The Commodore Callback 8020 smart flip phone

Regarding the price: the reality with all these alternative phones (e.g. the clicks communicator) is that you are going to have to pay a premium to make them worthwhile for the manufacturers. Scale (and the spyware economy) are what allow the larger companies to produce cheaper "better" phones, so comparing a phone like this with them on price isn't super productive. If you want something different than what the masses consume you are gonna have to pay for it.

The only ones that I've seen beat this dynamic to an extent are the unihertz phones.

The Samsung android flips are great but all this patent pending tech is just configurations on a non basic build of google.

Like the idea, commodore never had me in its nostalgia, too young, idea is cute, t9 keyboard is workable but I disagree that it’s viable. I want to be wrong of course but

Samsung and apple using their fold flip and discipline fixes the other side. People do not want to detox. Going back to a flip won’t fix it.

Same as the glp1 drugs, people knew food was bad, didn’t stop eating. Started body shame movement. Now that movement seems to have gone silent, glp1s fixed obesity seemingly overnight.

So the question is, what is the future glp1 equilivant for digital detox, a simpler phone or a phone that makes it more complicated to get digital services isn’t it.

Then there’s the argument for price, photo quality and all. No one is going to take photos and edit on a desktop in photoshop or Lightroom. Same as for using two phones and transferring esims, their WhatsApp number, etc

It has the same core spec as a $120 (delivered) Samsung phone and will cost between $500-$600 (delivered).

The C64U is an amazing achievement but it seems too early to go for the smart phone.

Hopefully there is a niche and their business plan is viable for a small number of sales.

This is a pocket Linux terminal with loads of untapped potential out of the box. Combining voice navigation with an ssh linked home AI server may make this a true privacy-first successor to the prying smartphone for the AI era. And there is the audio quality, with a battery that lasts a week. The Bluetooth tethering has a standby feature so any non-cellular wifi device you carry is effectively always connected as well. It won't drop like most smartphones. There is way more utility in this combo than the brick in your pocket we have to contend with now. I hope Commodore can see past the detox only and see what they have really created here. Meanwhile hackers can have a field day!!

The phone may not be dumb (we'll see) but the idea for new Commodore to release one is. Sorry to be so blunt.

I'd go this direction as long as it had a real keyboard... Maybe it's time for the blackberry to reemerge.

It runs Sailfish. That's something, I guess.

I'm interested in the form factor and excited about the inclusion of a headphone jack but SailfishOS is the real selling point for me.

I'll buy this if there is a way to remove the app restrictions they have. Ideally, I should be able to flash the default SailfishOS

The cool thing is running two phones w same number. One big market phone and one minimal. Take the minimal out most of the time and the big one when you need to.

Tmobile used to let me do that but it was pricey.

I'm not sure about these new dumb phones. Just not having social media in the first place has worked alright for me.

I hate my phone, and my relationship with it, but sometimes you just need to use one.

My preferred strategy is having a normal phone, minimal apps, and just keeping it switched off most of the time, particularly round the house.

Thing is, I've got a worse problem with my laptop and desk. Between HN, lichess, and a handful of favoured blogs, I can easily blow a day doing nothing, without the help of a phone.

Honestly, I think something deeper than a different form factor is required. If anyone has found it, let me know.

I would use that phone if I had the ability to customise it to my needs. I don’t want meta apps nor Spotify preinstalled, but I would take the ability to install signal.

My biggest problem with dumb phones and similar concepts like this digital detox phone is the comparitively crappy cameras. I don't take photos often, but when I do I want them to be good.

For some reason the diagram under the "Not Your Granny's Flip" heading has been AI-generated

Folks have a hard time reclaiming their attention from the never ending distractions of a smart phone. If commodore can make a device and ecosystem to make that happen, I’m sure folks will spend the money.

The reality though is, most folks don’t even think how much time they spend on phones, so I hope they can become profitable with devices sold in the thousands.

Commodore died in the 80-90s, this is the husk of a dead horse being beaten by some YouTuber.

Not Commodore-looking. Not nostalgic. Not novel. It unchecks all the boxes.

I’m saying that as a very happy C64U owner.

Keeping my eye on this. I really like the general form factor and aesthetic here. The candy-like wired audio and chiptune ringtones are a fun bonus.

It looks awesome but I’d need to be able to swap an eSIM easily to switch back and forth from an iPhone.

This is a similar idea to the lightphone. I would be curious to see a more detailed comparison of the twos features.

I'm all for something dumber than the average little black skinner box. The price doesn't really bother me as much as the side loading restrictions. If I'm going to pay $600 for a novelty phone I better be allowed to do whatever I want with it. Locking that behavior behind some fuzzy logic yes/no algorithm based on God only knows what LLM seems pretty tone deaf to what a lot of people have been saying about owning their own hardware over the last decade or so.

We had smart phones already before iOS and Android came to be, so the headline is a bit duh.

not so sure about this one.

Am I able to use the Transit app? That's one thing I'd really like to have.

I need car play, eg maps + YouTube music. And fb and texto + messenger + whatsapp. Price is irrelevant if i can get a “fully functional” phone without a browser. Oh i guess I could live without discord. But seems fine to have..

Speaking as someone who loved the hell out of the dysfunctional mess that was Commodore, and read every Compute's Gazette front to back as soon as it came out: FFS, just let them stay dead. I'm really sick of seeing my generation being strip-mined nonstop for nostalgia.

It’s as overpriced as the SpaceX IPO.