Nostalgic 80s brand revives flip phone to beat tech addiction | Latest Tech News
They’re flipping off social media.
Nostalgic ’80s tech firm Commodore is hoping to fight tech addiction by releasing a retro flip phone that banishes social media apps.
Dubbed the Commodore Callback 8020, this classic phone reboot is billed as a “retreat from Black Mirror technology” designed to “help you spend less time staring at a screen,” per the weblog.
This throwback maybe marks a becoming release for a nostalgic company that kickstarted the personal pc revolution of the Eighties and launched the Commodore 64 — the best-selling PC of all time.
The Callback comes in a selection of shade schemes. Commodore
The Callback, which might be out there later this 12 months, facilitates digital detox by utilizing “patent-pending technology” to block web browsers and social media at the “system level.” The catch is that the cell methadone does offer web connectivity, ostensibly offering the full performance of a fashionable phone without the risk of screen addiction.
That being said, the Linux-based Sailfish OS working system permits this Spartan gadget to be appropriate with over “99 percent of Android Apps,” including WhatsApp, Maps and Spotify.
But don’t get any concepts about importing blacklisted apps. While Callback customers are allowed to sideload platforms not out there at the firm’s “Commostore,” the company attracts the road at ones that require doomscrolling, Ars Technica reported.
The Callback options a Spartan clamshell design that harks back to the flip telephones launched at the flip of the Millennium. Commodore
On the off-chance that somebody does get TikTok or another verboten service put in, they gained’t give you the option to use it, as Commodore has blocked it at the DNS stage.
Completing this retro impact is a minimalist clamshell design that harks back to the Nokia flip telephones from the flip of the millennium. Total price: between $500 and $640, relying on the colorway.
Users had blended emotions about paying an exorbitant quantity for a flip phone. Commodore
Viewers had blended emotions about the considerably Mennonite gadget. “Commodore 64 flip phone? Take my money,” gushed one fan.
However, others felt that the nostalgia was not well worth the squeeze.
“You had me at flip phone that blocks social media,” snarked one critic. “You lost me at $499.”
Another wrote, “Hugely disappointed after all the buildup to discover the new Commodore product is a $500 flip-phone that looks like something from AliExpress for $50”
Another discovered it ludicrous that somebody would pay such an exorbitant quantity to stop themselves from an exercise — doomscrolling — that they may halt for free. They added that the inclusion of WhatsApp and Telegram appeared to defeat the purpose of a gadget meant to fight tech addiction.
“The doom-scrolling moves to group chats instead,” they lamented. “You just traded Twitter anxiety for family WhatsApp group anxiety, which some people would argue is considerably worse. The problem was never the hardware. It was always what we agreed to let in.”
Nonetheless, the Callback couldn’t have come at a better time.
Gen Z is presently mounting a low-tech offensive, notably swapping smooth smartphones and algorithm-fed apps for classic flip telephones as they try to live life less plugged in.
“It’s an indescribable feeling to feel so detached and not constantly available,” NYU grad pupil Sonya Saydakova, who traded an iPhone for a Nokia 2780 flip phone last 12 months, told the Post.
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