The Commodore Callback 8020 is a flip phone. A FLIP PHONE. With a T9 keypad, a dome LED that glows instead of screaming notifications at you, and SID chiptune ringtones because of course. It runs Sailfish OS (Linux, de-Googled, Android app compatible) and it hard-blocks social media and browsers at the system level using patent-pending technology, which is the most 2026 sentence I have ever written. The colorways are called things like “BASIC Beige” and “ProtoPET White” and one of them ships with a 24k gold-plated Commodore C= key, and honestly? The Doctor approves of the aesthetic choices, even if everything else is [expletive deleted] insane.

Here is the part where I have to say the quiet part out loud: this is NOT Jack Tramiel’s Commodore. It’s a YouTuber who bought the trademarks and hired some old-timers, which is basically someone buying the Batmobile and calling themselves Batman. That said, the thing they built is legitimately interesting: $499 for a phone whose entire value proposition is that it makes smartphone usage annoying enough that you stop doing it. You are paying five hundred dollars for friction. That is either the stupidest or most brilliant product pitch since they put a “close door” button in elevators that doesn’t actually work. Pre-orders open June 30th. Shipping targets Q4 2026. In BASIC Beige, naturally.

My C64 and I spent entire summers on BBSes racking up long-distance bills my parents still don’t know about. The SID chip was the sound of God. So when Commodore (or whoever this is now) puts SID ringtones on a phone designed to cure you of your screen addiction… I don’t know whether to load a disk or throw it across the room. Nothing can beat old age and betrayal.

Via: Tom’s Hardware / Commodore