When I buy a new phone, it’s not going to be, say, the Ayaneo Pocket Play or one of those pricey RedMagic gaming smartphones with the ridiculous refresh rate. For the sake of both my wallet and my soul, I’m looking at a less capable bit of kit. Thankfully, an unexpected source is now offering a throwback mobile phone with one eye on modern software flexibility.
Enter Commodore, of all classic computing brands, with the Callback 8020. The $500 flip phone sports that classic clamshell look without all of the same drawbacks associated with using actual vintage hardware (via Tom’s Hardware). For starters, this Linux-based phone works with 99% of Android apps, but social media and even web browsers are blocked at a system level. Instead, it comes pre-loaded with “a modest selection of classic and modern, mindful Commodore 64 games”—plus Snake.
You can still sideload some apps using APK installer files, though that does go against the phone’s philosophy. “For so many in the rapidly growing digital minimalism and dumbphone communities, app ‘screen time’ timers, grayscale modes, and ‘I’ll just be more disciplined’ were not enough,” The company writes, “If the temptation is always in your pocket, it keeps winning.”
The company continues, “Callback removes the trap door, so you can keep the useful parts of a phone without carrying the whole attention economy around with you. Think of it as a trusted friend who helps you keep a promise to yourself. Not by judging you, but by quietly sidelining the things you already decided you do not want in your day.”
The Callback 8020 is pitched as a privacy-first phone, sans sneaky data-sharing (to quote the official website, “Finally, a phone that minds its own flippin’ business”). There’s also zero AI within the phone’s custom software, which was designed by the Sailfish OS team.
The phone’s bespoke OS means you won’t have easy access to the Google Play store, with apps instead available via the Commostore app store. I guess the Callback is a phone that ‘minds its own business’ right up until it tells you what you can and can’t do.
Users can request certain apps be whitelisted for the Commostore. It’s oddly reminiscent of the ‘walled garden’ approach that has earned Apple its fair share of criticism for years—though as our James put it, the Commostore isn’t so much a walled garden as a bush. The app store’s offerings may one day include a select number of AI apps, though the company stresses, “We like apps that explicitly vow not to scrape and train on copyrighted creators’ work without permission.”
While I appreciate the Callback 8020 pitching up halfway between a smart and a dumb phone, I’m not sure the system-level social media block would work for me; for my sins, as a journalist, it does help to be able to open my emails or DMs no matter where I am. There’s still plenty else to love, like the Callback 8020’s removable 1550mAh battery, or its choice of “swappable back covers in gloriously techno-optimistic colors.”
However, when it comes to a flip phone that balances both looks and capabilities, my one true love remains the Samsung Galaxy Folder2. Unfortunately, that 2017 phone is no longer smart enough to keep up with my daily demands…but the Callback 8020’s MediaTek Helio G81 SoC is potentially still wise enough to change my mind about whether this throwback deserves a place in my heart. If you’re already in love, you can sign up to the waitlist here and get $50 off the Commodore Callback 8020 when pre-orders go live June 30th.
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