Back when I was a kid, I used to rely on Clippy the Microsoft Word mascot all the time. He was the Siri of the time, and then one day he just disappeared from the face of the planet. Our world of fast-paced technological advancements just didn’t have a place for a little paperclip on a scene of fingerprint scanners and Face IDs. Come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I used an actual paper clip either!
For those of you who grew up using old Microsoft computers and are a little scared about where AI is going and the future of the smartphone, there’s now a phone case that will take you back to the good old days of having Clippy pop up and ask if you want to use autocorrect or print a document. It’s called the iPhone Retro Case and instantly makes your modern phone look like it should be in a business meeting in the early 90s.
I know some people will feel like it’s sacrilegious to have Windows and Apple technology mixing, but seeing that signature grey plastic and the grey buttons that look just like the ones on my CRT TV on an iPhone takes me back to a time when everything was easier, and the only thing I had to worry about was what font to use on my primary school homework. The phone in the image below has a custom home screen with Windows-esque gadgets if you really want to take things a step further, but you can always have a picture of your partner or pet if you don’t want to travel fully into the past.
This case certainly isn’t streamline, but neither was the technology from our childhoods. Just like the massive monitors of old, this case provides a large case around your smartphone screen complete with buttons that you can push to press the action, volume, and lock buttons on your phone. The back of the phone case has the same groves that you’d find on the back of an old PC monitor, and the speaker grills look just like the fan holes on the back of your PC Tower.
Obviously, there’s a charging port for your cable to slot into which can’t be avoided with modern phones, but that’s a part of the design I can overlook considering it’s not very noticeable. Retron Print has put up designs from the iPhone 13 to the iPhone 16 Pro Max for people to download and print themselves for $10. Use is limited to personal only, though there is an option to become a Retron Print Commercial Club member if you’re looking to print and sell them for commercial purposes. Head to the Printables website to purchase your designs and to find out more!
