Tech got suspiciously boring somewhere along the way. Same slabs of glass, same gray laptops, same little black boxes. This is the opposite: beautiful, strange, playful and genuinely interesting tech that still feels like somebody actually designed i...
Sections
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ALT PHONES
POCKET COMPUTERS
BEAUTIFUL MACHINES
ALT PHONES
Phones that actually have a visual identity, unusual interface, strange form factor, or a reason to exist beyond being another glass rectangle.
top of my wishlist right now.
Phone (4a) Pro | Smartphones
from another world it seems. neat.
CMF Phone 2 Pro | Smartphone
Stark minimalist phone that looks more like a designer object than a normal smartphone. New preorders are currently expected to ship in September 2026.
The Light Phone
Chunky minimalist E Ink phone with its own deliberately pared-down aesthetic.
Mudita Kompakt, a minimalist E Ink® phone.
very sleek looking scaled-down original GBA style handheld gaming console.
AYANEO Pocket VERT
POCKET COMPUTERS
Tiny computers, handheld terminals, calculator-like machines and portable Linux hardware that make computing feel physical again.
the ultra-clean, high-end alternate-universe Game Boy. It plays original cartridges through FPGA hardware rather than conventional software emulation.
Pocket - Analogue
modular handheld PC where the controller modules can actually be rearranged and swapped.
AYANEO 3
bizarre dual-screen handheld. Perfect “what even is that?” material. AYANEO currently lists it among its hardware.
AYANO Pocket DS
looks like a terminal somebody pulled out of a 1980s sci-fi film. Physical keyboard, little screen, exposed-computer ethos.
uConsole | ClockworkPi
little calculator/computer kit. Currently listed alongside ClockworkPi’s other DIY machines.
PicoCalc kit
a colorful, repairable convertible laptop from a company openly pitching the idea that computers shouldn’t be boring.
Framework Laptop 12
weirdly compact modular desktop that looks especially good once you start playing with its customizable front panel.
Framework Desktop with AMD Ryzen™ AI Max
there are now little clear-shell ESP32 displays sold as miniature TVs. Exactly the sort of obscure nonsense that gives the list personality.
ESP32 1.51inch transparent OLED display Screen Car Desktop trinket Mini TV LVGL
BEAUTIFUL MACHINES
Hardware where industrial design is half the appeal. Expensive, over-engineered, slightly ridiculous objects you want before you even know what they do.
Phone-shaped color E Ink Android device with 5G data support. The screen alone makes it look completely different from normal mobile tech.
BOOX Palma 2 Pro
compact premium 4:3 retro handheld with much more boutique-industrial-design energy than mainstream gaming gear
AYANEO Pocket PLAY
kawaii and practical, why not
Divoom Ditoo-Pro Retro Pixel Art Bluetooth Speaker with DIY LED Display
a six-inch light-field display capable of showing glasses-free 3D imagery. One of those products people genuinely may not realize exists.
