9 Once-Popular Tech Gadgets That Deserve To Be Brought Back

We might obtain a fee on purchases constructed from hyperlinks.

We love smartphones at SlashGear. You get a digital camera from which you’ll shoot like a professional, map apps that really inform you which route to go, music gamers that choose tracks for you, and a rising listing of different issues it was arguably by no means requested to do — it is a real miracle of recent know-how. We would problem anybody to go greater than a day with out theirs to see simply how important they’ve change into. But that is the issue. 

Somewhere alongside the way in which, it stopped being a easy gadget and began being our the whole lot. That is likely to be an exaggeration for some, however for a lot of, it isn’t too removed from actuality. It pings, it buzzes, it notifies, it tracks, and it by no means appears to modify off. Increasingly, many people are questioning if handing a single gadget a lot accountability was such a good suggestion. Smartphone fatigue is upon us. It’s actual, and it is driving a quiet revolution. Some persons are pining for older devices once more. You know, these gadgets that had a single goal. A grasp of 1 moderately than a jack-of-all-trades.

But what we’ve got right here isn’t a eulogy for all of the devices the smartphone has changed. What we’ve got is a case for why a few of them deserve a second probability. Because for each operate the smartphone absorbed, we misplaced one thing. Photos that felt extra like reminiscences than {a magazine} shoot, or the straightforward pleasure of proudly owning your music moderately than renting entry to it. Some of those devices have already began their very own quiet comebacks; others wait for somebody to make their case. We’re pro-options, not anti-smartphone. Here are 9 once-popular devices we predict deserve a comeback.

There was a time when proudly owning an iPod meant you belonged to one thing. It wasn’t only a music participant; it was a standing image, a trend assertion, and a cultural icon all rolled into one. Then, at some point, it was gone. The final iPod was launched in 2019, and by 2022, Apple needed nothing extra to do with it. The iPhone had utterly taken over the job. Abandoned and forgotten by its creator, the iPod was tragically left within the attic to assemble mud. But one thing has shifted. A brand new technology is craving music with out all of the pings and pop-ups. They need to personal their songs and escape the burnout of being plugged in on a regular basis. Deep down, it is a motion about steering the ship as soon as extra in music.

Searches for iPod Classics and Nanos have climbed noticeably for the reason that begin of 2026. But each single iPod in the marketplace at this time is both refurbished or secondhand — in the event you nonetheless have yours, you is likely to be stunned by what it is price at this time. They’re promoting on websites like eBay, Back Market, and Amazon, and you’d be forgiven for considering solely older generations are shopping for them up. However, stats present round a third of today’s buyers belong to Gen Z. But whichever technology you belong to, an outdated iPod is much from simply one other nostalgic throwback; it is stable proof that some concepts have been ok the primary time to deserve a second probability.

Compact digital cameras had a golden age. In 2010, international shipments hit round 120 million items. These point-and-shoot gadgets have been the default method a technology captured on a regular basis life earlier than smartphone images took off. But as telephone cameras continued to enhance, gross sales dropped to nearly bargain-bin territory, and producers started pulling the plug on their compact digicam lineups. But there’s a case for bringing them again.

Unlike your telephone, which second-guesses each body till it produces one thing resembling the invisible commonplace of a “good” photograph, “What people want is photos that feel like theirs.” That’s based on photographer Alex Cooke, who says on digital camera specialist web site Fstoppers that individuals need “images marked by the specific character of a specific tool they chose to use, for reasons they can articulate, in a process they controlled.” There’s additionally one thing in the truth that a digital camera’s buttons and dials have zero curiosity in your inbox. 

In reality, there’s something of a well-deserved comeback underway already. Shipments of fixed-lens cameras rose notably in 2025, whereas #digitalcamera on TikTookay has racked up billions of views. Quality compact digital cameras do not need to be dear, both. The Kodak PIXPRO FZ55 is a stable funds decide for informal capturing. Look to the mid-range for higher high quality, and you will find cameras just like the Canon PowerShot SX740 HS providing sharper element and extra attain. If it’s premium you are after, the Ricoh GR IV is a compact digital camera that retains successful awards and has a powerful following amongst avenue photographers.

The private digital assistant (PDA) was as soon as the usual for a pocket-sized pc. It ran on batteries and had a touchscreen and stylus for organizing the whole lot in your private life, together with calendars, contacts, and notes. Their peak interval ran roughly from 1992 to 2007, and the touchscreen period started with the Tandy Z-PDA, but it surely was the PalmPilot that introduced the gadget to peak reputation. Of course, the all-in-one smartphone ended the occasion. It packed each PDA operate right into a single gadget and introduced an finish to its spectacular 15-year run.

But some folks nonetheless miss them. And they miss them for a similar causes they miss different once-popular devices, together with the enjoyment of not having these distracting smartphone pings. Using your telephone for a similar causes you’d use a PDA additionally provides to your month-to-month information. A PDA does not require an web connection in any respect. It has a single-purpose simplicity that individuals nonetheless actively search for, lengthy after the tech was thought-about to be a dinosaur.

However, if in case you have an outdated PDA, official help dried up way back. Getting assist with one at this time requires going by hobbyist boards and fanatic communities. On high of that, as computer systems proceed to undertake newer working programs, syncing an outdated PDA with a contemporary PC is changing into more and more tough. One latest reply is the PocketMage, a 2026 crowdfunded PDA with a bodily QWERTY keyboard and an e-paper show. It’s positively a distinct segment gadget and never for everybody, but it surely proves the urge for food for a devoted, distraction-free pocket organizer by no means actually went away.

At their peak, dumb telephones have been owned by nearly everybody. They have been constructed for calls, messages, and little or no else save for the occasional sport of Snake. People did not name them dumb telephones, both. This was the newest and best know-how of the time. Smartphones clearly modified the whole lot. Why carry a tool that solely calls and texts when you possibly can have one which does the whole lot however make you espresso within the morning? Those dumb telephones did not stand an opportunity.

But is Gen Z bringing them again? Well, Nokia’s mum or dad firm, HMD, confirmed a remake of the 3210 in 2024, and you possibly can nonetheless purchase many different dumb telephones again then. Current alternate options just like the Light Phone strip issues again even additional, and TechRadar‘s Mark Wilson calls switching again to a dumb telephone “a reminder of a time when endless doomscrolling wasn’t such a dangerous wormhole.” Consumer Reports author Courtney Lindwall put issues to the take a look at. She spent every week with a fundamental Nokia Flip and stated she “wrestled back about three hours” of her day by decreasing display screen time. She additionally famous a “calm and clarity that came from fully disengaging” from her iPhone.

That stated, evaluations of present dumb telephones have been blended. The sincere reality is, going dumb is likely to be more durable than it sounds. Streaming, navigation, ride-hailing, contactless funds, video calling, meals supply — it is all gone. However, a thriving r/dumbphones group has grown on Reddit, with 1000’s of members debating what works, what does not, suggesting alternate options, and customarily serving to one another make the swap. The advantages are clear to anybody, however in the event you’re contemplating this swap, achieve this with reasonable expectations.

Before electronic mail, there was the fax machine. This was how we moved time-sensitive paperwork. From authorized paperwork to medical information, it was all despatched over a phone line. But as soon as electronic mail made the job cheaper and quicker, it quietly disappeared from on a regular basis life — though it did not go utterly the way in which of the dodo. Healthcare, authorized, and property sectors nonetheless rely on the fax machine at this time. These are industries the place getting a doc unsuitable or having data fall into the unsuitable arms carries actual penalties. Unlike electronic mail, faxes do not cross by a number of servers, which makes them more durable to intercept.

But the case for a comeback among the many common client can also be believable, and privateness is not the one factor price contemplating. A fax does not sit unread in an inbox, and its messages arrive heat from the machine. It’s a bodily factor that you would be able to maintain and cherish. You can learn it slowly, savoring each line, respiratory within the scent of recent ink… okay, perhaps we’re getting carried away. If it is a authorized contract or medical outcomes, you may not be so elated about receiving a fax. But for easy handwritten notes, drawings, or letters between individuals who really care, it is an expertise no smartphone app can replicate. For dwelling and small workplace use, all-in-one printers are the way in which to go if you wish to be concerned within the comeback of a know-how everybody thought was lifeless by now.

When the Pebble smartwatch landed on Kickstarter again in 2012, it broke information. More than 2 million watches have been finally offered, promising a easy interface with telephone notifications, music management, and a week-long battery life, plus a watch face library with over 16,000 choices. Those watch faces have been constructed by an open developer group that provided much more customizable choices than any Apple Watch or different wearable has provided since. So, you is likely to be questioning why they have been discontinued. Well, Pebble was offered to Fitbit, Fitbit was offered to Google, and someplace in that chain of gross sales, the whole lot that made Pebble what it was disappeared.

Since these course-changing acquisitions, nothing has crammed the hole Pebble left. The smartwatch business went in fairly a special route: extra options, extra sensors, extra causes to maintain your eyes in your wrist. Nobody ever stepped again and stated much less may really be preferable. Except for Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky, that’s. He was at all times hopeful. “I had really, really, really hoped that someone else would come along and build a Pebble replacement. But no one has,” he wrote on his private weblog. 

Then, unexpectedly, a door opened in early 2025. Google open-sourced PebbleOS, and Migicovsky wasted no time. The model is again. It is likely to be a low-key comeback, but it surely’s one you may help in the event you suppose it deserves it. Two new watches are already accessible, and this time Migicovsky guarantees, “We’re keeping things simple. Lessons were learned last time!” That’s what we like to listen to.

GPS satnavs have been as soon as the usual strategy to navigate a car. They featured preloaded maps and turn-by-turn instructions — and no information connection was wanted. Brands like Garmin, TomTom, and Magellan dominated the market. However, Google Maps all of the sudden made a devoted gadget appear redundant, and the marketplace for it fell aside. But at this time, there is a robust case for a comeback — and it is likely to be extra easy than you suppose.

A devoted satnav carries its maps on board. They work wherever, together with distant areas the place a cell sign is nonexistent. And let’s not overlook that dealing with your telephone whereas driving is illegitimate in most U.S. states. Satnavs are constructed particularly for driving. They have the show dimension for arm’s-length viewing, and there is no want to the touch it whereas navigating busy streets.

In reality, the distracted driving case is tough to disregard. In 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recorded 3,275 deaths and an estimated 324,819 accidents in crashes involving distracted drivers. Using a devoted satnav means your telephone stays in your pocket or glove field, the place it belongs. Garmin is the one main title that also sells devoted GPS {hardware} within the U.S. If you need to give a GPS satnav a attempt with out spending an excessive amount of, the Garmin Drive 53 & Traffic is a stable, inexpensive entry level and contains stay visitors experiences.

At its peak, nearly each dwelling within the U.S. had a landline. It was the default strategy to make and obtain calls, and it got here with loads of sensible benefits. Landlines continued to work throughout an influence outage, for instance. No battery or web connection was required, they usually offered a direct line to your actual handle while you referred to as 911. Many folks do not keep in mind that they really delivered clearer calls than any cellular phone, too. However, these benefits have been quickly forgotten within the push towards cellular phone possession. By 2010, there have been already extra cell telephones within the U.S. than landline telephones. So, does it really deserve a comeback? Well, it does not matter as a result of AT&T intends to close down its landline community nearly fully throughout the nation by 2029.

That stated, some corporations are bringing again the house telephone, minus the landline, together with Tin Can. This corded, screen-free telephone was designed particularly for youths. It seems and seems like a landline, but it surely runs over Wi-Fi. The Tin Can launched in April 2025, and it has had ready lists for each launch since. Wirecutter‘s Alison Rochford examined it along with her daughters and located it taught them to genuinely talk — introducing themselves, asking who was calling, and holding an actual dialog. Another outcome was “They have completely stopped asking for a smartphone.” The landline could also be nearly lifeless as an infrastructure, however as an concept, it clearly nonetheless has a pulse, and perhaps that comeback deserves to occur.

There was a time when typing on a telephone meant you really felt one thing. BlackBerry and different iconic keyboard telephones of the period, just like the T-Mobile Sidekick, have been telephones the place keys clicked underneath thumbs, and phrases have been typed with out a second thought. The iPhone’s arrival in 2007 modified all that. It needed to go and provides us a sleeker, extra intuitive touchscreen — and, in fact, everybody needed to copy it. Copy it they did, and whereas these copies achieved various levels of success (and, let’s be sincere, a lot of them nonetheless do), the day of the keyboard telephone was over. BlackBerry held out the longest, however by 2022, it had shut down software program operations for good.

Josh Render, writing for Tom’s Guide in 2023, stated, “The use of touchscreens has become so commonplace that the idea of a physical keyboard is a strange one — but it’s one that deserves a comeback.” We miss the real tactile suggestions, and we’re uninterested in these relentless autocorrect errors and smudged fingerprints throughout our screens. CNBC additionally experiences that bodily keyboards assist these with visible impairments or restricted motor management, whereas doomscrolling tends to be tougher when your telephone now not responds to senseless swipes.

A wave of startups is responding to folks’s wants. Clicks, Unihertz, and the Minimal Phone try to carry bodily keyboards again. Unfortunately, evaluations have been blended thus far, and for certain none of them have matched BlackBerry’s cult-like standing. But the Unihertz Titan 2 Kickstarter did increase $4.8 million, and 45% of Clicks consumers have by no means really used a keyboard telephone earlier than. So this is not simply nostalgia. The comeback is on.