Commodore wants us to put our phones—or rather, social media—aside. The brand that filled children’s bedrooms and living rooms in the 1980s with the Commodore 64 and Amiga has unveiled the Callback 8020: a flip phone with a retro design, designed for those tired of notifications, endless feeds, and doomscrolling. The idea is simple: to offer a device that isn’t too limited for daily activities, but is controlled enough not to become just another smartphone.
It must be said, however, that Commodore’s revival has not been a straightforward one. After decades of failures, licensing deals, and disputes, the brand is now at the center of a new relaunch effort led by Christian “Peri Fractic” Simpson, a British creator with ties to retro-computing culture. Rather than a direct continuation of the Commodore of the 1980s, the Callback 8020 therefore seems to use that name as a nostalgic platform: not to bring computers back into homes, but to sell the opposite idea—that of a technology that is slower, more controlled, and less dependent on smartphones.
The Callback 8020 uses patent-pending technology and the Sailfish OS operating system, which is Linux-based and developed in collaboration with Jolla. It can run most Android apps, but by design excludes social networks, web browsers, email, and certain work tools such as Slack and Teams. According to the manufacturer, these restrictions are enforced at the system level and cannot be disabled. However, Commodore explained to Ars Technica that the phone supports the manual installation of almost all apps not available in the Commostore, with the exception of those designed to induce compulsive scrolling.
As for the technical specifications, the phone features a 3.25-inch IPS display on the inside and a 1.77-inch mini screen on the outside. It features a numeric keypad with T9, a MediaTek Helio G81 processor, 4 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of storage expandable via microSD. For taking photos, there is a 48-megapixel Sony main camera with flash and autofocus. It also includes 4G LTE connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, dual physical SIM slots, FM radio, and a 3.5-millimeter audio jack. The 1,550 mAh battery is removable and rechargeable via USB-C.
The key selling point of this flip phone, however, is its price. Commodore had initially announced a price of $499 for the base model, but later revealed launch promotions starting at 351.80 euros. Starting June 30, it will be available in several variants: ProtoPet White, with a metallic white body and blue accents; Silver Sx, with a two-tone gray and silver frame; Basic Beige, which pays homage to the color of the brand’s most famous home computer; Starlight Edition, featuring an ice-blue translucent polycarbonate body; and Founder Edition, the most expensive model, on sale for 562.89 euros, with a gold-colored PVD coating and a 24-karat gold-plated Commodore key.
These are small details, but they’re enough to make the Callback 8020 more than just a simple distraction-free phone. The idea of a device that helps users reclaim their attention and time makes sense, especially at a time when the return of “dumb phones” has also become a cultural response to excessive connectivity. Less convincing is the price, which risks shifting the device from the realm of everyday use to that of premium nostalgia.
There’s also some doubt about the connection to the brand. Commodore defined an era because it brought computers into homes, making a technological vision that was, at the time, geologically new, accessible. Linking that history to a no-scrolling cell phone is a fascinating but delicate endeavor: the Callback 8020 could become a collector’s item for nostalgics rather than a true alternative for those who want to disconnect.