From Newsgroup: comp.sys.amiga.misc
As anyone could have guessed, the new "Commodore" owners have announced
a pointless ill-fitting garbage device using the brand name, just as
many previous owners stupidly tried / planned to do. :-(
Going retro: Commodore strips the smartphone back to essentials
---------------------------------------------------------------
The dumbphone revival has been gathering momentum in recent years,
and the newly revived Commodore brand wants in. The computing
icon, best known for the machines that defined a generation of
1980s bedroom keyboard warriors, has unveiled the Callback 8020,
a retro flip phone built around a simple idea: keep the parts of
a smartphone you actually need, and strip out the ones designed
to keep you hooked.
It's a space we've explored plenty before, from the minimalist
Light Phone III to Fairphone's clever dumbphone switch, and
Commodore is approaching it from a fresh angle. Rather than going
fully bare-bones, the Callback positions itself as the middle
ground between a smartphone that's too smart and a dumbphone
that's too dumb.
The company calls it the "not dumb dumbphone," and the pitch
leans heavily on nostalgia, with Y2K styling, a flip-to-close
design, and the kind of friendly, character-rich hardware that
phones largely abandoned years ago.
<
https://commodore.net/callback/>
Under its retro shell, the Callback runs Sailfish OS, a
privacy-focused Linux platform developed with Finland-based
Jolla. That choice lets the phone run around 99% of Android apps
while still being an independent and completely de-Googled
device - so essentials like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, maps,
rideshare, and music streaming all work, while social media apps
and web browsers are blocked at the system level. Commodore says
there's no data harvesting, and no sign-in is required to get
going.
The hardware is mid-range but purposeful: a MediaTek Helio
G81 chip, 4 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of storage, paired with a
3.25-inch touchscreen that stays disabled by default to
encourage keypad-first, T9-style texting. Audio is where
Commodore's heritage really shines, with audiophile-grade DAC
chips from ESS and Cirrus Logic, lossless playback, FM radio,
bundled IEM earphones, and SID chip ringtones lifted straight
from the Commodore 64. Rounding things out are a 48-MP camera,
a removable battery, and a privacy kill-switch that takes you
off-grid with a double tap.
Pricing starts at US$499.99 for the standard editions, rising to
around $640 for premium finishes like the gold-accented Founders
Edition, which throws in a 24k gold-plated Commodore key and a
presentation box. That undercuts rivals like the $699 Light
Phone III while offering considerably more functionality,
including those swappable batteries and back covers. Pre-orders
open on June 30, with free worldwide shipping for a limited time
and devices expected to ship toward the end of the year.
It arrives as regulators tighten the screws on youth social
media access, with Australia's under-16 restrictions already in
place and similar UK rules expected in 2027. This means the
Callback isn't just a good phone for minimalist adults, but
also a great potential device for under 16s who need a somewhat
modern phone and also need to stay away from social media.
Commodore is betting that a phone built around deliberate
friction, rather than willpower alone, is what the digital
minimalism crowd has been waiting for. And although it won't be
for everyone, anyone with an interest in digital minimalism
should be happy to see more product offerings in this category.
<
https://newatlas.com/consumer-tech/commodore-callback-8020-flip-phone/>
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