Commodore Android phone..

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Rebadged Alcatel phone by the looks of it.

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The Lumia phones, particularly the high end, are some of the best hardware devices on the market.  The 1520 is one of the best phones I've ever used, hardware wise - to the point if it was running Android and not WP, I'd take one over an iPhone 6/6s or any Android phone.  

The gripe has always been Windows Phone on 'em for an OS, but that still hasn't stopped them from selling 50+ million of them worldwide (not all Lumia's, but mostly - numbers as of late 2013/early 2014).

The Commodore phone is simply a chinese phone with the chickenlips logo on it with a price tag that's almost double what you'd pay for it without said logo.  The specs are not particularly compelling on it by todays standards either.

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If you want to pay 2x what the retail price is for the same phone sans C= logo, knock yourselves out.  I'll eat my hat if you ever see the next full letter release/update of Android for it, especially in a world where the big name vendors aren't even bothering to roll out Lollipop for devices that have sold millions of units.  I say that as a guy that's had a Samsung tablet for less than a year and Samsung suddenly decided to flake on the Lollipop update, on a tablet they sold *millions* of.

It's a mid range Chinese phone that is otherwise a "free with a contract" phone, one that reviews poorly to boot.  It's just a re - badged Chinese/emerging market phone.  A quick read of any of the articles on the thing tells you what it really is, make and model wise.

You can pick the same phone up for half the price from the manufacturer or any online Chinese vendor.  I can get an iphone 6 or S6/S6 Edge for the same price on contract.  I know which one I'd pick.  

If a chickenlips logo is worth over a hundred bucks to people, enjoy.

It honestly puzzles me why anyone these days, no matter how much of a fanboy they are of C= or the Amiga would gladly pay a 2x premium on something that's nothing more than a screened on logo.  It's not like you're supporting the grand cause and C= or Amiga will suddenly rise from the ashes and the major players will fall to their knees.  You're just feeding the cockroaches that latched onto a once highly respected name, and C-USA was no different.

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I take it you've never had the pleasure (cough) to use a Mediatek equipped phone.  

They are notoriously poor performers, notoriously buggy and poor on battery life, and rarely receive the Android updates that were promised.  GPS is poor at best.

I can tell you all of this is true about Mediatek chips - I've got a Mediatek MT6592 equipped phone that I got stuck with via work sitting a foot away from me, and it's a complete dog performance wise.  Had it for about a year now (Alcatel Idol X+, comparable or better specs than the C= phone), and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

It was free with an under $20 a month contract.

I don't begrudge anyone spending their hard earned money on a phone with a $100+ logo screened on it - whatever floats your boat.  Though it does annoy me when people pay $300+ for a sub par phone that will end up getting no support, lol.

You can get a OnePlus for the price of the C= phone, c'mon.

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Same Octocore CPU line, same one people have all sorts of issues with.

It was "free" to me because I work for the telco as a subcontractor.  List price was $549.  I wouldn't pay $49 for it.

It's your money.  Fact is, you can buy a far better phone for the money, starting with the Moto X at $299, which is a great phone.  Are folks looking for a new phone or just a weak-kneed throwback homage to a long dead computer brand?  If the latter, wouldn't it just be easier to get $5 Commodore logo sticker printed up and put it on a decent phone?

But hey, if you want to spend $300+ for a silk screened emerging market handset with buggy components in it, Godspeed.  There *are" GPS, battery and performance issues with Mediatek chips.  Known issues I can tell you I have experienced myself.  Known issues that there is 1,000 threads on the 'net about.  Which is why you rarely see them in anything but the Chinese budget phones.

The dudes in Starbucks won't know what the chickenlips logo is anyways
I've seen Apple Scenesters, but the Chickenlips scenester idea makes me giggle out loud   "WOW, is that a...  COMMODORE PHONE?  OOOH"

Hysterical.

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Why is it amazing news?  The thing is still what every Android site says it is, lol.  Perhaps this new Commodore offshoot didn't buy the phones from anything but a Chinese Fire Sale site, but it is what all the sites say it is.  They didn't custom make the thing, it's a mass market, low to mid range phone from China with a Chickenlips logo screened onto it.

I don't consider it coming with AROS ROM's a selling point, personally.  AROS is a terrific offering, but assuming the Android ROM's are in a similar state as the desktop ones are, well - a few days ago when I tried the newest AROS replacement ROM's under UAE, I couldn't even vaguely consider them being "daily driver" replacement ROM's for the ones the good folks at Commodore did 20 years ago (3.1).  Sorry, AROS guys, that's my experience as of a few days ago.

Not a slag against AROS, it's a hell of a big project to rewrite ROM's/a legacy ROM/OS replacement, but when I tried them last (again, a few days ago, via UAE/AF), I'm not sure I'd even call them usable.  I couldn't even get CED fired up under them, anyways, much less my usual suite of apps I run on legacy Amiga OS.

But far be it from me to dissuade anyone from paying double what a product is going for just because some freeware software (emulators, ROM's) and a Chickenlips logo is on there.

Anyone with a good set of eyes can see what the thing is, hardware wise.  If you wanted a custom Commodore phone, well, you'll get a custom Commodore PET box, lol.

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Fair enough - apologies if I got up your hindquarters, heh.

I don't begrudge anyone spending their hard earned wages on whatever they want to, but let's just be realistic on this particular device - if you're intent on buying it, you can buy it for half the price this new "Commodore" outfit is selling it for, and it indeed is, at best - a lower to mid-range Android device, specs wise.  You can find the same phone, minus the Chickenlips logo - on the 'net any day of the week for half the cost of this "PET" phone.

If anyone does buy it, do give us a full review on it.  I'd particularly like to hear if these new MediaTek equipped phones have the same GPS issues I've (and others) suffered through with my own MediaTek chipped device.

The MediaTek equipped phone I have is so flaky GPS wise I've got an old S3 strapped to the dash of my work truck that does nothing but GPS - the MediaTek chipped Alcatel I have, the GPS on it can't be relied on in the least.  Otherwise, it's been a pretty decent phone, other than the small battery on it.  I'd like to think the newer chips from MediaTek are far better, because quite frankly I'm not sure how they are staying in business if things haven't improved.

I'd also be curious to see if these phones get any further Android full revision updates - I wouldn't put too much bank on it if this phone I have is any indication.  They didn't even deliver on the last incremental version of KK they promised.

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Ouch, pretty big sting when the designer wants nothing to do with it.