Commodore
I like beige
Today I saw that the relaunched Commodore (yes, the company that made computers in the eighties and nineties) is ready to release a new product: the Callback flip-phone. Here it is, in all its beauty:
Key features (which I love):
No social media, no browser* + no work or email apps
No data selling – Commodore x Sailfish OS puts privacy first
Touchscreen disabled† – an end to doomscrolling
Flip closure + T9-style texting adds mindful friction to usage
Audiophile grade HD Audio, FM Radio, SIDs, + IEM earphones
Worldwide network compatibility
I have added it as a link in my post Phones: Smart Or Dumb?
In March this year I wrote a post called The Commodore 64 Is Reborn on my author newsletter. It seems like a good time to reproduce it here, in all its sticky enthusiasm.
Here it is.
The Commodore 64 Is Reborn
It’s been over thirty years since the last Commodore hardware item was released!
This is an exciting post for me to write.
I have always loved computers and computer games.
In 1983 we lived in a pub. This is a photo from my birthday that year, when I got to play on one of the tabletop arcade machines with my friend Sammy. (I am on the left, in my school uniform.)
I can’t remember which machine that was, as we had different ones at different times. Maybe it was Hunchback, or Asteroids.
This is the pub I lived in, which was knocked down years ago (link 1; link 2):
Here’s a photo from 1985, of me and my dog Toby watching TV. Again, I am the one on the left:
In the background you can see my Atari 2600 console, and the black-and-white portable TV it plugged into. That was my first computer system. I loved it, even if the joysticks gave me blisters on my hands.
After that I got a Commodore 64 (C64) which I adored. Years later I moved on to an Amiga 500, then an Amiga 1200, and finally to various PCs. All my computers now run Linux.
Commodore was an American company, and despite making some of the best home computers, they went bankrupt in 1994.
The end.
(Except, it wasn’t.)
Because many of us still loved the computers, and the games that had been released on them.
I play my favourite C64 games every year, using an emulator on Linux. Here’s a screenshot of a game I just loaded:
Such a classic, with great music!
One fan of the C64 was British retro Youtuber “Peri Fractic” (Christian Simpson). And he had the crazy idea of maybe buying Commodore from the various private equity companies and making it live again. Then relaunching it and releasing Commodore hardware for the first time in over thirty years!
And he did exactly that.
So now a British guy is CEO of the new Commodore.
First they released a modern PC with a Commodore version of Linux, the Commodore 64X. You can download that operating system and put it on your own computer!
But the more exciting release for me is the new one: a revamped C64 (as in, with modern connections like USB ports, HDMI, and WiFi), but otherwise with original-compatible hardware.
The Commodore 64 Unlimited.
It’s no joke! A 1982 computer is being relaunched in 2026, 44 years later.
The re-release is aimed partly at nostalgia, but also at the wonder of something like this existing. It takes us back to a more exciting time. It is pure digital detox, since it has no social media, no notifications or nags. :-)
This is their sales pitch:
“Whether you grew up with a Commodore or never heard of one, this is for you.
A simpler, distraction-free computing experience. A chance to learn how computers really work. A fun, inviting way to introduce your kids to BASIC coding. And for the kid still within.
C64U isn’t tech that controls you. It invites you...”
As they put it on their About page:
“Commodore | The digital detox brand.
And so, Commodore now offers a new vision for computing:
Rooted in retro values and nostalgia
Grounded in digital minimalism
Focused on human connection, not algorithmic manipulation
And inspired by the joy of childhood technology
This isn’t just nostalgia. It’s a reboot with a purpose. A course correction. A chance to build futuristic technology, that loves you back.”
I find this incredibly exciting. I immediately considered how it could make a good writing PC, saving work to a text file on a USB memory stick, which could be formatted and properly edited later on my main PC.
All the reviews have been exciting. Here are a few I read.
Commodore 64 Ultimate Review: 21st Century Computing from a 1982 perspective
Commodore 64 Ultimate review – it’s like 1982 all over again!
There are three versions, where the only difference is in the computer case. I would pick the Basic Beige, which looks identical to the computer I loved in the eighties.
Did you ever use a Commodore 64 or Amiga?
As an aside, I did a bit more digging, and found that other companies have rereleased modernised versions of the ZX Spectrum, and the Atari 2600! It seems to be a budding business, making old systems and games available again.
I feel the magic.
(And don’t worry, I won’t do a post about my favourite C64 games!)
Thanks for reading,
Karl
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Sorry, Karl, I find it hard to be excited about this, and I suspect it will end up a flop. This phone is very expensive, and even if they sold it for a lot less, I wouldn’t buy it. I know technology is advancing too fast for many people’s poorly integrated brains. I know it causes people to be more anxious and therefore have more need to distract themselves. But going backward and submitting to more external control — no matter how benevolent allegedly — isn’t the answer.
Psychological development is the answer. Integration, and with it the predictable increased capacity for self-regulation, and a limbic system that is calmer and doesn’t require constant soothing and distractions is really the answer. People who are better integrated can regulate what they do with technology, their ‘screen time’, etc.
Without internal regulation, a phone that doesn’t do social media or browsing is just a crutch. Either way, I doubt that the makers are really that concerned about people’s mental health. They’re just trying to make money.
I would consider alternative technology only on the grounds that it is better for the planet. I suspect this device uses just as many harmful chemicals and processes as everything else we have now. Nothing I see in what the company says publicly suggests sustainability as priority. This device has polycarbonate body, standard lithium battery, swappable plastic back covers as a selling point, which means more non-perishable plastic, not less. In terms of sustainability it’s just more of the same with retro styling. I find it annoying that companies continue to make more crap that no one really needs just to make more money, despite the fact that the planet is saturated with so much rubbish, so much of which is toxic, and despite the fact that human beings in less privileged societies than ours are exploited in the manufacturing of these things. The ‘friendly tech’ pitch is about psychological friendliness, not environmental friendliness, and the interesting thing is that the state of our psychology is actually interconnected with the health of the environment. But this company continues the fictitious ethos that giving people things that ‘make them happy’ can be separate from everything else.
The upcoming UK social media restrictions for under 16s, could invite a need for a phone that’s good enough for a teenager to function with (messaging, maps, camera) but can’t do social media. But at USD500+, this prices out many families. People, kids, already have mobile phones what should be done with those if they are replaced with this new gadget? If they’d built this as a USD150 device aimed explicitly at under 16 social media ban market, it might have had a real use that isn’t just ‘novelty’ for those who are nostalgic for the pre-smart phone old flip phones from 20 years ago.