Stuff’s Festive Gift Guide (Online Edition) – Retro tech for retro heads
Brett Venter
It’s the time of year when Stuff publishes its annual gift guide. You’ll find the main thing in the December 2024-January 2025 issue of Stuff, which is due on shelves from 6 December, but we couldn’t stuff everything into the print version of the gift guide.
That’s why you’ll find a few of these popping up as the country closes in on the big December shutdown. There’s still time to buy gifts and we’re here to guide you in how to do that. Today’s instalment is for that person who can’t get enough of yesteryear. But there’s no reason they have to leave the modern day behind completely, now is there?
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6
You might argue with the placement of Samsung’s Galaxy Flip 6 in this gift guide. It’s a thoroughly modern device. It has AI. But you’re not looking at it through Capitalism Nostalgia™ glasses. That form factor blends some of the best functions of old-school smartphones — pocketability, for one — with all of the modern conveniences we’ve become used to in 2024. As retro products go, the Samsung Flip 6 is the phone equivalent of glamping but it’ll still provoke comment and a trip down Memory Lane when you slip it from a pocket and flip it open to check your notifications. The fact that it’s still a properly powerful modern device is… well, that’s a bonus.
If your coffee-obsessed writer friend hasn’t at least attempted to bang away on a typewriter, are they even a real writer? Sure, they’re a bit heavy to lug into a coffee shop but that’s why this e-ink wonder was created. There’s a properly writer-y experience available when banging away on the clacky keyboard but without the threat of the carriage bonking their oversized Americano off the side of the table. Its limited use cases mean it’s only for serious writers but those writers will appreciate that there’s nothing else here to distract them. Like social media and amusing videos. There’s just imagination and the muse working its way out of their fingertips.
It’s a fairly large leap backwards from streaming to vinyl but your curious mate doesn’t need to give up every modern convenience right away. They also don’t need to get into the intricacies of optimising the plinth or upgrading the cartridge immediately either. Just drop this Bluetooth-supporting number in their stocking and they can use the rest of their existing setup to slowly devolve into that person who speaks about “warmth” and “presence” with that funny look in their eyes. Plus, you’ll only ever have to snag them a picture disc or two for future present purchases.
The thing about retro tech is that sometimes it’s… well, it’s pretty retro. The Nokia 105 may have been updated last year but it’s as bare-bones as you can get without being an overly hungry cannibal on an island full of weaklings. The 1.8in TFT screen will let you make calls and play Snake, the camera is… there is no camera, and the 800mAh battery will probably last for weeks unless you’re a chronic talker. Oh, yes, and there’s also an FM radio. Any more retro and it would have launched in the 1990s.
There are whole generations that never stepped foot into a real arcade. No, the Magic Company and its various compatriots don’t count. The greasy floors, the complete lack of adult supervision, the chink of real money dropping into the coin slot as eight-year-olds learned to rip Scorpion’s spine out (Forward, Down, Forward, Block)… those were the days. It’s possible to recapture at least some of those sensations, except maybe the slap chips on rolls with that peculiar plastic tomato sauce. For a price, of course. That price is about ten grand. Give this to any male with a so-called Man Cave and he’ll love you forever. Even if he’ll never actually say that.
