Commodore's New Flip Phone Skips Android for Linux-Based Sailfish OS
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The Callback 8020 still runs apps made for Android, btw.

A year has passed since Commodore, the computer brand many of you know and love, came back from the dead under new ownership. The comeback is picking up pace too, with a lineup that already includes multiple Commodore 64 Ultimate editions, a C64X PC, and a licensing program that invites outside builders to use the name. Now, they have announced a return to the phone market, and not in the doomscrolling glass-slab avatar we are all used to, but in a retro, very equippable flip phone format…

  • supernight52@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2022·
    2 months ago

    Not only are the phones extremely overpriced for what they are- the images they are using for advertising are AI images, and not real pictures. Also using “Make blank great again” format for their tagline is another scoop of excrement on the shit sundae.

      • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        9·
        2 months ago

        They are definitely charging way too much, the price and the browser block are the only reasons I am not buying one. I think they could reasonably price it at $250 based on the hardware and that it will certainly be a low production run which massively increases the price. Also, that Sony with SailfishOS is both old (it was released over five years ago) and refurbished, not exactly a fair comparison.

        • CubitOom@infosec.pubEnglish
          7·
          2 months ago

          I own one but I haven’t put a sim card in it to test the actuall phone aspect yet.

          My initial criticisms are:

          • because each app is in its own jail, there is no way yet to set a global DNS setting like one can do on android
          • there is no native mullvad VPN app
          • all android apps are in the same sandbox, there is no out of the box way to have an android app isolated from others
          • there is no work profile
          • the gesture based ui is weird and id rather have more navigation options.
    • Mihies@programming.devEnglish
      202·
      2 months ago

      I love how people throw around “it’s too expensive”. But did you ever try developing a relatively small batch gadget for the market? Plus as others said, it’s not a dumbp phone at all.

      • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        221·
        2 months ago

        Being too expensive doesn’t mean they are necessarily gouging. My wife crochets blankets as a hobby, but she’d have to charge a stupid amount to sell them at a profit if she used decent yarn and valued her time at even minimum wage. Said blanket would be “too expensive” without a doubt.

      • GalacticRobot@lemmy.worldEnglish
        42·
        2 months ago

        Isn’t there a whole lot of small volume ‘phone’ companies that are charging far less? Nothing Phone, or the plethora of Chinese companies like Unihertz come to mind.

    • FunkyCheese@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      Higher end camera and a HD DAC (maybe high power audio output?)

      Those sorta things are expensive

      Also it runs 99% of android apps

      Probably also a low volume product which increases price

      • Wispy2891@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        99% of android apps

        I’m certain that the number is inflated by the massive amount of slop and shovelware that is in the play store. The missing 1% is the apps that you actually need, like banking and such

        • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.netEnglish
          2·
          1 month ago

          They actively hardcoded all web browsers and most social media (except WhatsApp) to be blocked from installing, hence the 99%.

          The social media I understand, but the web browser block is going to severely limit market appeal.

          • Wispy2891@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            1 month ago

            No, the 99% is the android compatibility.

            Because sailfishos is not a Google certified platform, every app that uses root detection or play integrity check, won’t run.

            And which apps use those checks? Not the freemium games. Those are designed to maximize ad viewing, so they want to block uncertified devices

            Also: an average freemium game can adapt the UI on a 480*640 screen (big buttons), while almost no developer tests normal UI in such a low resolution. And nobody tests movement of input focus with keypad. Chances of a broken UI that can’t be interacted with the t9 keypad are very high.

            This is why they showed WhatsApp, Spotify (two commercial apps that are tested and working on the lowest end devices with tiny screens like the qin phones) and AntennaPod (which being open source they can send a PR to fix UI issues) and dismissed the rest as “we block all the useless stuff”

            So what I mean is, the phone can run 99% of android apps on the play store using aurora, but, because the play store has million of useless/slip/shovelware games, if you really need to run a specific app for work or for banking, chances is the app is in the 1% incompatible range and not the 99%

            • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.netEnglish
              1·
              1 month ago

              You’re quite right, though I’m being a bit more uncharitable personally, and assuming they are only marketing it as 99% since they are explicitly blocking very popular utilities as a selling point. Were they not doing that, I get the feeling they would’ve just said it is fully Android compatible despite it not being true for the reasons you outlined.

    • plutopos@lemmy.zipEnglish
      4·
      2 months ago

      For real. You can grab a cheap used phone for 80 bucks, put lineage on it, and never install any apps except for the very basic preinstalled ones. Boom, dumb phone

    • thisbenzingring@lemmy.todayEnglish
      31·
      2 months ago

      its an initial offer model and it does look to have lots of modern tech components in it

      the price seems reasonable to me, especially if its got a designer edge to it

  • gnufuu@lemmy.caEnglish
    521·
    2 months ago

    From their FAQ:

    Can I install my own apps?

    Web browsers and social media apps are blocked at the system level. Email and work apps are not offered through the Commostore app store, keeping Callback focused on life outside work and feeds.

    Users are still be able to sideload apps outside those that are blocked, using APK installer files, but Callback is designed first and foremost as a calmer, more intentional phone.

    So I can receive an Email but if it has a link to a website I can’t click it? That’s just silly, Commodore. You’re doing a fine job being memeable and appealing to our nostalgia. Trying to “protect us from ourselves” like that kinda destroys that vibe. And no, the inevitable custom ROM circumventing your blocks won’t make up for it.

    • _NetNomad@fedia.io
      141·
      2 months ago

      yeah, i’m intrigued by the idea of a pseudo-“dumb” phone to reduce mindless usage, but this is too restrictive to really work as a phone for a lot of people. those banned work and social apps have and will continue to supplant the phone features of a modern phone. if i got one of these, it would have to be a supplementary device, defeating the whole point! and for those of us who can use a “dumb” phone, they can just got get one for a fifth of a price

    • rImITywR@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      2 months ago

      So I can receive an Email but if it has a link to a website I can’t click it?

      It says “Email and work apps are not offered through the Commostore app store”. So you can’t receive email unless you sideload an email app. And you could also sideload a browser as well to open a link. At which point you just have a smartphone.

          • palordrolap@fedia.io
            9·
            2 months ago

            A hard-coded list of known browsers would almost certainly work. There aren’t that many of them. Or better, a list of the common support files that get installed alongside the main browser executable(s), so you can’t just rename the main one and have it work.

            Anything cleverer than that is about as technical as removing the custom OS and installing standard Sailfish.

    • XLE@piefed.socialEnglish
      7·
      2 months ago

      Being a flip phone with a T9 keyboard is already a lot of built-in friction. And some people want a device that might intentionally limit them further. But I must admit, this phrasing (and a lot of their phrasing) is kind of weird.

      • ramble81@lemmy.zipEnglish
        10·
        2 months ago

        Funny thing is, a T9 keyboard is actually a selling point for me. Current keyboards suck without any feedback and their prediction always causes so many typos I have to go back and correct. T9 I could type without needing to look at it and know I had it right.

        • XLE@piefed.socialEnglish
          3·
          2 months ago

          Only if the T9 software is good though. KaiOS, a Mozilla initiated project to get web apps on T9 capable phones, absolutely failed with simple things like capitalizing the word “I” for example.

          I didn’t realize how unintuitive dumb phones could be until I was trying to explain different functions that were triggered by different arrow keys on a KaiOS phone to an elderly person

            • XLE@piefed.socialEnglish
              3·
              2 months ago

              I swear you have to tap the shift key maybe six times if you use the word “I” in the middle of a sentence. If I use that phone seriously, maybe muscle memory would kick in, but it’s just so unintuitive.

              It’s unfortunate because I swear you can design a feature phone well. There just isn’t a lot of thought put into it now that Android can (or at least could) mostly overshadow that marke.

    • Wispy2891@lemmy.worldEnglish
      81·
      2 months ago

      Web browsers are blocked at the system level

      Did they ever try to use a browser on a 2" clamshell at 480*640 with a T9 keypad??? It’s so painful that it’s already for emergency use only, don’t need to protect me from myself…

      • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        10·
        2 months ago

        I am literally that guy, but even I rarely need to look up something simple while I am out of the house. I don’t need to be protected from myself. It is both condescending and dumb.

        • bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          5·
          2 months ago

          I mean we say this, but I myself cannot do this. Its nearly impossible with a smart phone. Becuase you internally know you can do more.

          Same thing with recording. I like my 4 track tape machine sometimes and I say “I/we are making a song, we have 4 tracks, we will utilize that best we can.”

          Try doing that in a DAW and really restrict it to 4 tracks. I almost guarantee NO ONE would be able to. Theres a reason modern music has over 150 tracks on average (different discussion but its idiotic IMO). Some folks like me need a physical barrier.

          • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.netEnglish
            2·
            1 month ago

            Bitwig included a version of their DAW with a midi keyboard I bought that’s restricted to 8-tracks (called Bitwig 8-track) and a limited amount of plugins. I had been considering their paid versions in the past, but I found I enjoyed the limitations, so I’ll likely not upgrade it. Works a treat on Linux, too.

  • MalReynolds@slrpnk.netEnglish
    27·
    2 months ago

    Overpriced, stupid marketing, random proprietary crap, mildly interesting form factor, audio jack, microSD (but only 256GB, why?).

    But more linux phones is more linux phones. I’ll pass on it, but I don’t hate it. You could probably just flash vanilla sailfish without much trouble.

    • one_knight_scripting@lemmy.worldEnglish
      14·
      2 months ago

      …So is sailfish… But ultimately I think the reason they went with it is that it is much more secure than an android phone as it ensure your privacy is respected. You can still run android applications, but you don’t have to worry about Google apps spying on your activity. Similar to Graphene OS where you can actually manage the permissions of Google apps rather than allowing it to have unfettered access to everything. Or heck, you don’t even need to install any Google application to be able to use either Graphene or Sailfish. To me, they are just better ecosystems. And heck, sailfish isn’t the only one. There is also postmarket os, Mobian, Manjaro ARM, Arch ARM, Ubuntu Touch, PureOS, and many more.

        • one_knight_scripting@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          2 months ago

          What about the fact that Sailfish OS uses Alien Dalvik to emulate the apps in an LXC container? More

          This is a company that is committing to never selling customer data and I appreciate that. But yeah, I think blocking Web browsers is maybe a little much. Plus I need Lemmy to get my bean fix 🫘.

          They have created a shit phone, but they are proud of it. It’s essentially a less dumb version of a dumb phone.

          It’s one where you don’t have to worry about someone emailing you after-hours, see your aunt bitching about her 7th husband, or get you distracted when you should be remodeling the house.

          I may not agree with it… I would be more open to A full blown sailfish install, but I see the vision.

          • poopkins@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            2 months ago

            That’s all very well, but containerization is not nearly sufficient for the amount of scam apps being published, which may be designed to deceive, phish or outright perform fraud.

  • [object Object]@lemmy.caEnglish
    18·
    2 months ago

    And when you want more music without algorithms, accounts, or another monthly subscription, just launch the built-in FM radio. Unlimited songs in your pocket, all powered by the MediaTek Helio G81 processor, with efficient passive cooling.

    Why did they ever take this away from us? I was mad when they did.

  • Cryxtalix@programming.devEnglish
    194·
    2 months ago

    Using Sailfish OS is just trading Android for another proprietary OS. Why even bother going to all that effort and still end up back in the same place?

    We have real mobile linux distros like postmarket OS and actual open source desktop environments like Phosh or plasma/gnome mobile.

    • I'm Hiding 🇦🇺@aussie.zoneEnglish
      8·
      2 months ago

      Sailfish is not proprietary.

      Lipstick (the UI) is proprietary. The OS itself is not.

      That said, as someone who uses a SailfishOS phone everyday, I both wish Lipstick was OSS and wish this Commodore thing didn’t exist. It’s only going to bring poor publicity to Sailfish due to its stupid pricetag and featureset.

  • Zink@programming.devEnglish
    12·
    1 month ago

    Price aside, as somebody who has gotten pretty good at ignoring my old normal slab smart phone, this might only make sense for nostalgia and conversation starter reasons.

    Now if I could force this thing upon other people in my life who cannot separate their eyes from their doom-screen, we’d be on to something!

  • Twongo [she/her]@lemmy.mlEnglish
    10·
    2 months ago

    i’ll stick to my nokia.

    there’s a whole community of people who dedicate time to make even old WAP Phones useable again in 2026 - and that costs like 20€ instead of 499$