35 Retro Gadget Revivals - From The Boombox to the Rotary Phone (SUPER GALLERY)

Brace yourself for how old some of the following features will make you feel! This super gallery highlights some of the best retro and old-school tech designs that have recently made their way back in fashion, some as spoof products, others as high end designer items. From brick and rotary phones, to record players and boomboxes, technology from the past is being revived.

A lot of readers will recall using many of these items, which makes it scary to think that today’s younger generations may not have a clue as to what some of these technologies are!

Prepare to relive your memories…

Rotary & Brick Phones

Retro Telephone Bags - Betsey Johnson’s Call Me, Betsey (GALLERY)

Designer Betsey Johnson put out this handbag collection called “Call Me, Betsey.” Obviously the eccentric Betsey got her inspiration from retro rotary phones. You can see this motif all over the colorful,… [More]

Rotary Phone Watches - The Zihotch Retro Phone Watch (GALLERY)

This quaint piece of accessory is bound to get a lot of people talking ill about you behind your back. This is the Zihotch Retro Phone Watch made by Japan’s Maywadenki. Designed with a face that imitates… [More]

Rotary Phone iPhone App - The iRetroPhone (VIDEO)

The iRetroPhone application gives the ultra-modern iPhone an updated tweak. The app turns the touch-screen dialing interface into an interactive image of an old-fashioned rotary phone for old-school meets… [More]

Retro Phone Cars - Howard Davis’s VW Beetle Mod (VIDEO)

Howard Davis modified a 1975 Volkswagen Beetle to make it look like a large throwback phone on wheels. Originally, Davis created this phone car to promote his telephone business called Datel Communications.… [More]

$500 Rotary Phone - Works as a Tri-Band Mobile Phone

This retro rotary phone may look like the one your grandma has, but it works as a tri band portable phone that will work in almost any country.  Just insert your SIM card and you’re good to go. “This… [More]

1950s Newstalgia Phones - The Silver Dreyfuss 500 Desk Phone (GALLERY)

The Newstalgia concept is more glamorous than ever with items like this eclectic spin phone reminiscent of the 1950s. The Silver Dreyfuss 500 desk phone and other retro styles from the Pedlars webstore… [More]

Retro Telephones Converted to Salt n Pepper Shakers

It’s always the simplest ideas that make the coolest designs. These Stallinga designed salt and pepper shakers are made from real mouth/earpieces from actual phones. (Hopefully cleaned up and not the disgusting… [More]

Vintage Handsets for Mobile Phones

The company Zoviva launched his unique Retro Phone Pokia, a handset that works perfectly with any cell phone with 2.5mm universal style audio input. Also you can buy an adaptor if your mobile doesn’t… [More]

80s Style Phones Hot Again - Mini Brick Cell Phone

Lovers of all things retro will lust for this cell phone; the mobile looks just like the earliest “brick” phones. It’s a miniature version of the first cell phones to hit the market in the 80’s. It’s about… [More]

ReCellular Recycles Retro Phones – Donate Your Old Cell Phone (VIDEO)

The days of clunky cell phones are over. New mobile designs are being launched at top speeds, each one sleeker than the last, with more functions and tools that have become the “necessities” consumers… [More]

Floppy Discs

Floppy Disc Bag - Retro Geek Fashion

Who doesn’t have a ton of 3.5” floppy disc’s kicking around? OK well maybe not everyone, but if you do here is an awesome way to put them to use, and look good doing it! You’ll need A drill, 1/8 drill… [More]

Retro Floppy Disk CD-R - 200 MB of Retro

Want to freak out your office IT guy? Put one of these 200MB mini CD-Rs in your machine and tell the computer tech that it won’t work. These apparent floppy disks are really CD-Rs in disguise. Very retro… [More]

Musical Devices, from Gramophones to Vinyl

Retro Car Record Players - VW Van Soundwagon

This gets to be filed under C for “cool as hell”. It’s a portable, stand-alone record player! The Soundwagon Portable Record Player from Turntable Lab is shaped like a Volkswagen van and “drives” around… [More]

Vinyl Records Making a Comeback - 36% Rise in Sales

It’s hard to believe, but vinyl records are making a comeback, at the same time that CD sales are on the decline. In fact, one major grocery store chain, Fred Meyer, still has LP (Long Playing - usually… [More]

$56,000 Turntables - The Jubilee by Thorens

Thorens, a Swiss manufacturer of high-end audio equipment, are well known for their awesome turntables. Their newest turntable, the Jubilee, commemorates 125 years of the Thorens name. Weighing in at 58kg… [More]

Phonofonics II – Gramophunky Acoustical Wonder (GALLERY)

Using no electricity whatsoever, just pure acoustical engineering, the Phonofonics II will amplify the output from a set of earbud headphones connected to a music player to 55 decibels (about the maximum… [More]

Vintage CD Player by Yong Jieyu

For the vintage lovers, this retro photograph CD player adds design to your music.  Finally a CD player you can give to your grandma!  The designer, Yong Jieyu, describes, “A CD player was disassembled… [More]

Retro Radios

Retro Radio Strikes Again - MAGNA Wooden Radio with iPod Jack

If you are lover of things natural and organic, Designer Singgih Kartono has a radio for you. The MAGNA wooden radio has all the modern gimmicks: including an input for your iPod or other portables. The… [More]

Retro Radio - Pure’s Evoke-1XT

The Evoke-1XT is a retro radio that features radius-edged veneered casework and a large, clear white-on-blue display. The retro radio features a wake-up alarm, countdown timer for use in the kitchen,… [More]

Becker Mexico 7948 - The Hi Tech Retro Car Deck

Looking to add a little tech to your classic car?  The Becker Mexico 7948 is a high tech deck for your classic ride.  It’s hip retro styling is combined with a color display.  Note: at roughly $2,000 the… [More]

Cassettes & Walkmen

Retro Reinvented - Cassette Tape MP3 Player (Actually Works in a Cassette Deck)

Remember that old contraption known as a cassette tape? I’m sure there are youngsters out there who haven’t seen one. Well, here we a have a novel gadget being unveiled that combines a cassette tape with… [More]

Remembering The Cassette - Mix Tape USB Case (GALLERY)

Remember how much fun making mix tapes was? This nifty little USB holder will take you back in time. In a box fashioned like an old tape case, this container comes with a memory stip ready to be loaded… [More]

Cassette Wallets - Make Your Purse A Work Of Art

I love these hand-made retro wallets, shaped out of made cassette tapes. A work of art in their own right - each hand made ‘cassette wallet’ is a design one-off. [More]

Old Walkman As iPod Camouflage - Hidepod?

You know no one would swipe a walkman these days (unless they were hitting up an ‘90s costume party and needed the prop), but iPod theft is incredibly high. That’s precisely why we love this great idea… [More]

Casette Deck Toaster

I just finished posting an article about the Top 10 Toasters from the Future, and then this new toaster had to pop up. The designer, Arthur Wu, desribes, “The Toasty Single Serving Toaster not only makes… [More]

Cassette Belt Buckles - You’re Not Cool Enough to Pull it Off

This belt buckle satisfies several current trends- retro styling, recycling old analog products into fashion accessories, and..er.. massive belt buckles. Honourable Mention presents their genuine cassette… [More]

Boomboxes & Ghettoblasters

Sonic Fabric - Textile Woven From Audio Cassette Tape

The Sonic Fabric dress is made from recycled audio cassette tapes.  The tape is woven into a fabric, but retains its magnetic quality.  So in theory, you could still play the music if you had a device… [More]

Boombox Redux - The iPod Boombox from Urban Outfitters (GALLERY)

Now, this is really a boombox! Actually, retro boombox would be more apt due to the fact that this gadget has been actualized with up to the second tech. This is in fact an iPod Boombox from Urban Outfitters!… [More]

Lifepod Groove Master

The Lifepod Groove Master is a retro bag with builds in three-watt, water-resistant speakers and works with the iPod, PSP and mobiles via a 3.5mm plug.  It comes in green, pink, black or white colors for… [More]

iPod GhettoBlaster - iSymphony Boombox

Just when we though it was safe to open the window, along comes iSymphony with an iPod version of a Ghetto Blaster. “Unlike standard docks, the top lid of this boombox opens so you can lay your iPod… [More]

Retro Turntable With USB - The Roxy

I love it when something retro pops up that is clever, useful and affordable. Even the name is retro: The Roxy. OK, it’s a music player, which is becoming retro, but if you are into this design theme,… [More]

Other Electronics

Retro Plasma Televisions - Wilkerson Furniture

”Beaver… wash your hands. It’s time for dinner.” If you have to ask then your too young. Despite it’s appearance, this is a very modern, 42” plasma television. Joe Wilkerson, the designer, wanted it… [More]

Retro Instruments for Modern Music - MP3 Stylophone (VIDEO)

Awesome news - the 1970’s “organ in your pocket,” AKA the Stylophone, is back with a bang and it is awesome.  Are you too young to know what this is? It’s a battery-operated instrument with metal keys… [More]

Retro Block iPod Speaker - Old Toys New Uses (GALLERY)

Who would have thought that our old toys would one day, way in the future, be playing our tunes? These fun speakers require no batteries for they run off the iPod’s energy. The Plus signs are your speakers… [More]

Retro Atari 800 XE Laptop

Ben Heck, a maker of custom portable electronics, has created a laptop that brings you back to 1987.  Wild. - Uses (what’s left of ;) an Atari XE GS (Game System) the last model Atari 800 type computer… [More]