Retro gadgets that helped shape modern technology

Tech enthusiasts have got to love the 1980s and '90s. These were the decades when some of the most revolutionary gadgets of our time were first introduced, and they took the world by storm. But thanks to the rapid advancements in technology we have since made, those devices are now as good as extinct. The walkman of yore, or the bulky Motorolla “cellular phone” are only valuable to us as museum pieces — celebrated more for their nostalgia value than anything else. But there's a section of geek soceity that actually wants these devices, featured below, some of which once marked the apogee of technological invention, to return to the mainstream. Game Boy was released in the 1980s and became a groundbreaking gadget in the 1990s. The Game Boy was an 8- bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was the first handheld gaming console that ever was manufactured. With the launch of Game Boy many games were also launched such as Super Mario, Tetris, Alleyway that boosted the device and made it a coveted gadget of the 1990's. The CPU of the gadget was 8-bit Sharp LR35902 core at 4.19 MHz. The Game Boy comes with 8 kB internal S-RAM and 8kB internal video RAM. The main feature of the Game Boy was that two Game Boys can be linked together via built-in serial ports, up to 4 with a DMG-07 4-player adapter. In 1996, Moto Razr dominated the mobile phone market with its unique flip-open feature. Its striking appearance and thin profile had made it the exclusive fashion phone in the marke t . T h e phone was sold more than 130 million units and became the bestselling clamshell phone in the world to date. The phone used to come in two color variants — one is matte black version and other is hot pink version. The phone had 13.5MB internal memory and comes with the microSD card that was expendable up to 512MB. Motorola Razr had internal display of 176×220 pixel and external 96×80 pixel. The Razr became identified as a “fashion” product and an iconic cell phone in the late 1990s. If anybody wanted to listen to music in the '90s, the only avilable and preferred choice for most was the Sony walkman. Before iPods were even thought of, Sony came out with the walkman which became a sensation in its time. Sony first introduced its portable audio player in the late 1970s. After the launch of the walkman, over 400 million devices were sold and 200 million cassettes were also sold. The first walkman was put on sale on 1 July 1979. Polaroid 660 was the most fashionable camera in the 1990s. The Polaroid Autofocus 660 was a square-bodied instant camera. The distance to the subject was calculated by emitting a sonar pulse through solar emitter which then was captured again. Polaroid 660 used to come with 116mm, f/11, single-element plastic lens, Sonar autofocus and Polaroid's Light Management System. It also had the Integral auto flash that works in low light can be forced on or off. The Polaroid camera works together with the instant film. The instant film contains chemicals needed for developing and fixing the photo, and the instant camera exposes and initiates the developing process after a photograph has been taken. Many of the mainframe and mini computers were first designed in the 1970s and home computers such as Atari 800, HP 9800 series were released in 1971. Computers started making a difference after its major advancements in the 1990s. World Wide Web and Bill Gates' Windows revolutionised how people used their personal computers. Initially, per- sonal computers were only for businessmen and bigger organizations. Getting internet access in the 1990s meant you had to negotiate the temperament of an internet modem. Most users could get connected only using dial-up technology, via a 56K modem. The goal of the modem is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data. All of us remember those ominous sounds emanated by the dial-up modem — an extended dial tone, followed by a series of jarring noises that sounded like the cartridge of a printer working on an A4 sheet of paper. The little red or green lights that dotted the front of these modems were also a sight to behold. Alas, in today's world of streamlined technology, all those crude markers of connectivity — the sounds as well as colours — have vanished. And what we're left with is the inaudible hiss of electric current coursing through underground cables.