The Commodore Callback 8020 Is a Digital Detox Phone That Isn’t Dumb

Commodore, the iconic computer brand of the 1980s, is once again back for your attention—slapping its name on the hottest trend: digital detox.

After a brand reboot (again) and the faithful recreation of the original Commodore 64 personal computer (again), the company's next product is a smartphone with the everyday essentials, but without the apps most adept at hogging your attention.

The Commodore Callback 8020 is not the first Commodore-branded phone (that would be the Pet from 2015), but it’s the first to feel unique and interesting. It might look like a dumb Nokia phone from yesteryear, but this flippy gadget has access to modern-day Android apps because it runs the Linux-based Sailfish OS from the Finnish company Jolla. The Callback’s front screen shows the date, time, and battery status, but no notifications. Flip it open, and you're greeted with a custom interface that can run apps like Uber, WhatsApp, and Spotify.

What it can't run are distracting apps that pull you away from life, so no social media, no browsers, and no email, and definitely no Slack.

Commodore CEO Christian “Peri Fractic” Simpson says Commodore may have gone quiet in the ’90s, but it’s ready to enter its Y2K era by going hard into early-2000s technology, which just so happens to be en vogue right now.

“A lot of people are trying to go back to slightly simpler tech and maybe trying to ditch their smartphone on the weekend," Simpson tells WIRED. “We found that for the people buying the C64, that very much resonated with them. So we positioned ourselves as a bit of a digital minimalist brand.” Simpson points out that the new Commodore 64 Ultimate, the company’s throwback desktop PC released in 2025, has a word processor so people can write distraction-free, much like on a typewriter.

Commodore has a manufacturing partner in Shenzhen to build the phone. (Commodore wouldn't share the name of this partner.) The Callback has a MediaTek Helio G81 processor, includes a 32-GB microSD card and custom-designed in-ear monitors from FiiO. Yes, there's a headphone jack and an “audiophile-grade” digital-to-analog converter in the Callback. The battery is removable and replaceable, and an LED light on the front can alert you when notifications come in. The phone also has an FM radio tuner.

The camera has a 48-megapixel Sony camera sensor that, on paper, seems to be able to snap decent pics. Commodore has also built a retro camcorder mode with procedurally generated filters, making it look like your video footage came straight from the '90s. The screen supports touch capabilities, though the company says this is disabled by default.

Ringtones on the device use chiptunes from the original Commodore 64, and there's a selection of C64 games on the phone. Simpson says these don't have the “addictive” nature of modern mobile games. It also comes with the mobile classic Snake. To send messages with the Callback, you’ll have to brush up on your T9 typing skills (there is a predictive text helper), or you can use Commodore's voice transcription service for speech-to-text messaging.

The 8020 name is a reference to Commodore's “highest-numbered communications device,” the 8010 modem from 1980. The handset comes in five colors: SX Silver, ProtoPET White, BASIC Beige, the translucent Starlight Edition, and a PVD gold Founder's Edition with a 24-karat gold-plated Commodore button. The standard colors start at $500, but the clear Starlight Edition is $550, and the Founder's Edition is $640. Preorders start June 30, and devices are expected to ship toward the end of the year.

“The idea is, we want it to be very intentional that people are not drawn back to screens,” Simpson says. “Just the fact that you have to physically close this—say you go out for a meal with friends, you're not just putting an iPhone face down, you're physically making a statement to yourself and an intentional decision.”

Simpson decided to build the Callback 8020 after becoming a dad and hunting for other distraction-free phones on the market. He found phones like the Light Phone III too limiting, tried a dumb flip phone but realized he still needed access to some apps—a common problem that stifles many of these digital detox devices. That's why he decided the Callback should be a phone that sits in the middle; a smartphone with dumb-phone looks that costs half as much as a flagship iPhone.

You don't need a Google account to operate the device. The “Commodore Store” app store is based on Sailfish's Aurora Store, letting you download some of the same Android apps available on Android. Aurora doesn’t have the same massive selection of apps as the Google Play Store—in fact, it lacks official Google apps, though Google Maps is available—but it has other common essentials.

At the OS-level, Simpson says Commodore has “patent-pending” technology that blocks the ability for users to install or side-load internet browsers and social media apps. This is designed to be a distraction-free phone through and through. The company is even pitching it to schools that ban smartphones, so having a way to block the installation of these services is crucial. Commodore has permission from Meta to preinstall WhatsApp, though.

If the Commodore Store is missing an app a user wants, like a home security app or an authenticator, there's a whitelist process to get it. Simpson says people can submit requests to sideload an app, and these are vetted and approved through an AI system. If the AI has trouble deciding whether to allow it, a human steps in. Not every app will be granted access, as the company wants to maintain the Callback’s raison d'être.

Good news for iPhone users, though: You can use the OpenBubbles app to gain access to Apple Messages on the Callback. (It just requires a one-time setup with a Mac.) The company will provide instructions on how people can set up text or call forwarding, so users don't have to worry about giving a second phone number to all of their contacts.

“We're not saying it has to replace the smartphone—I still use an iPhone when I have to,” Simpson says. “It can be the weekend phone, it can be the evening phone, the going-out-with-family phone. You make an intentional decision about that.”

Simpson says the phone should work worldwide and on all the major networks in the US, and while there are no initial plans to sell through a carrier store yet, it’s on the road map.

The Commodore brand has changed hands multiple times over the last few decades, and there have been several attempts to revive it. Simpson says his main job is to prevent the company from going bankrupt again. To that end, the company sold 30,000 units of the new Commodore 64 Ultimate in its first year, three times what it expected, which has allowed the company to scale up.

Simpson doesn't feel that branching out to a digital detox phone is abnormal for Commodore. “We made calculators, typewriters, adding machines, wristwatches—not just the computers,” he says. “You could argue it's the most suited brand to bring out a phone, because it just was always quite diverse.”