The Callback still supports 99% of Android apps,including WhatsApp and Google Maps (Picture: Commodore/Cover Images)
Those yearning for a simpler era of technology are in luck.
Commodore’s new retro-style flip phone blocks social media apps and lets users play classic games.
The handset,called the Commodore Callback,is being billed as a halfway point between a modern smartphone and a traditional ‘dumbphone’ – offering access to essential apps while deliberately cutting out the most distracting parts of the internet.
Unlike the original Commodore business,this venture is separate from Retro Games,the company behind TheC64 Mini.
After reviving the famous home computer with the Commodore 64 Ultimate last year,the company has now turned its attention to smartphones – with a nostalgic twist.
The Commodore Callback is a Y2K-style mobile phone with no access to social media (Picture: Commodore/Cover Images)
Although the Callback is a flip phone,it still supports 99% of Android apps,including WhatsApp and Google Maps,meaning users can stay connected without having access to social media platforms.
Its headline feature is the ability to block all social media apps and web browsers at system level,with no option for users to switch the restriction off.
The flip phone is available in gold as well as other colours (Picture: Commodore/Cover Images)
The company’s website says: ‘Smartphones are designed to be mindlessly seamless. Callback is built around a simple research-backed finding: remove features designed to pull you back in and reintroduce physical friction. It’s a speed bump for the mind.’
In keeping with Commodore’s gaming heritage,the phone also includes an emulator capable of running a small selection of classic Commodore titles,alongside the evergreen mobile favourite Snake.
No release date has been confirmed,but customers can already wishlist the handset ahead of pre-orders opening on June 30. The company expects to begin shipping devices during the winter.
The phone is described as a ‘speed bump for the mind’ (Picture: Commodore/Cover Images)
The Callback will be available in white,silver and beige for £409.74,with wishlisting reducing the price to £372.42.
A Starlight edition will cost £447.79,dropping to £410.47 with the wishlist discount,while the gold-coloured Founder’s edition is priced at £522.42,or £477.65 for those who register interest in advance.
Commodore president and chief executive Peri Fractic said: ‘How fitting,that a company whose lights dimmed in the ’90s,returns for its Y2K era,just as so many of us are reaching back for that exact same simpler tech. I hope you’ll join us as we dial down the digital,and dial up the life.’
Last year,a ‘brick’ type phone from Finnish phone company Human Mobile Devices (HMD) was unveiled designed especially for children.
It allows children to access social media and messaging only if their parents agree,with extra layers of safety inbuilt.
