The Commodore Callback 8020 Sounds Great — Until You Actually Need a Phone

(The Commodore Callback 8020 is a $399 retro flip phone running Sailfish OS that blocks social media and browsers at the system level. It supports Signal, WhatsApp, and Spotify — but not Slack, Discord, or any custom browser. Pre-orders opened June 30.)

Listen y’all. I was super excited for this phone. But having apps blocked at the core level kills it for me.

Already, the screen size and general design would have made scrolling less friendly. But being able to access important work apps, my email, and other things I rely on for ordinary life isn’t optional. I see this with a lot of other people reviewing these phones and thinking about purchasing them, and it honestly makes me super sad.

Why?

Because we do need alternatives to the horrible big tech nightmares. I would love to have this be my only smartphone. To ditch the whole shitty world of proprietary Android nonsense. To dig the retro vibes from my childhood. Heck, it looks like you even put a halfway decent camera in this thing.

But choice is going to be the biggest factor in something like this taking off. Choice. Your core design already helps point people in the right direction. But the hard blockers make it impossible for my organic, natural use-case. It makes it impossible for me to actually enjoy the use of a device that would cut down on my phone usage in really helpful ways.

And from what I’ve seen, responses to other folks like me have just been: “Well, carry your other phone with you, too.”

Really?

I need my phone to keep an eye on important work updates. I message my sweetie solely through the secure Signal messenger (fine, at least that works). But I also have running D&D conversations with friends on Discord (which is also the only app my sister and I share for communications). And I check my email (Proton) and use Proton’s other apps as needed. I also prefer a custom browser that has some nice features for highlighting and search.

Commodore’s choice to hard-block things like that isn’t helping me put my phone away. It’s hindering me.

And at $399+, I sure as frell can’t afford what amounts to a small moralistic brick.

The ironic thing? The Callback already runs Sailfish OS with an Android runtime that supports “over 99% of Android apps.” Commodore has built a whitelist system for the Commodore Store. And they already approved Signal, WhatsApp, and Spotify.

So the infrastructure for curation instead of prohibition is right there. The company has drawn what they call “a firm line in the sand around apps that drive doomscrolling.” Slack, Discord, Proton Mail, and a privacy-focused browser don’t drive doomscrolling. They drive life.

If the line is “no doomscrolling,” then block TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook — fine! But let me install the tools I need to communicate with my wife, my sister, my friends, and my employer. Let me have my email. Let me use a browser that respects my privacy and lets me do things my way.

The whole pitch is “the customer is not the product” and “a phone where you’re not the product.” That’s a beautiful vision. But a phone I can’t actually use is just a social statement. And at $399, I need a phone, not a piece of critical social art.

Let me know when you’ve changed your minds on this facet of the design — and I’ll come running.