Status Symbols are devices that transcend their specs and features, and become something beautiful and luxurious in their own right. They're things that live on after the megapixel and megahertz wars move past them, beacons of timeless design and innovation.
Jan 23, 2014, 3:46 PM UTCTrent Wolbe
Status Symbols: Tivoli PAL Radio
An almost Emersonian testament to rugged self-reliance
Oct 3, 2013, 5:30 PM UTCDavid Pierce
Status Symbols: Motorola RAZR
How one flip phone took over the world
Aug 2, 2013, 4:30 PM UTCDieter Bohn
Status Symbols: Toshiba Libretto
Step aside, ultrabooks, this paperback-sized laptop did it first
Apr 25, 2013, 2:40 PM UTCChris Ziegler
Status Symbols: Porsche 959
Meet the car that Bill Gates waited more than a decade to drive
Feb 15, 2013, 4:20 PM UTCNilay Patel
Status Symbols: MiniDisc
In 1992, when the quirky new music format was introduced, Sony could do no wrong in consumer electronics
Dec 21, 2012, 10:07 PM UTCLaura June
Status Symbols: Samsung BlackJack
The first time mobile browsing wasn't 100 percent irritating
Nov 23, 2012, 6:00 PM UTCAndrew Webster
Status Symbols: Neo Geo Pocket Color
An arcade cabinet that fit in your pocket
Oct 26, 2012, 6:00 PM UTCAndrew Webster
Status Symbols: Game Boy Micro
Nintendo's smallest handheld was also its most stylish
Oct 2, 2012, 4:00 PM UTCChris Ziegler
Status Symbols: Palm V
PDAs weren't beautiful until Palm decided to change that
May 22, 2012, 5:01 PM UTCPaul Miller
Status Symbols: Pioneer Kuro
In 2008 and 2009, Pioneer reached the pinnacle of its black art: the Kuro. For the low, low price of $6,000-ish, you could have the deepest black levels ever produced by a television.
Apr 5, 2012, 3:29 PM UTCPaul Miller
Status Symbols: Rega RP1 turntable
UK-based Rega has been making its mid-priced "Planar" series of turntables since the 70s, and while it's continually refining the engineering, the turntables themselves look about the same as they did thirty years ago: exactly minimal.
Feb 7, 2012, 8:45 PM UTCPaul Miller
Status Symbols: HTC HD2
The HD2 was a no-compromises halo device built from metal and the finest software Taiwan could muster.
Jan 17, 2012, 5:01 PM UTCPaul Miller
Status Symbols: Sony PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 represents a pinnacle of hardware design, Sony or otherwise.
Dec 14, 2011, 5:56 PM UTCPaul Miller
Status Symbols: Happy Hacking Keyboard
The Happy Hacking Keyboard, built by Fujitsu, and relatively unchanged since 1996, takes a decades-old Unix-style layout, strips out all unecessary fluff (silly dedicated arrow keys, for instance), and marries it with an only-from-Japan ultra-minimal design.
Nov 30, 2011, 8:05 PM UTCPaul Miller
Status Symbols: Grado GS1000i
Grado's GS1000i pair is the company's ultimate art-not-science blend of style, performance, and comfort, with lightweight, oversized mahogany earpieces that would make your dad jealous — and sound that anyone with a discerning eardrum would kill for.
Nov 4, 2011, 7:59 PM UTCPaul Miller
Status Symbols: Leica M9-P rangefinder camera
Status Symbols are devices that transcend their specs and features, and become something beautiful and luxurious in their own right. This edition takes a look at the Leica M9-P rangefinder camera.
Oct 29, 2011, 6:05 PM UTCPaul Miller
Status Symbols: Teenage Engineering OP-1
Status Symbols: Teenage Engineering OP-1
