Tag Archives: Retro

The 8 Retro-Inspired Gadgets Of October 2026 That Bring Back the Rituals Smartphones Replaced

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Turning a radio dial asks something different of your hand than tapping an app. So does loading a game cartridge, pressing a calculator key, or framing a photograph without checking the result. Smartphones gathered these activities onto one surface, making them convenient and strangely similar. The appeal of a good retro gadget is getting some of those differences back, through controls and objects that give each activity its own character.

These eight designs approach that idea with different degrees of commitment. Some restore an older mechanism; others translate its habits into digital hardware. A cassette silhouette alone cannot bring back tape playback, and a dedicated writing machine won’t automatically improve a sentence. What matters here is the action each object makes possible, alongside the compromises it introduces. This is a collection about choosing an experience, rather than collecting vintage costumes.

1. RetroWave 7-in-1 Radio

The RetroWave 7-in-1 Radio begins with a familiar gesture: turning a tuning dial until something worth hearing comes through. AM, FM, and shortwave reception let you listen without opening a streaming service, while Bluetooth, USB, and microSD playback cover more contemporary habits. Its compact body keeps those choices in one physical object. For a kitchen shelf or workbench, the attraction is straightforward: the radio can supply a soundtrack without turning your phone into the control panel for every listening session.

The extra functions give the nostalgic form a practical purpose. A flashlight, SOS siren, clock, and 2,000mAh battery with phone charging capability broaden its role beyond entertainment. The power arrangements deserve a closer look, though. The USB is the primary charging method, the hand crank is the emergency backup, and solar is the supplementary support. Think of it as an everyday radio with contingency features, rather than assuming that its small solar panel can replace regular charging from an outlet.

Click Here to Buy Now: $89.00

What we like

  • Broadcast radio without internet.
  • USB and microSD music playback.

What we dislike

  • Solar charging is supplementary only.
  • Hand cranking is an emergency backup.

2. Await Camera

Await borrows the disposable camera’s discipline without using film. Rolling Square’s digital camera organizes pictures into rolls of 24, with no image preview to inspect after each shot. An optical viewfinder handles framing, while a small OLED shows status and remaining frames. The translucent body and interchangeable magnetic faceplates connect it to playful consumer electronics of the 1990s. Its most consequential choice is removing the immediate review, encouraging you to decide before pressing the shutter rather than shooting endless alternatives.

The proposed workflow carries that restraint beyond the camera. Its free companion app processes rolls with a vintage-inspired filter and offers optional mailed prints, while USB-C lets you export original files directly to a computer. You can keep photographs digital without paying for printing. That makes Await interesting for trips or gatherings where reviewing pictures can wait.

Click Here to Buy Now: $100 $145 (31% off). Hurry, only 6/800 left! Raised over $109,000.

What we like

  • Optional prints without buying film.

What we dislike

  • Printing introduces ongoing costs.

3. Freewrite Smart Typewriter Gen3 Valentine Edition

Freewrite’s Valentine Edition draws on the Olivetti Valentine, translating that typewriter’s red personality into an aluminum digital drafting machine. A mechanical keyboard with box brown switches sits below an E Ink display, giving writing its own dedicated surface. The appeal is especially clear for someone whose journals and first drafts currently live in a phone’s notes app. Sitting down at this keyboard creates a specific activity, rather than adding another task alongside messages, browser tabs, and social feeds.

The typewriter reference doesn’t extend to paper or ink ribbons. Drafts save locally, synchronize to Freewrite’s Postbox service over Wi-Fi, and can also transfer through USB. A matching carrying case and strap are included, extending the red treatment beyond the machine itself. This is a tool for getting words down before finishing them elsewhere, so it suits a deliberate drafting habit better than general computing.

What we like

  • Mechanical keyboard and dedicated drafting display.
  • Local saving with cloud and USB transfer.

What we dislike

  • Drafting focus limits its broader usefulness.

4. Tivoli Audio SongBook MAX

The SongBook MAX revives the boombox as something you carry into a room and operate directly. Tivoli Audio gives it a handle, a large tuning knob, physical switches, and separate sliders for low, middle, and high frequencies. Those controls make adjusting music part of listening, rather than a menu buried inside an app. FM radio adds another useful distinction: you can let a station make the selections. Bluetooth remains available when choosing your own soundtrack matters more than broadcast discovery.

Where the RetroWave offers compact utility, the SongBook MAX makes a larger commitment to shared listening. It weighs 11.5 pounds, and its quarter-inch input and built-in preamp also allow compatible instruments to join the session. Tivoli specifies up to 10 hours of battery life and IPX4 water resistance, which means splash resistance rather than waterproofing. Its multiple drivers form a mono speaker system, not stereo.

What we like

  • Physical EQ sliders make adjustments accessible.
  • Radio and instrument input broaden its role.

What we dislike

  • Heavy for a portable speaker.
  • Mono playback, with current stock limitations.

5. TWEMCO BQ-38 Calendar Flip Clock

The TWEMCO BQ-38 gives the date somewhere to live outside your lock screen. Its long rectangular face combines an analog clock with three calendar windows displaying the weekday, date, and month on physical flipping cards. That distinction matters: the hands tell the time, while the cards handle the calendar. The orange version makes the arrangement particularly expressive, with white lettering against dark cards and a bright surrounding case. It reads as an object designed to remain visible, rather than disappear.

For a desk or shelf, the useful consequence is modest but welcome. You can check the date without picking up anything, entering a passcode, or encountering a notification. Retrospekt lists a battery-powered quartz movement and a single C battery, so there’s no charging cable to accommodate. The BQ-38 has no alarm, though, making it a calendar clock rather than a complete bedside replacement for your phone. The supplied retailer listing also currently shows it sold out, so finding stock comes first.

What we like

  • Real calendar cards beside an analog clock.
  • Battery power avoids a visible cable.

What we dislike

  • No alarm function.
  • Currently sold out at Retrospekt.

6. Casio CA-53WB Calculator Watch

Casio’s CA-53WB makes a miniature piece of computing hardware part of getting dressed. Its design references the Casio Mini calculator introduced in 1972, carrying over green characters on a negative LCD, grid lines between the number keys, and a red mode indicator that recalls a power light. Black, blue, green, and ivory versions draw from the calculator family’s palette. These details give the watch a specific design history, rather than relying on a vague suggestion that anything digital looks retro.

The calculator performs basic arithmetic with up to eight digits, alongside dual time, a stopwatch, and an alarm. That won’t replace a scientific calculator, and the small keypad makes this a deliberate alternative to reaching for your phone, not an obvious shortcut. Its stronger everyday argument is having time and simple calculations immediately available on your wrist. Casio specifies a 25-gram weight and approximately five years of battery life, avoiding the regular charging routine associated with many more elaborate wearables.

What we like

  • Specific, carefully carried-over calculator details.
  • Time and arithmetic without a phone.

What we dislike

  • Tiny keys require careful input.
  • Eight-digit arithmetic has clear limits.

7. Analogue Pocket

Choosing a cartridge gives a gaming session a physical beginning. The Analogue Pocket preserves that gesture, accepting original Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges directly. Its directional pad and buttons also keep controls separate from the image, unlike a touchscreen overlay. The modern part is the 3.5-inch, 1600 × 1440 LCD, with display modes that reproduce characteristics of older handheld screens. It’s a way to revisit the games while choosing how much of their original presentation to retain.

Analogue uses FPGA hardware to implement the supported systems, while modern conveniences include USB-C charging and save states. The built-in Nanoloop synthesizer and sequencer give the handheld a second life as a music-making device. For this collection, though, the cartridge slot remains the defining feature: picking one game can make play feel more intentional than browsing an app library. Other systems require separately sold adapters, and television output needs the optional Dock. The original handheld ritual comes with an accessory ecosystem.

What we like

  • Original cartridges and physical controls.
  • Modern display with vintage presentation options.

What we dislike

  • Other cartridge systems need adapters.
  • TV output requires a separate Dock.

8. Side A Cassette Speaker

The Side A Cassette Speaker needs one distinction made immediately: it looks like a cassette, but it doesn’t play tapes. Its transparent shell and Side A label borrow the mixtape’s visual identity, while the hardware inside handles Bluetooth 5.3 and MP3 playback from microSD. The more interesting connection to old listening habits is that second option. Loading a card with a chosen set of tracks gives the little speaker its own music supply, rather than making it another destination for phone audio.

Its clear storage case doubles as a stand, turning the familiar cassette-and-case pairing into a small desktop arrangement. That makes sense for a speaker intended to sit nearby rather than occupy an entire shelf. The nostalgic shape earns its place when paired with an intentionally assembled card, not simply by resembling something older.

Click Here to Buy Now: $49.00

What we like

  • microSD playback can leave the phone aside.
  • Storage case doubles as a stand.

What we dislike

  • Cannot play actual cassette tapes.
  • Card playback supports MP3 files only.

Give One Habit Its Own Object

The useful starting point is a habit you already enjoy, rather than a decade you wish your home resembled. A dedicated object earns its space when its controls, limits, or physical presence improve that particular activity for you. Otherwise, it becomes another thing to charge, store, and occasionally dust. Nostalgia can make an introduction, but it shouldn’t have to carry the entire relationship once the novelty of ownership wears off.

There’s no need to reconstruct a whole room of separate devices to recover one satisfying interaction. Start with the moment that feels least rewarding on your phone, and consider what you actually miss about doing it another way. It might be a button, a visible calendar, or the decision to choose before beginning. The worthwhile purchase is the object you’ll keep using after you stop thinking of it as retro.

The post The 8 Retro-Inspired Gadgets Of October 2026 That Bring Back the Rituals Smartphones Replaced first appeared on Yanko Design.

ADHD ONE Lets You Answer iPhone Calls on a DIY 1980s-Style Brick

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Answering a call on your smartphone can easily turn into checking messages, opening an app, and forgetting why you picked it up. ADHD ONE keeps that familiar temptation out of your hand, at least while you’re talking. This DIY, 3D-printed Bluetooth handset borrows the shape of a 1980s brick phone, letting you answer iPhone calls while the touchscreen stays tucked away nearby.

The deliberately bulky body puts a speaker grille at the top and a projecting mouthpiece at the bottom, with a narrow OLED display between the grille and keypad. Rounded physical buttons take over from glass, giving dialing and ending a call their own controls. It’s a very recognizable arrangement, even if younger owners might wonder why anyone would willingly carry something this conspicuous.

Designer: Kevin Noki

Of course, the oversized antenna doesn’t mean you’ve escaped modern technology completely. The handset connects to an iPhone over Bluetooth, so that phone still handles the cellular connection and must remain within range. You can leave it in a drawer while reading or working, with the iPhone’s Focus settings deciding which callers are allowed to interrupt your afternoon in the first place.

That retro character isn’t fixed to a single appearance, either. The printable enclosure comes with three speaker grille styles, ranging from perforations to horizontal stripes, plus three antenna designs. There’s even a housing that leaves the antenna opening closed. Builders can choose a cleaner outline or keep the exaggerated silhouette, although removing that long protrusion does take away a rather obvious visual joke.

The shape also came together through a surprisingly hands-on process. Before committing to the printed enclosure, its proportions were explored using foam and a hot-wire cutter. That’s an old industrial design habit with a practical purpose: you can hold a full-size shape and remove material as needed. A digital model can describe a handset without telling you how it occupies your hand.

Getting one, however, involves more than choosing a color. The available product is a €29.99 (around $34) digital download, not a finished handset. It includes printable parts, compiled firmware, circuit-board manufacturing files, a component list, and a build guide. You’ll need to source the required electronics and assemble everything yourself, while editable design files and firmware source code aren’t part of the package.

A boxed DIY kit isn’t available, and its release hasn’t been scheduled. There’s also a standalone 4G version under development, according to the maker, but that shouldn’t be confused with this Bluetooth build. For now, the brick remains an accessory to the smartphone you’re avoiding. Leaving your iPhone at home and taking only this handset would miss an important detail.

Having a separate handset does mean finding room for another device and remembering to charge it. Its bulky outline also makes the idea easier to imagine on a desk than in a jeans pocket. But once you’ve finished talking, there isn’t a social feed waiting behind the call screen. You can put the brick down without deciding what else to do on it.

The post ADHD ONE Lets You Answer iPhone Calls on a DIY 1980s-Style Brick first appeared on Yanko Design.

Divoom Astrotoo Is a Desktop Speaker Dressed as a Retro Computer

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Desktop speakers usually have a pretty straightforward job and an equally straightforward appearance. That makes sense when all you want is music, but it doesn’t leave much room for personality. Divoom’s Astrotoo takes a different approach, putting a display and oversized physical controls into a speaker that looks like a tiny computer terminal. It definitely gives your desk something playful and personal, and your friends something to be jealous of.

The rounded housing and recessed side panels give Astrotoo the appearance of equipment from an imagined future, albeit one with chunky buttons. White, pink, and green finishes offer different levels of restraint. At roughly 4.2 by 4.3 inches across its base, it won’t need the space of a computer, although its upright screen certainly makes it harder to overlook than a conventional speaker.

Designer: Divoom

Of course, those buttons aren’t simply there to complete the retro disguise. Three raised mechanical keys, a joystick, and an orange Back button handle music and display functions. You can reach over to control playback without opening another app, though customizing the display still involves your phone. It’s a familiar division of labor, with physical controls for everyday actions and software for the changes.

Despite the pixel art theme, Astrotoo doesn’t limit you to blocky characters and low-resolution graphics. Its 3.95-inch IPS display has a 480×480 pixel resolution, accommodating photographs and detailed clock faces as well. That means you can keep a family photo beside your monitor without making room for another frame. Music visualizations are also available, if you’d rather have your speaker put on a show.

The Divoom app lets you change visual content and clock faces, giving the device something to do when the music stops. Weather and stock information bring a more practical side to that small screen. That said, another dashboard isn’t necessarily what a busy desk needs. A favorite picture might be a better companion than financial numbers quietly competing for your attention all afternoon.

Divoom positions the 20W speaker for listening nearby, so the desktop proportions aren’t entirely about appearance. Playing music while answering emails or listening to a podcast during a break fits that purpose. Of course, the power rating doesn’t tell us how balanced the sound will be. The styling is easier to judge than the audio, which needs listening rather than a specification sheet.

Bluetooth 6.0 handles wireless audio, while microSD playback lets you bring a collection of stored music along without keeping a phone connected. Wi-Fi supports the connected display features. There’s also a battery, with Divoom claiming up to six hours of operation. That’s enough to move it between rooms for a while, but don’t expect it to stay unplugged through an entire workday.

The $199.99 US price makes this a considered desk accessory rather than a casual decoration. Divoom lists approximately 3.5 hours for USB-C charging, so it probably makes sense to leave a cable nearby. You can dress the screen as a futuristic control panel, but there’s nothing futuristic about discovering that your tiny computer needs plugging in before the afternoon playlist.

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Atari Made a $219 Retro Console You Can Actually Write Programs On

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There was a time when a computer invited you to do something before it told you what to buy. The Atari 800XL was built for that kind of curiosity, with a keyboard you could use for games or your first lines of code. THE 800XL brings that experience back at full size, rather than shrinking it into another little box beneath the television.

The original’s broad shape mattered because this was a machine you sat down to use, not simply a console to switch on. The recreation keeps that full-size desktop presence and puts a 57-key mechanical keyboard where your hands expect one. Those keys should make typing feel deliberate, but they also keep the computer’s most distinctive design feature from becoming a decorative prop.

Designers: Atari, Retro Games

Switch to Classic Mode and Atari BASIC turns that keyboard into a way to make something yourself. You can write, save, and run programs, then move back to games when the experiment is over. That changes the mood of a retro machine considerably: the keys aren’t there solely to make the housing look authentic. They invite the occasional curious detour between sessions.

Of course, some of the most satisfying rituals need no programming. If you still have an old Atari cartridge, the working slot supports most cartridges from the 400, 800, XL, and XE families. Sliding one into a computer feels different from scrolling through a menu, and it gives an old collection a reason to leave its storage box again.

You don’t need a box of cartridges to begin, though. There are 25 games built in, along with a joystick that adds buttons to the familiar design. That pairing keeps the first evening simple: connect the computer to a television, pick a game, and get reacquainted with a stick in your hand. The keyboard remains close by when play gives way to tinkering.

HDMI is the sensible concession to today’s living room, letting the machine connect to a modern screen without hunting for an old television. USB drives can carry cartridge, disk, and cassette images too, while save states and up to 30 seconds of rewind ease the occasional mistake. These conveniences sit alongside the physical cartridge slot instead of asking it to disappear.

There is a trade-off to keeping the computer at its original scale. THE 800XL takes up desk space that a miniature retro console wouldn’t, and its keyboard may go untouched if all you want is a quick game. At $219.99, it’s a more considered purchase than a novelty for one rainy afternoon, especially when shipping isn’t scheduled to begin until April 23, 2027.

But size is also why this revival makes sense as an object. You can sit down to it, reach for a cartridge, wrestle with a few lines of BASIC, and leave it ready for another evening. The new ports remove some of the friction of bringing an old computer home, while the keyboard keeps the part that made sitting at one interesting in the first place.

The post Atari Made a $219 Retro Console You Can Actually Write Programs On first appeared on Yanko Design.

Retro Song Bird Is the Record Player Game Boy Cartridges Deserved

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Game Boy cartridges usually wait in a drawer until you feel like playing something again. But sometimes it’s the music you miss, not the game. Retro Song Bird gives those little plastic rectangles a different job: slot one into the top of a tabletop player, and it finds the soundtrack for you. No screen, no level to beat, just the tunes you remember.

The idea works because the cartridge remains the thing you choose. Instead of scrolling through a library of files, you pull a favorite from a shelf and plug it in. The prototype’s compact, translucent green housing makes room for a top-mounted slot, a front speaker grille, and simple controls along the side. It behaves a bit like a tiny stereo with chunky albums.

Designer: BJ (Bird Cartel Games) via Retro Dodo

It doesn’t play a stored recording from the cart. Retro Song Bird reads parts of the game’s code and recreates the music using an emulation of the Game Boy sound hardware. Its developer says the system maps more than 1,900 games, though that figure isn’t a tested compatibility list. You can skip between tracks and sound effects without having to play through them.

That makes it suited to the hours when you want a soundtrack but don’t want another screen demanding attention. Let it play through its built-in speaker while you’re working, or connect the stereo line output to your speakers. A melody that once accompanied a difficult boss fight can fill the room on its own, even if you never pick up a controller.

The cartridge slot also turns the player into an archive station. It can back up and restore save data, copy game ROMs, and export music as WAV files. That’s useful if you’ve kept a childhood save that feels too precious to lose. Rather than treating games as sealed collectibles, the design makes it easier to listen to and preserve what’s still inside them.

Musicians can go further. The Game Boy’s four sound channels appear as separate USB audio streams, ready to bring into music software for rearranging or sampling. You could start with a melody you recognize, then hear what happens when the square waves and noise part ways. The same cartridge that entertained you after school becomes a set of sounds to work with.

There’s even room for a wonderfully impractical detour. Insert a Game Boy Camera, connect the device to a computer, and it can serve as a USB webcam at 128×112 pixels, in four shades of gray. Alarm mode can wake you with a cartridge’s music, too. Neither feature is why this box exists, but both show how versatile that slot can be.

For now, Retro Song Bird remains a prototype, with shipping targeted for late 2026 and no listed price. Its mint-green housing may change before release. What makes the idea stick is choosing a cartridge for how it sounds rather than how it plays. A game can take a turn on the stereo without demanding another afternoon in front of a screen.

The post Retro Song Bird Is the Record Player Game Boy Cartridges Deserved first appeared on Yanko Design.

ModRetro’s $149 Handheld Has Nothing to Hide, Including Its Circuits

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Retro handhelds have a habit of hiding modern electronics inside shells that pretend time stopped decades ago. ModRetro’s transparent Chromatic does the opposite and pays homage to a specific past era, letting the circuitry show through while you slide in an actual Game Boy cartridge. The familiar shape and chunky buttons are still there, but Smoke, Purple, Green, and Red shells turn the hardware underneath into part of the attraction.

Although the majority of electronics of the past did hide their inner workings inside opaque plastic, there was a point in time when colorful transparent shells were in fashion. Traces, screws, and the battery compartment share the stage with the D-pad and face buttons, rather than disappearing behind a fashionable color. Each translucent finish changes how much of that detail catches your eye, without changing the familiar way your thumbs find the controls.

Designer: ModRetro

Pull a vintage Game Boy cartridge from a drawer and the Chromatic lets you play it directly, rather than hunting down a digital copy. Its FPGA-based hardware supports Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges, along with ModRetro’s own releases. That physical slot matters: swapping games still feels like changing games, complete with the ritual of choosing which cartridge deserves the trip in your bag.

The 2.56-inch backlit screen follows the original Game Boy Color’s 160×144 resolution, giving old games the space they were made for instead of stretching them across a giant display. Scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass covers it, while a D-pad and PBT buttons keep navigation pleasantly tactile. It’s a small screen by current standards, but that’s the point when you’re revisiting pixel art.

Then there’s the wonderfully old-fashioned matter of power. Three AA batteries come in the box, so you can replace them when a train ride outlasts your plans. If you prefer charging, ModRetro sells a separate Rechargeable Power Core that charges through the console. The transparent back even leaves the batteries visible, making an ordinary maintenance task part of the handheld’s character.

Of course, a trip back to cartridge gaming can involve another player. The Chromatic retains a link cable port and an infrared link, while its speaker and 3.5mm headphone jack give you options for listening without bothering everyone nearby. USB-C video output to a computer offers a route when you want to share what you’re playing, although this is still a pocket-sized machine.

The transparent ABS plastic shell is also designed to come apart for modifications, which gives tinkerers another reason to care about what’s inside. At 5.2in x 3in x 1.2in and 6.2oz, the Chromatic isn’t trying to pass for a modern phone. Its squared-off proportions leave room for physical controls, a cartridge slot, and the sort of grip you remember from childhood.

For $149.99, the transparent Chromatic comes with a Tetris cartridge and three AA batteries. It won’t make a game feel new, and the shell won’t do much for someone who prefers downloads to collecting cartridges. But sliding a game into a machine whose workings you can see has its appeal. The game stays on the cartridge, while the machine wears its personality on the outside.

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The Record Player That Skips the Vinyl and Plays Falling Water

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A vintage turntable earns its warmth from ritual, the small act of placing a needle and watching a disc spin. The Retro Water Drop Ambient Player borrows that same silhouette and swaps the needle for something less expected: falling water. A quiet pump lifts liquid from a magnetic 130mL tank, and gravity does the rest, turning a desk accessory into something closer to a tiny, glowing fountain with a record player’s calm posture.

Water climbs to the top of the unit and lands in individual drops on a coated spiral basin that gently lets the water droplets roll back into the tank. None of it needs plumbing. A single USB-C cable handles power, which means the whole loop runs as easily on a nightstand as it does tucked beside a monitor, with no drain or faucet anywhere near the setup.

Designer: FayYin Li (sovenomund)

The platter itself carries the visual weight. Full-color RGB light glows around the rim of the basin, cycling automatically so the piece keeps working as a soft light source once the room goes dark. Imagine it sitting on a shelf after sunset, quietly shifting color while everything else in the room stays still, doing the job of a lamp without ever looking like one.

Sound comes from two layered sources rather than one speaker doing all the work. The falling water generates its own natural, non-looping texture, while a built-in speaker adds a gentle white-noise layer underneath it. A knob handles volume, and pressing that same knob switches control over to water flow, letting someone dial in a trickle or a fuller cascade depending on the moment.

A single square button sets an auto-off timer at 15, 30, or 60 minutes, useful for anyone who wants the sound and light running through a work session or a stretch of sleep without leaving it on all night. That kind of restraint, one knob and one button, keeps the interaction simple enough to operate half-asleep or without glancing away from a laptop screen.

Material choices lean toward daily handling rather than delicate display. The body uses a wood-grain textured ABS and PC shell with electroplated metal accents, chosen for being light, wipe-clean, and durable, while the chambers themselves stay real glass for clarity and that visible ripple effect. The whole unit measures roughly 7.3 by 9.7 by 5.3 inches and weighs about 1.3 pounds, compact enough to relocate on a whim.

Each unit ships with the player, two glass chambers, a USB-C cable, and a manual, covering the basics without extra accessories to track down separately. That completeness matters for something meant to move between spaces, since swapping a chamber or wiping down the shell shouldn’t require hunting for a replacement part months later.

Set on a desk, the piece becomes a moving focal point rather than a static object, something to glance at between tasks. Move it to a shelf, and it turns into a lit decor piece that changes character after dark. Keep it at the bedside, and it settles into a quieter role, offering light and sound together without demanding attention, closer to a companion than a gadget.

The post The Record Player That Skips the Vinyl and Plays Falling Water first appeared on Yanko Design.

Camp Snap’s 110D Looks Like 1973 and Still Skips the Screen on Purpose

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Camera design spent the last two decades chasing thinner phones and bigger screens, so a company deciding to revive a boxy, finger-length shape from the 1970s sounds like a step backward. The Camp Snap 110D proves otherwise. It borrows its elongated, pocketable body from the old 110 film format, then strips out the one feature every digital camera has trained us to expect: a screen for checking the shot you just took.

That missing screen isn’t a cost-cutting shortcut. It’s the entire point. Smartphone photography turns every outing into a loop of shooting, reviewing, deleting, and reshooting until a moment gets buried under a dozen nearly identical takes. The 110D breaks that loop by design, letting a photo exist the instant it’s taken and staying invisible until you plug the camera in later and actually look at what you captured.

Designer: Camp Snap

Living without a review screen also solves a problem the original 110 format never had to think about: battery life. Screens are usually the single biggest power drain in a compact camera, so removing one frees up room for improvements elsewhere. The 110D pairs that saved power with QuickDraw sleep and wake functionality, letting the camera snap awake fast enough to catch a moment instead of fumbling through a slow startup.

Inside that slim shell sits an 8-megapixel sensor, modest by phone camera standards on purpose, since chasing sharper resolution would work against the whole idea of embracing a lower-fidelity, more film-like result. Five built-in filters let a shooter pick a mood before pressing the shutter rather than fixing it afterward in an app, pushing the entire editing decision to before the photo exists instead of after.

Storage runs on a microSD card, and images transfer out through a USB-C port, a small detail that keeps the retro shape from turning into an actual hassle to use. Charging works the same way, so nobody’s hunting for a proprietary cable or a dead battery with no replacement in sight. The vintage silhouette stays purely visual, while the internals stay entirely current.

Two colorways round out the release: a black variant and a cream-and-orange combination that leans harder into the ’70s reference than the shape alone already does. Both ship with a wrist lanyard and a small carrying pouch, treating the camera less like a serious tool tucked into a bag and more like something meant to hang off a wrist at a party or a weekend trip without a second thought.

At $74.99, the 110D undercuts most instant cameras and plenty of higher-end toy cameras while offering something neither fully provides: a shape borrowed from actual photographic history rather than a generic plastic body built to look vaguely retro. That’s a specific kind of nostalgia, aimed at people who remember what a 110 camera looked like even if they never touched the film it used.

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9 Retro Audio Gadgets Bringing Cassettes and CDs Back From the Dead

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Streaming gave us convenience and took away everything else. No album art worth holding, no ritual of pressing play, no object that tells you something about the person who assembled it. The cassette and the compact disc never fully disappeared, but they got buried under playlists, autoplay, and whatever the algorithm decided you needed to hear next. These nine gadgets are the corrective — physical media products designed better than the originals, for a generation that has decided passive listening isn’t enough.

What’s striking about this particular wave of retro audio hardware isn’t the nostalgia. It’s the execution. Transparent housings that show mechanisms in motion. Bluetooth built into bodies shaped like tape decks. CD players that double as wall art. These aren’t reproductions of old technology. They’re new objects built around old formats, each one making a specific argument for why holding your music matters more now than it did when these formats first appeared. Here are nine that make the case best.

1. Portable CD Cover Player

The Portable CD Cover Player does something no streaming service can: it lets you hold the music. The disc slots in, the jacket slides alongside it, and the album art isn’t something you glance at between phone notifications. It’s front and center, the way it was designed to be. Available in white and black, the player is minimal to the point of restraint — shaped around the ritual of putting on a record rather than around a feature list.

It earns its place at the top of this list because it makes the strongest possible case for physical media without leaning on nostalgia as a crutch. The two-tone color option means it works across more rooms and more shelves than it might first suggest. There’s no gimmick here. Just a player that understands the object it was built around and was designed directly for it.

Click Here to Buy Now: $199.00

What we like:

  • The jacket slot makes album art a central part of the listening experience, not a side effect of owning a disc
  • Two color options and a restrained silhouette give it genuine shelf versatility across different interiors

What we dislike:

  • At $199, it’s a considered purchase, not an impulse one, which narrows the audience considerably
  • No Bluetooth output means committing to wired listening or pairing with a standalone speaker

2. We Are Rewind GB-001 Boombox

The GB-001 is a proper boombox in the original sense of the word — something you carry by its full-width folding handle and set down in a room that then belongs to the music. Four hi-fi speakers, two Class D woofer amplifiers, and two tweeters push 104 watts across a frequency response of 40 to 20,000Hz. The cassette deck plays and records. A guitar amp input takes a real guitar. These are functional commitments, not features added to round out a marketing page.

Backlit VU meters that are functional and warm rather than decorative set the tone for what the GB-001 is trying to be. Bluetooth 5.4 handles streaming when the tapes run out, and a 3,000mAh battery delivers up to 10 hours of playback on tape and speaker. At 19 inches wide and 15 pounds, it’s not designed for a bag. It was never trying to be. The GB-001 is what happens when a company commits to the full premise of a format rather than borrowing only its aesthetic.

What we like:

  • 104 watts, a working cassette deck, and a guitar amp input make this real audio equipment, not a novelty
  • Backlit VU meters that are functional and warm, not decorative afterthoughts

What we dislike:

  • 15 pounds means portability is more of an idea than a daily practice
  • The price positions it as a premium audio purchase, which is the right call but limits the audience

3. FiiO CP13

The FiiO CP13 is built around one decision that every other modern cassette player quietly avoids: no Bluetooth. The signal runs straight from the magnetic tape head, through a JRC5532 op-amp, and out the 3.5mm jack with no digital conversion anywhere in the chain. It supports Type I through Type IV tape formats, covering virtually every cassette most collections contain. The result is a player that treats the format as the point, not as packaging around a wireless speaker dressed up in retro styling.

An 1800mAh lithium cobalt oxide battery delivers 13 hours of playback and charges via USB-C, which means the hardware is modern even when the philosophy isn’t. The transparent body shows the mechanism running, which is the correct decision at any price — analog gear earns its keep when you can see it working. At $87.99, the CP13 is the most affordable commitment to doing cassette properly on this list, and that makes it the clearest first recommendation for a buyer who wants the format done right rather than done cute.

What we like:

  • A true all-analog signal path from tape head to 3.5mm output — no digital conversion, no compromise anywhere in the chain
  • 13 hours of playback charged via USB-C makes it practical as well as principled

What we dislike:

  • No Bluetooth means a wired setup is required in a world that has largely moved on from cables
  • The transparent body shows every fingerprint, which is a minor but persistent irritation for something this tactile

4. Side A Cassette Speaker

The Side A Cassette Speaker costs $49, weighs 80 grams, and is the most immediately photographable thing on this list. The transparent shell, the Side A label, the dimensions that match a real tape — it reads as a cassette the moment you see it. Inside, it’s a Bluetooth 5.3 speaker with microSD playback and a sound profile tuned to echo the warm character of analog tape. It’s the entry point that makes no apologies for what it is: a very good-looking, very affordable reason to engage with this category.

The clear case converts into a display stand, giving the speaker a second life as a shelf object between listening sessions. It’s the only product on this list that functions as décor without trying too hard. The honest caveat: this is a speaker shaped like a cassette, not an actual cassette player. That distinction matters to purists and not at all to the people who will buy one, set it on a shelf, and love it without reservation. Both responses are valid. The design earns both of them.

Click Here to Buy Now: $49.00

What we like:

  • The lowest price on this list makes it the safest first step into the retro audio category
  • The clear case doubles as a display stand, useful whether you’re listening or simply decorating

What we dislike:

  • It’s a speaker shaped like a cassette, not a real player — the purist distinction is real even if it doesn’t bother everyone
  • At 80 grams, the build reflects the price point, which is fine until it becomes apparent in the hand

5. SYITREN R300 CD Player

The SYITREN R300 won a MUSE Design Gold Award in the Audio and Video Devices category, and you can see the reasoning from across a room. Clean lines, available in wood grain, white, and a fruit green that commits fully to being a statement — the R300 treats the CD player as an object with considered presence rather than just a disc-reading appliance. It supports CD, CD-R, and CD-RW formats, covering practically every disc in most collections, with Bluetooth output that connects to whatever speaker you already own.

The R300 makes a case that a CD player is worth looking at, not just using. Design award credentials at under $100 are uncommon. The fruit green finish is a choice that earns its place in any room — not a novelty colorway but a genuine aesthetic commitment. The practical limitation is that there’s no built-in speaker, so the R300 depends on a Bluetooth pairing or headphones to produce any sound. For listeners who want a single, self-contained unit, that’s a real constraint worth knowing before the purchase is made.

What we like:

  • A MUSE Design Gold Award at $89.99 is an uncommon combination of credentialed design at an accessible price
  • Three finishes, including a fruit green that functions as a genuine design statement, not a novelty option

What we dislike:

  • No built-in speaker means it requires a separate audio output to function at all
  • Three colorway options may feel limiting for listeners who want something more singular to their space

6. ClearFrame CD Player

The ClearFrame CD Player does not pretend the disc is incidental to the experience. The crystal-clear polycarbonate body frames the album as a visual object — turning the most overlooked part of CD ownership into the centerpiece. Album art, spinning disc, visible mechanism: all of it on display, exactly where it should have been all along. It’s the wall-mountable entry on this list, the one you buy when you want the music to be as visible as it is audible, and the design earns that brief completely.

The square silhouette and clear housing create an object that reads differently depending on where you put it. On a wall it functions as art. On a shelf it functions as a player. That dual reading is harder to pull off than it looks, and the ClearFrame manages it without novelty as a crutch. At $199, it is the most considered purchase in the CD category on this list, and it rewards that consideration with an object that actively improves whichever room it occupies, regardless of whether anything is playing.

Click Here to Buy Now: $200.00

What we like:

  • The clear polycarbonate body turns the spinning disc and album art into a visual display worthy of a wall
  • Reads as both art object and working CD player — a dual brief it handles without compromise

What we dislike:

  • It’s a stationary display piece first — grab-and-go listening is not what this was designed for
  • The $199 starting price requires a level of commitment that more casual listeners may not be ready to make

7. MusicFrame M1 CD Player

The MusicFrame M1 makes the same argument as the ClearFrame for $100 less, and it makes a slightly different case for why that matters. The transparent enclosure gives a full view of the player’s internal architecture. The square, geometric silhouette reads as framed art whether it’s mounted on a wall or sitting on a table. At $99 it is the most accessible entry into the CD-as-object format on this list, and it makes the case without asking for a premium before you know if the idea is for you.

The M1 is proof that the display CD player isn’t a single-brand concept. Clean geometry, a transparent body that shows the mechanism in motion, and a price point that makes a first purchase feel low-risk: these are the conditions for converting a listener who liked the idea but wasn’t ready to spend $199 finding out. The limitation is the same as the ClearFrame — this is a settled piece, not a portable one. Portability wasn’t part of the brief, and the design is sharper for that honesty.

What we like:

  • The $99 price makes the CD-as-visual-object format genuinely accessible without a significant commitment
  • The geometric silhouette and transparent casing look equally considered on a table or a wall

What we dislike:

  • Limited portability by design — it’s made to stay in one place and works best when treated that way
  • The $100 gap between this and the ClearFrame is reflected somewhere in materials and overall finish

8. NINM Lab IT’S OK TOO

NINM Lab’s IT’S OK series launched via Kickstarter in 2019 as the world’s first Bluetooth-enabled cassette player. The IT’S OK TOO is the second generation, and the upgrade is meaningful: stereo output replaces mono, Bluetooth 5.0 delivers a faster and more stable connection, and a semi-transparent matte body refines the iconic look of the original without abandoning it. The tape is visible in motion through the housing — the right decision in 2019 and still the right decision now, regardless of how many transparent cassette players have since followed.

The IT’S OK TOO operates on a one-player, two-possibilities premise. Listen privately through Bluetooth headphones or wired earphones, or share by connecting to a Bluetooth speaker. Bluetooth 5.0 handles the switching with a wider wireless range and faster transmission than the original. Inspired by the experience of cassette listening in the 1980s, it carries the format forward with enough modern infrastructure to be genuinely useful rather than simply charming. The HK$798 price adds an import step for most Western buyers, but that’s the only real friction in an otherwise considered package.

What we like:

  • The original IT’S OK was the world’s first Bluetooth cassette player — the second generation improves meaningfully with stereo output and Bluetooth 5.0
  • The dual-mode listening setup — private or shared — makes it genuinely versatile for daily use

What we dislike:

  • HK$798 pricing adds currency conversion and import friction for buyers outside Asia
  • First-generation units had documented reliability concerns from early adopters — worth watching in the second generation

9. Retrospekt CP-81 Portable Cassette Player

The Retrospekt CP-81 stopped trying to be a hi-fi device and leaned fully into being a cultural artifact, and somehow that turned out to be exactly right. The clear plastic body shows the mechanism in full. The controls are exactly where you’d expect them. The included Koss headphones with orange foam pads and a stainless-steel headband make the whole package feel like something pulled from a very specific corner of 1983. Sold at the MoMA Design Store, Nordstrom, and Urban Outfitters, the CP-81 has earned both its context and its audience.

What grounds it is that it actually works as a cassette player. The CP-81 plays, fast-forwards, rewinds, and records, with a line-in microphone jack that most modern cassette players quietly removed from the spec sheet. Power comes from two AA batteries or a USB-C input. It carries 4.8 stars across 174 reviews. Collaboration editions with Miffy, Peanuts, and Hello Kitty treat the cassette player as a canvas rather than a device. The people who buy one tend to keep it on a desk rather than in a drawer. That’s the design doing its job.

What we like:

  • Records as well as plays, with a microphone jack that most modern cassette players have quietly dropped from the spec sheet
  • Collaboration editions with Miffy, Peanuts, and Hello Kitty treat the player as a canvas — a rare thing for consumer electronics

What we dislike:

  • The clear plastic body shows every fingerprint, a recurring issue for something you’ll handle every day
  • Collaboration editions sell out quickly, and availability varies across retailers in ways that are difficult to predict

The Format Is the Feature

The cassette and the CD didn’t come back because of nostalgia. They came back because streaming made listening passive, and these formats make it physical. Every object on this list asks you to do something — pick a tape, slide in a disc, press a real button. That is not a limitation of older technology. It’s a feature that the streaming era quietly removed, and a growing number of listeners have decided they want it back in their hands, not filtered through an algorithm.

The right pick depends on what you’re after. For the most considered visual object, the ClearFrame. For the most committed analog signal path, the FiiO CP13. For the most complete boombox revival, the GB-001. For the most surprising value, the Side A Cassette Speaker at $49. For the most culturally loaded package, the Retrospekt CP-81. Nine gadgets, nine specific arguments for the same conclusion: physical media sounds better when you can actually hold it.

The post 9 Retro Audio Gadgets Bringing Cassettes and CDs Back From the Dead first appeared on Yanko Design.

Laptops Sealed Computers Shut, ARTISAN ALTO Snaps Them Back Open

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Home computers used to snap open like toolboxes, cartridges sliding in for a new game or a new skill. That idea mostly disappeared once sealed laptops took over, but the ARTISAN ALTO AT-101 brings it back with a vermilion shell that looks like it walked straight out of 1984 and a system built for how people actually tinker today. It’s a machine designed to grow alongside whatever you’re currently obsessed with.

The trapezoidal red housing wastes no time signaling its intentions. Sculpted, concave ivory keycaps sit beside red cooling louvres, and a keyboard opening cuts diagonally through the sloping side, turning what could’ve been a flat slab into something with genuine presence on a desk. This is a machine built to be looked at, not tucked behind a monitor.

Designer: Leo Botinelly

That vintage-inspired shell hides a distinctly modern expansion idea. Upright cartridges slot into place to add graphics power, sound capability, retrocomputing modes, or an AI companion, while smaller side modules handle specialist interfaces and individual projects. Recording a demo, building out a more ambitious scene, or reviving an old favorite game all become a matter of swapping in the right module rather than replacing the whole machine.

The standout pairing puts VECTOR, a compute cartridge, alongside COMPANION, an AI agent module with its own ivory-crowned housing. Together they form what the concept calls a personal cyberdeck, one where your context and your processing power both live in the same two bays. Everything from your conversation history to your working files stays local, an intentional counterpoint to how most AI tools currently function.

Five multifunction keys handle creative shortcuts without forcing a trip through a menu, while a dedicated PAUSE rocker lets you freeze, rewind, or speed through whatever’s running, treating time itself as something you can grab and adjust mid-task. A touchpad and four flush cursor keys merge into a single continuous surface on the right side, keeping navigation under the same hand that’s already resting there.

Flip the machine over and the same philosophy continues. Memory access sits in the open rather than buried under layers of casing, rear supports adjust to match your desk setup, and a single screw releases the service clamp entirely. Every one of these choices treats a computer’s insides as something worth respecting, not hiding behind warranty stickers and proprietary screws.

Around back, a compact connector panel handles the practical side of daily use. USB-C power sits alongside labeled ports for two cartridges, additional USB-C connections, LAN, HDMI, USB-A, and audio, all routed cleanly to keep cables from tangling across the front of a desk. Even the exhaust vents get a considered shape, flanking the connector panel like a pair of small turbines venting heat from all that cartridge-driven ambition.

The post Laptops Sealed Computers Shut, ARTISAN ALTO Snaps Them Back Open first appeared on Yanko Design.