Commodore (yes, that Commodore) is rolling things back once again with the Callback 8020, a cell phone “with no social media, no email, no browser, and no apologies.”
The Callback 8020 has a very familiar early 2000s flip phone aesthetic and runs Sailfish OS, a “completely de-Googled experience” running “99%” of Android apps but selectively disabling the ones you likely spend the most time using and doom-scrolling.
That means no Facebook, no Instagram, no Slack– you can’t even check your email. You can still keep in touch, though, with text messaging, actual phone calls, and even WhatsApp. Other than that, the phone refuses to bother you (or even let you be bothered) with all the other time sinks we’ve grown accustomed to in our pockets.
It also has an “audiophile grade DAC” for music playback and supports Spotify, so you can still enjoy music and podcasts. It even has an FM tuner built in, if you, like me, find yourself needing to tune into a triple-play Thursday on your local butt-rock station. Better still, it has a 48MP camera, so you still get to carry a camera with you at all times but you just can’t use it to upload your photos to Instagram. You use it to just take photos of things you want to capture to revisit in the future. I know, crazy, right?
The idea for the Callback 8020 came from Commodore President and CEO Peri Fractic (real name Christian Simpson) realizing he was “addicted to [his] smartphone.”
I was lucky enough to review the Commodore 64 Ultimate last year, Commodore’s first foray into the hardware world since forever, and I absolutely loved it. Scratch that, I didn’t just love it, I was blown away by it. It’s only the second “10” I’ve awarded (the other to Flight Simulator 2020) and it’s one of the few hardware 10s IGN has ever awarded. It constantly beat my expectations and suprised me at every turn. Truly a labor of love, and I’m confident Commodore’s phone sitting “between dumb and smart” will similarly delight me.
I’m a huge retro nerd and I’ve been threatening to throw my current phone into the sea for the last ten years but lacked the courage to do so, and this phone is calling out to me. I was lucky enough to speak to Peri Fractic and Chief Strategy Officer Jim Squires last week and from what they told me, this looks like it might be exactly the phone I’ve been looking for. It has that Y2K aesthetic my body craves, ditches all the stuff that I’m constantly checking, but keeps the basics I still need.
The Commodore Callback 8020 is expected to release later this year, with the BASIC Beige, ProtoPET White, and SX Silver priced at $499.99, Starlight Edition for $549.99, and an extremely limited Founders Edition complete with 24K gold plated “C” button for $640. Preorders, when they do open, will be at Commodore’s Callback website, and you can visit now to put your name on the waitlist.
UPDATE 11:40am June 16: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Commodore had created a custom version of WhatsApp with Meta. This information has been removed.
Seth Macy is Senior Social Commerce Producer, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him online @SethFromMaine.
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