The Commodore Callback 8020 flip phone looks like it’s from decades ago but its price was definitely a sign of today’s times. That’s changed, with Commodore’s announcement today that it will drop the price $100 for most models before pre-orders start next week.

The phone caused a stir when it was announced a week ago. First, there was the thrill of 80s computing legend Commodore making a phone. Then the phone being retro in both look and function caught attention, with a flip-phone form factor combined with a focus on privacy. But one of the most unique features of the Callback 8020 is that it runs Android apps on Linux-based Sailfish OS instead of Android. Among all of the praise though, was criticism that a $500 starting price for the basic models was too high.

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  • JeeBaiChowEnglish
    1·
    12 hours ago

    Meh. Nokia does some of this. Why cant i flash a secure kaios onto one of those?

    • GEEXiESEnglish
      1·
      8 hours ago

      I don’t know much about KaiOS so… what do you mean by “secure KaiOS”?

      • JeeBaiChowEnglish
        2·
        7 hours ago

        Terminology lapse. But their selling point is that they block some services at the os level, so why cant i get a hosts file on an existing dumbphone instead of shelling out $400 on the commodore?

        • GEEXiESEnglish
          2·
          7 hours ago

          Ah, thought you were talking about some fork of KaiOS (I think that unlike Firefox OS it is proprietary software? I mean, except for the parts that can’t be because of their license… yes, I know very little so forgive me if any of this sounds dumb). Anyway, I get your point now, so thank you!