard. A bit of a let down is all, and I say that as someone who has subscribed to the print version of the magazine since the first issue 20+ years ago. A subscription I won't be renewing.
It's a low spec phone. If you are after a low to low/mid range at best - specc'ed Android phone, you can get one for $70 off contract that has similar specs from any US carrier. S4's and S5's are even going for free these days with a contract on my own carrier, and despite the age, far better devices. These C= phones are what I'd consider "burner phone" specs for $400.
Just do your homework and look past the write up on Wired, is all I suggest. if the device suits your needs and is something you feel you want to support, the $400 cost or nothing I say is going to stop anyone. But I do believe in truth in advertising, and it's my own opinion the device and company as a whole is just another one of the cash-grabs we're unfortunately so accustomed to in this scene.
I just don't like seeing anyone taken for a ride due to fond memories of their computing youth over what's really just a $400 screened on (decal maybe?) logo when you can buy a far better device for half the price, and in fact, you can buy the same phone sans Chickenlips logo for $100.
Anyone that does get one, please do post a review. Do your homework on MediaTek chips before buying, though. I say that as someone who's currently using a MediaTek chipped phone (Alcatel, mind you, not an Orgtec) as a paperweight.