Announced a short time ago, the Callback 8020 is seen as a means of combating the addictive lure of the modern-day smartphone. While it supports Android apps via its SailfishOS, it disables features like web browsing and social media by default.
However, despite the noble quest for a ‘digital detox’, the phone met with a somewhat frosty reception online (no pun intended), with many comparing it to an elderly relative’s flip phone. In our poll, 70 percent of you said you wouldn’t be buying one.
That’s more like it!
And I completely disagree with the people saying it should be much cheaper.
It’s a LTE Linux computer. In 2026. With multiple screens, a good DAC, enough power to run real Android apps and tons of bells and whistles; what do you expect?
Electronics are expensive, unless it’s cheap garbage, heavily subsidized, or both. That has a huge externalized cost, and avoiding that is the whole point of this phone. R&D, and continued software support, is crazy expensive too.
I know wages haven’t gone up with inflation, which makes $400 hard to afford, but that’s not in Commodore’s control.
This, I think the price is decent. Most dumbphones are low cost but you notice it - terrible buttons, slow camera, lackluster audio. On top of that they have no coolness factor. This is a phone that ticks all boxes and is privacy friendly. On top of that, it is from a company I like to support.
the cheap flip phones are truly dollar-store build quality and cameras. mine has a crappy radio, it seems, too… nearly always roaming on another carrier’s nearby tower because it can’t pick up the vzn one just a couple miles outside of town.
the ‘rugged’ ones are built better and can take a literal beating and still work, but they cost as much as a recent model 128gb smart phone… and still have squat for storage and lousy cameras.
Saying “lte Linux that can run Android” means nothing. All Android phones run Linux and support LTE. It’s an Android phone with restrictions on what Android apps it will run. That’s it. The screen is tiny and two small screens are cheaper than a larger one.
You can buy all of that for $100 on Aliexpress.
This is trash dressed up in a fun skin to sell to Commodore fans who don’t know how to delete an app from their phone.
It’s not Android. It’s SailfishOS. With first party support.
And even that aside, I don’t see anything comparable on Aliexpress, hardware wise.
Android fliphone
Not interested. Want SailfishOS.
The alternative would be a mid-range phone with SailfishOS on it. I have one, a Sony Xperia III which I chosed for the small size. I like it. BTW I had nearly every Linux phone by Nokia and Jolla since the N900.
But if you still want something that is more like a pocket computer and less like a distracting phone, you could look for handheld PCs / ultraportables, and put Linux on one. These can run Threema Web, and Waydroid if you still want apps. (I have a Gemini PDA, and I like it, but be careful - this is NOT a phone - but fine for answering mail).
1st-party supported SailfishOS, to be specific.
That’s huge, to me.
Yeah! I have a Sony Xperia 10 III, but the SailfishOS support is kinda… not officially supported in the US?
Sundray — curious why the team chose SailfishOS over something like KaiOS, which already has a carrier-backed dumbphone ecosystem (JioPhone, etc). The Android app support is clever, but does disabling web/social feel like a software band-aid rather than a hardware differentiator? We ran a quick teardown of feature trade-offs in constrained devices here https://cxgo.ai/l/etqsD4F — might save some R&D cycles if you’re iterating.
lol, it’s worth $100
There’ll probably be several to choose from on AliExpress at that price point.
holy mother of tracker URLs! lol
we fit all yer favorites in this sum bitch
That is concerning amount of query parameters.
Well now we know exactly where this person lives.
What year do you think it is?
I would be interested if I knew which networks it works on….
GSM, WCDMA, and 4G LTE
Translation: We couldn’t really sell it for that price, now we try it with this price.
The
CATS22 is $150. It doesn’t have the same hardware, but I don’t see $250 worth of upgrades between that one and this.Definitely closer than asking $350 more, though. And it’s not like Sailfish functionality is worth nothing.
bought and used one of these. it sucks ass. if you want something dependable dont get this. keypresses on the dialpad dont register half the time which nade t9 input impossible. also you must install a 3rd party app to use t9 as your main input. stock rom pops the qwerty touch keyboard on the yiny screen for every input
So still $100 more than a LightPhone II, an already somewhat pricey ‘detox phone’, or about the same price as a used Moto RAZR if yoh just wanted a flippy phone made of pre-owned components
How about a phone for people who aren’t addicted to them, but want the basics without being spied on?
Things I want in a phone:
- GPS with maps and directions.
- A browser for the rare occasions I want to look something up when I’m away from home. The last time I used it was to find which aisle something was on at Lowe’s.
- Texting.
- Phone calls.
- Notes.
- A decent camera.
- No bigger than an iPhone 12 mini, which is what I have now, and it’s plenty big enough.
I don’t do anything else. Mostly my phone sits on my desk, ignored unless it makes a noise at me. I take it with me sometimes when I leave the house, but sometimes I don’t bother--not addicted.
Yup.
Although I’d expand texting to “messenger apps” specifically Signal for me.
Fuck SMS.
This can easily be achieved with most any Android phone.
- Switch to a degoogled OS like GrapheneOS or LineageOS
- Install a minimalist launcher (there are dozens)
- install CoMaps for private gps and navigation
- use whatever chromium browser comes on the phone or install a privacy browser like Firefox (again, there are dozens)
- add a notes app (there are dozens)
doing this with a used pixel 8 pro bought off ebay.
I’m personally waiting for the Moto/GrapheneOS collab coming out next year. I’m rocking a slightly older OnePlus with LineageOS now.
This can easily be achieved with most any Android phone.
lots of phones are not supported even by lineage. it does not help that manufacturers are continuously farting out the same mediocre models just with slightly different hardware, so that drivers need to be figured out again
Yes, by “most any” of course I mean that you can find a device with almost any spec or form factor you choose. If you like pixel, you can choose lineage or graphene. If you have an old phone lying around - with hundreds supported by lineage - there’s a good chance it works.
right. what I wanted to say, is most people can’t just convert a phone they already have. though tbh, that might not be a great idea either, in case there’s a fuckup or some unexpected regression.
this may very well be the phone for you. I think it does all of this
Except for the “A browser on rare occasions”, which sadly is likely the only thing stopping me from buying this at the new far more palatable price. I don’t need to be treated like a baby, but apparently this is considered a core feature of the phone and they won’t back down from it.
Its fine if it doesn’t come with one by default. If it is fully capable of running one but it stops you from doing that, forget it.
I 100% agree with this. This is SO CLOSE to getting it and offering a phone I actually want. But I want to own my devices and decide what I do on them. The thing hard locking me out of a browser (and discord) is unfortunately a deal breaker. I don’t want the hardware mfr to have a say in how I use the device and treat me like a literal child in the process. It’s disappointing.
I was also thinking about buying it, but I want my phone to be my phone.
I actually use my browser from time to time. What is the use of a phone if you need a “backup phone” just to look something up?
Also, their reasoning for blocking the browser is absurd: “you could use the browser to access social media.” I don’t use TikTok, Instagram, X, or the like, so why do I need to be nannied?
Exactly. I can understand them not installing a browser by default as part of their “principled stance against social media”, but blocking the install entirely is WILD. I also do wonder how they actually do that though… Just a list of “known browsers” and blocking their install? It’s Linux - what if we fork a browser and rename it “totally not firefox”, would it even catch it?
Come on Commodore, I want a retro computer with new Herdware in it. Not some crippled linux phone.
I want a retro computer with new Herdware in it.
You’re in luck! It was their first product of this reborn company. They sell that right here: https://commodore.net/computer/
That’s the thing. I already have almost a dozen original and remake Commodore 64s. Also Plus/4, C128, and so on. I don’t know who the target market of the new Commodore is, but it doesn’t feel like its me.
I already have almost a dozen original and remake Commodore 64s. Also Plus/4, C128, and so on.
We’re similar then. I am a long time user of VICE, built parallel port (IEEE 1284) to 1541 interfaces to read my old floppies onto PC in the 90s, and even bought one of the c64 Minis when it came out. I also have 3 original C64s (in various states of function).
All of the “modern” c64s have always been just a bit off from the legacy hardware experience. I still love them, but they don’t compare to the experience on the original hardware.
I don’t know who the target market of the new Commodore is
Well, me, I suppose. I bought one of the new Commodore Ultimate units (breadbin model). There are absolutely hardware limitations to the legacy c64 experience using in with modern computing in 2026. Sure there are workarounds for most of them, but those workarounds add up in cost, and even then aren’t always the best solutions. Even then SID chips were never all identical, and many continue to fail with age. Certain revs of original hardware have specific bugs (which sometimes are beneficial) so having the option to use or avoid those would mean owning multiple original hardware in working order. That still won’t get you HDMI, Ethernet, USB or flash storage access without lots of extra addon hardware.
The Commodore Ultimate has on that baked in. Currently I’m still using my original hardware more because of some projects I’m working on that require the TTL signals of the USER Port, but more regular use I am glad to have the Ultimate for better interoperability and maximum compatibility to the original 6510 CPU and SID (from its FPGA).
The new slimline Ultimate units are actually made from the original CBM case molds which were found in a warehouse!
, but it doesn’t feel like its me.
Thats certainly fine. This is a hobby after all, and there’s no requirement to buy something you don’t find interesting.
You can also sign up for the waitlist for an additional $50 off the price at preorder, which begins June 30. Not sure if they’ll be checking that your email address is on the waitlist to use the code, but it’s a generic code.
Done! You can use the code CHICKENLIPS at checkout on June 30th for a total of $100 off!
I work in product management, this was not a marketing ploy.
Supplies are expensive now. They are cutting into their margin considerably and probably did find some slightly cheaper components. Maybe they cut a better deal with the suppliers.
Either way, they are playing smart by listening to the market on an untested product in a new product category of “semi-smart” phones. This could signal a comeback of this type of product but only if they pave the way with affordability and usability.
I hope this does succeed for them because we need more companies taking risks in today’s market. Everything is so bland right now.
We don’t need companies taking risks for the sake of risks though. We need companies that actually have good ideas and can produce products. This isn’t much better than a Kickstarter. And you probably know incredibly well, no one is changing or going to succeed in the very bloated cell phone market.
You may be correct but that just makes them look dumb for trying to do this in the first place. Why? Make some mechanical keyboards, retro looking monitors or other peripherals, whatever might actually make sense for the Commodore brand and style. Not a phone.
I’m on the Engineering side and $400 buys you parts for A LOT more phone than that, especially with that screen size.
Are they planning on having the phones individually hand-assembled by Degree holding Electronics Engineers in the US - hence the manpower costs are insane - or is it a situation of putting a jet engine on a small car (tons of memory and a big processor on something with a far too small screen to be useful for most things, especially gaming)?
I bet the price bares no relation to the actual product manufacturing costs.
Yes, but also, ROI on development and marketing and research costs etc. This is a niche product with no clear distribution channel. While cost to produce based on parts alone is low, what about procurement, planning, distribution, marketing, development etc? Everyone needs to make money to get the product off the ground.
Plus this is a completely unproven product (generally) static landscape. Price is basically dictated on how they can penetrate a market, gain market share, and still make profit after all the work that goes into making that a reality.
I’d do up to $200 for nostalgia (given inflation and component prices like RAM).
I’m still on the fence about it but the price drop does move the needle a little. I’m still going to wait to make a decision until it comes out then give it a couple of months.
I honestly like everything about this except the no browser and small screen choices. I get the idea, but I’m happy with my addiction, thanks, I just want the privacy and control. And SailfishOS looks interesting, but I cant find a way to try it, except as a VM.
an incredible endorsement of our vision
Fake, and the price is still ridiculous. Nostalgia-bait as someone else said.
I’m more concerned about the dictatorial-feeling attitudes in the marketing than I am about the price. I’m all for a privacy respecting phone, but an even higher priority than that is respecting me and my choices. Blocking me from social media doesn’t feel like it’s catering to me, it feels like its nannying me and dictating my choices to me. That’s not something I’m interested in at any price.
I realize that I will, in reality, be able to choose whether to leave those blocked, but having them blocked by default feels just as aggressively judgemental and disrespectful as preinstalling them and shoving them in my face like most existing brands do. It’s not your place to tell me what apps to use or not to use. Give me a fucking blank slate, and let me decide, thankyouverymuch.
That’s what I thought, that keyboard means almost no messaging; I get the ‘no social’ vibe, but this way looks like there’s no middle ground between “grandma and her SMS” and “glued to the screen 20hrs/day”.
