Commodore lives on as a C64 game-playing smartphone

The classic Commodore 64 computer is long dead and buried, but the brand lives on in the first smartphones to feature its iconic name — and the only one in existence to play C64 and Amiga games.

Commodore Business Machines Limited, a UK company with no real relation to the Commodore Computers of the early 1980s (beyond the trademark and branding a pair of Italian businessmen purchased earlier this year), is set to deliver an Android Lollipop-based smartphone in Europe featuring the name and logo, according to Wired.

The phone is more than just a branding exercise; the company is paying homage to the Commodore's classic computers in two ways. It named the phone "PET" after Commodore's first personal computer from 1977. In that system, PET stood for Personal Electronic Transactor. The new phone will also include emulators that let the phone play classic Commodore 64 and Amiga games. Read more...