The website failed, went to an error page, and then charged my credit card the wrong amount of $64.70. I received a confirmation email saying I’ll receive a confirmation when my order has been shipped, but I haven’t provided a shipping address or paid the full $499 price tag. It is the worst experience I’ve ever faced buying a consumer electronic product and I have no idea whether or how I’ll receive the phone.

I look forward to learning more about how terrible these phones turn out.

  • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Daily reminder, Jimmy Carter willingly sold his peanut farm because his morality told him of his own viewpoints that it may be seen as unfair for a President to own business interests while serving the most important role of government. Which in his mind may come off as corrupt.

    We now have a president who see’s his name as a brand. That’s where we’ve gone.

    • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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      15 days ago

      People are forgetting too that this is just a job that he can be fired from. The SCOTUS and Republicans can fire him at any moment, but they aren’t. These middle managers suck.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      Daily reminder, Jimmy Carter willingly sold his peanut farm because his morality told him of his own viewpoints that it may be seen as unfair for a President to own business interests while serving the most important role of government. Which in his mind may come off as corrupt.

      Well, that and he was complying with the Emoluments Clause. You know, that thing that should’ve seen Trump impeached on Inauguration Day – 2017, not even just 2025!

    • Ulrich@feddit.org
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      15 days ago

      It’s much worse than that, he’s actively exploiting his position in government for personal gain. They have a gold Trump credit card that advertises that it’s “an official website of the US government”.

  • RadioFreeArabia@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Plot twist: there are no phones, the whole thing is a scheme to rip off people for $64.70. Enough money to make the scam worth it, not enough for people to put in the time and effort to reclaim their money unless their credit card will compensate them.

    • possumparty@lemm.ee
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      15 days ago

      I mean, it’s literally just a rebranded CP12, it’s a $50 phone that’s been painted gold.

  • throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works
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    15 days ago

    Fun fact, the alt right released a “Freedom Phone” after the jan 6 insurrection at the US capitol.

    Spoilers: The phone was just brought from some no-brand Chinese company and then rebranded and sold for more. The “Freedom” is just called sideloading, which a Google Android phone could already do. And the CEO claim to have “build the OS” all by himself…

    Like… some rich Millionaire trust fund kid with zero experience writing an entire android fork all by himself? 🤔

    Its probably just spyware so the far right can monitor their cult followers. Once their leaders get into power, they’ll just get purged like the brownshirts.

    • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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      15 days ago

      Very plausibly what started as a FBI monitoring tool which no longer has any staff with knowledge of the program anymore.

  • MBech@feddit.dk
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    15 days ago

    There’s a very high probability that the company will shut down before they even get a working product. All the pre-order money will have been spent on “research” and “salaries”, with 80% going directly into Trump’s pockets. And there will be fuck all anyone can do to get their money back. Scammers gonna scam.

  • GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml
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    15 days ago

    extremely non-zero chance the entire site and payment system was coded by morons with chatgpt

    • Tiger@sh.itjust.works
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      15 days ago

      Failing, not failed. Don’t give up! Things could get a lot worse, we’re nowhere near the bottom. They could also get better.

      • YerLam@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        Pessimist: It’s all terrible.
        Optimist: But it might be even more terrible tomorrow!

  • katy ✨@piefed.blahaj.zone
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    15 days ago

    well i’m definitely shocked that the guy banned from operating a charity in new york because he scammed children with cancer would operate a shoddy business.

  • viking@infosec.pub
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    15 days ago

    Lol, did whoever set to the shop configure it in Australian dollars? 100 AUD are just about 65 USD. Given the currency fluctuation, that could just about work out.

  • neidu3@sh.itjust.works
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    15 days ago

    Imagine if earlier fascists were as corrupt with conflicts of interests. Maybe we could call via the Adolfone.

  • GenosseFlosse@feddit.org
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    15 days ago

    I look forward to learning more about how terrible these phones turn out.

    It will be a bog standard white label china phone with android, a custom wallpaper and maybe some cover/protector like you can get on temu. It’s not like they develop their own hardware configuration, apps or phone os.

    • Wispy2891@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      But the world’s best professional bullshitter wrote on Truth that it’s built in the USA, it’s not a China phone

      • GenosseFlosse@feddit.org
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        15 days ago

        Which American companies actually manufacture displays, ram, CPUs, batteries etc. for cellphones in America?

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    15 days ago

    Even as a ‘lets see what this grift is all about’…why the hell would anyone order this horseshit…beyond stupid.

    • rumba@piefed.zip
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      15 days ago

      Youtubers going for content.

      Conceptually, it’ll make one f of a collectors item one day there’s no way enough will sell to make them common.

      • Billiam@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        In much the same way that Confederate memorabilia is collectable.

        As in, “You should avoid anyone who collects this shit. They’re probably a white nationalist.”

        • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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          15 days ago

          Or you can spray paint your old iPhone with gold coloring, slap a Trump logo on it and sell it on ebay to some unsuspecting MAGA fan for $2,000.

          It’s not hard to copy Trump’s signature … you could throw that on the phone and charge $5,000 and tell everyone that you bought it at a MAGA rally where Trump signed it in 2024.

          If they can grift … we can all grift harder

    • MimicJar@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      …because the author is an investigative journalist?

      We all know it’s a scam, but it’s their job is to prove it. To prove it you have to (attempt to) buy it.

      I agree any actual people trying to buy it are morons.

      • vaionko@sopuli.xyz
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        15 days ago

        It seems a lot of people have forgotten that proper journalism is more than repeating what someone tweets