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Thread: Things you miss about the technology in the ‘old days’...

  1. #1

    Red face Things you miss about the technology in the ‘old days’...

    Like - when the smaller the mobile phone you had the cooler you were! I remember how proud I was of my Ericsson EH237 back in 1993/4. Followed by diminutive flip phones by Motorola. :) Ah...those were the days!!

    Does anyone even make cool small mobiles these days?
    Last edited by The Hack; 8th October 2017 at 08:29.

  2. #2
    I had an Orange mobile phone with a retractable antenna, how cool was that!

  3. #3
    Master -Ally-'s Avatar
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    Snake on the Nokias of old.

  4. #4
    Grand Master Saint-Just's Avatar
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    Keyboard on psion 5
    'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.

  5. #5
    Master alfat33's Avatar
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    1 month battery life on my various HP/Blackberry mobile devices with black and white screens.

  6. #6
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    I remeber being on Orange when cli came out, it was I think the only network to have it for a while and my friends not on Orange couldn't get how I knew who it was calling, and anwser there call with there name

  7. #7
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    I had two mobiles from orange back when I first came to London, at that point the rolling contract allowed either free weekday calls, or free evening and weekends, I had both, meaning I had free calls and texts (texts were free then) 24/7, with only the contract cost each month. When they finally clicked what had happened to their 'offer' people were selling these phones to people with high volume calls like businesses for silly money.

    in the end, Orange tried to strong arm people into giving up the contracts, for incentives, from a new free phone etc. to we are going to cut you off in 30 days if you dont accept blah blah, those of us who waited it out were offered cash to give up the contracts or they were seriously going to court to fight the contracts,

    the time and game was kind of up, so I cashed in, I got £1700 for the weekday contract and £1300 for the evening and weekend contract, along with a reasonable new contract and new phone.

    if I remember correctly I had the Nokia banana phone (8110) at this time that was in the matrix, and also the 6610 one of the best phones ever made.

    ahh the good old days



    Last edited by soundood; 8th October 2017 at 08:54.

  8. #8
    Master
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    Buying polyphonic ringtones from magazine adverts.

  9. #9
    Journeyman
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    SL55, tiny phone but no reception meant it was form over function, still great though!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  10. #10
    Grand Master TheFlyingBanana's Avatar
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    In my quest for the smallest mobile phone I bought one of those Sony ones with the flip out mic in a stalk. Unbelievably it had no screen at all. More believably it was utterly rubbish and a total pain to use.

    It's this one in the post by Johnnye:

    http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...ne-enthusiasts
    So clever my foot fell off.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by The Hack View Post
    Like - when the smaller the mobile phone you had the cooler you were!
    Never really bought into that "small is cool" thing.

    This is where it was at....


  12. #12
    Master Thewatchbloke's Avatar
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    I used to fit "car phones" for my mates company for a bit of extra cash back in the mid 80's when it was all new and there were only Vodafone and Cellnet networks. The class 1 transceivers were massive, about the size of an average briefcase, and finding room to mount them in a car boot wasn't easy! This was before the class II handheld Motorola and Panasonic "breeze blocks" became available. Network coverage was very patchy back then but a class 1 transceiver could get a signal where nothing else could!

  13. #13
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    I've never got drawn into the mobile phone culture for several reasons, to me they're an occasional facility to make a necessary call when I'm out and about and nothing more. Smaller the better suits me, I remember when phones became small enough to fit into a shirt pocket and I thought that was amazing!

    Paul

  14. #14
    Not sure why, but I kept all my old phones.

    I have a drawer that is like a museum to old phones.

    Nokia was built like a brick. I liked my old Blackberry and went back to it briefly recently.

  15. #15
    Craftsman D3ckard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pastrana72 View Post
    Not sure why, but I kept all my old phones.

    I have a drawer that is like a museum to old phones.

    Nokia was built like a brick. I liked my old Blackberry and went back to it briefly recently.
    Remember the Motorolla 4800X? Now that was a phone that always had a reception! (even if you did need to be Arnie to move it about)

  16. #16
    I miss when we didn't have iPhone Zombies. They're incapable of walking in a straight line or seeing where they're going without their phone, and have become oblivious to the world due to their noise cancelling earbuds.
    Last edited by bonzo697; 8th October 2017 at 13:15.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by D3ckard View Post
    Remember the Motorolla 4800X? Now that was a phone that always had a reception! (even if you did need to be Arnie to move it about)
    See photo above!

  18. #18
    Master RJM25R's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by soundood View Post
    I had two mobiles from orange back when I first came to London, at that point the rolling contract allowed either free weekday calls, or free evening and weekends, I had both, meaning I had free calls and texts (texts were free then) 24/7, with only the contract cost each month. When they finally clicked what had happened to their 'offer' people were selling these phones to people with high volume calls like businesses for silly money.

    in the end, Orange tried to strong arm people into giving up the contracts, for incentives, from a new free phone etc. to we are going to cut you off in 30 days if you dont accept blah blah, those of us who waited it out were offered cash to give up the contracts or they were seriously going to court to fight the contracts,

    the time and game was kind of up, so I cashed in, I got £1700 for the weekday contract and £1300 for the evening and weekend contract, along with a reasonable new contract and new phone.

    if I remember correctly I had the Nokia banana phone (8110) at this time that was in the matrix, and also the 6610 one of the best phones ever made.

    ahh the good old days



    Didn’t the actual “matrix” phone never actually make it to market? By the time it released it was bigger and less sleek IIRC?

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by bonzo697 View Post
    I miss when we didn't have iPhone Zombies. They're incapable of walking in straight line or seeing where they're going without their phone, and have become oblivious to the world due to their noise cancelling earbuds.
    +1.......streets are full of silly sods trying to text whilst walking around, I think it's hilarious when they bump into things. Why do people do it? I was taught to look where I was going as a small child, I've found it plays an integral part in self-preservation and I see no sense in acting otherwise.

    Paul
    Last edited by walkerwek1958; 8th October 2017 at 11:40.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by The Hack View Post
    Like - when the smaller the mobile phone you had the cooler you were! I remember how proud I was of my Ericsson EH237 back in 1993/4.
    I had a similar feeling of pride with my Sony Walkman. Each new version was smaller than the last and much more expensive.

    I found (in a second hand store) an excellent Anodised blue Sony Walkman with slim rechargeable battery, remote control, auto reverse, Dolby etc, not much bigger than a cassette box. It was fantastic, way cooler than all my school mates walkman's!

    That was fairly short lived as Discmans started to become more popular shortly after that.

  21. #21
    Grand Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by -Ally- View Post
    Snake on the Nokias of old.
    You can get it for smart phones. Snake 97.




  22. #22
    Grand Master
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    I had the 2nd and 3rd orange mobile phones sold in Cornwall.


    still have the same number to this day.


    mike

  23. #23
    Grand Master Neil.C's Avatar
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    I'm still living in the past.

    This is my 'phone....

    Cheers,
    Neil.

    My Speedmaster website:

    http://www.freewebs.com/neil271052

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by The Hack View Post
    Things you miss about the technology in the ‘old days’...
    Conversation

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by willie_gunn View Post
    Never really bought into that "small is cool" thing.

    This is where it was at....

    Remember mine well, the only problem was it used to take an age to get all out and be mobile. In the eighties people used to look at you as if you mad, because it looked like you were talking to yourself, believe it or not you were hands free

    They were bloody expensive £700 springs to mind, a lot of money in the 80s
    Last edited by hilly10; 8th October 2017 at 18:17.

  26. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by hafle View Post
    Buying polyphonic ringtones from magazine adverts.
    Yes - !! Unreal


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  27. #27
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
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    f I remember correctly I had the Nokia banana phone (8110) at this time that was in the matrix,
    ^^^ this ^^^

    My wife had one and the night we went to the cinema to watch The Matrix, she had the phone in her coat pocket. Walking out of the cinema was a moment to remember: her mom called and my wife walked down the cinema stairs with this -by then- illuster phone in her hand. That turned some heads.

    A little older: pagers! Those service mechanics, fire fighters etc with that pager on their belt. It was also the time of tucked-in sweaters, so the waist-with-belt-and-pager was oh so visible.

    Menno

  28. #28
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    Miss nothing. Bloody expensive, limited, confusing and generally crap. Give me an iPhone X, UltraHD and the like any day.


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  29. #29
    No one miss the sound of a dial-up modem - and the missed phone calls while on the Internet?

  30. #30
    Master Tifa's Avatar
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    Points, capacitors, HT leads & a coil.

  31. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by Saint-Just View Post
    Keyboard on psion 5
    Or just the Psion itself!

  32. #32
    Craftsman Go Big's Avatar
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    This was my first mobile, must have been 1992'ish.


  33. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by RJM25R View Post
    Didn’t the actual “matrix” phone never actually make it to market? By the time it released it was bigger and less sleek IIRC?
    There was an 8110 in Matrix. As far as I could see the only difference to the production model was that the movie version had a spring loaded sliding flap in it. That never made it to the stores.

    Edit:



    Last edited by Possu; 9th October 2017 at 20:03. Reason: Added pickxs

  34. #34
    Grand Master Saint-Just's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wakarimasen View Post
    Or just the Psion itself!
    Well yes. But Symbian (EPOC) was a dead end from an evolutionary perspective.
    But a 5mx with modern smartphone capabilities...
    I still use Opera on my Mac, though...
    'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.

  35. #35
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    I miss people not being able to contact you if you were not in your house

  36. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by thieuster View Post
    ^^^ this ^^^



    A little older: pagers! Those service mechanics, fire fighters etc with that pager on their belt. It was also the time of tucked-in sweaters, so the waist-with-belt-and-pager was oh so visible.

    Menno
    I was "on call" with a pager in the era before mobile phones- all very well but when it went off it could take ages to find a BT call box that hadn't been vandalised

  37. #37
    Master Lampoc's Avatar
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    I really miss the lack of beeping when white goods have finished doing their job. Everything bloody beeps now. I've always known when my washing and drying machines have finished because they stop making a washing/drying sound - I don't need annoying beeps every 30 seconds ad infinitum until I swear, get out of my chair, head to the kitchen and switch them off. Same with the damn microwave. Worst of all is the toaster - despite the fact when the toast pops up it makes a loud mechanical "KERCHANG" noise, for some unknown reason it needs to beep 4 times as well. You know, just in case you didn't know what that freaking "KERCHANG" noise was 4 minutes after you put bread in the toaster.

  38. #38
    Master pacifichrono's Avatar
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    A simple AM/FM pushbutton car radio. Left knob for on/off/volume; ring around it for bass/treble. Right knob for station frequency; ring for fader. Center slider to select either AM or FM band. Lower push buttons to set/select favorite stations.

    I don't need a Ph.D. from M.I.T. to read and understand the 50-page instruction manual that accompanies today's cutting edge wonders.

  39. #39
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    Having just four channel buttons on the tv (and 1 of them was a spare :)







    Tv going off at night (imagine that)



    and seeing this.



  40. #40
    Grand Master oldoakknives's Avatar
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    Had a Motorola KRZR K1 in blue and thought at the time nothing could get better than that! Def the coolest phone ever for me.

    First mobile was a Motorola M3788 and remember if the battery went down you could put in 4 aa's and it would work. Halogen days Rodney, Halogen days.
    Last edited by oldoakknives; 10th October 2017 at 00:29.

  41. #41
    Grand Master oldoakknives's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jeff View Post
    Having just four channel buttons on the tv (and 1 of them was a spare :)







    Tv going off at night (imagine that)



    and seeing this.


    - - - Updated - - -

    [
    And you could mend them by hitting them on the side too!

  42. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lampoc View Post
    I really miss the lack of beeping when white goods have finished doing their job. Everything bloody beeps now. I've always known when my washing and drying machines have finished because they stop making a washing/drying sound - I don't need annoying beeps every 30 seconds ad infinitum until I swear, get out of my chair, head to the kitchen and switch them off. Same with the damn microwave.
    ^^This!^^

  43. #43
    Master KavKav's Avatar
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    I remember thinking how ‘Hi-Tech’ I was when I got a TV that had Teletext. Ye Gods!!!

  44. #44
    Grand Master TheFlyingBanana's Avatar
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    I think the biggest thing I do miss (but not really for me, more for my children), is the excitement of the pop charts and buying records.

    While iPods and iTunes are undoubtedly incredible things, and I love the immediacy of obtaining music or movies, I feel my kids have missed out on the sheer thrill of the Top 40 on a Sunday afternoon that my generation enjoyed.

    Going to Woolworths or a local record store, buying a single, then listening to (andtaping the charts (trying to edit out the DJ)) was such a big part of being a teenager. Everyone was interested in the charts.

    Now no-one is.
    So clever my foot fell off.

  45. #45
    Master alfat33's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lampoc View Post
    Worst of all is the toaster - despite the fact when the toast pops up it makes a loud mechanical "KERCHANG" noise, for some unknown reason it needs to beep 4 times as well. You know, just in case you didn't know what that freaking "KERCHANG" noise was 4 minutes after you put bread in the toaster.
    We have a 25 year old Dualit with a clockwork timer that ticks audibly then just stops with a click so you know it's done. The toast doesn't pop up, you have to press a leaver down, which means it stays warm until you can lift yourself off the sofa to butter it.

    Bliss!

  46. #46
    Master brigant's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Hack View Post
    Like - when the smaller the mobile phone you had the cooler you were! I remember how proud I was of my Ericsson EH237 back in 1993/4. Followed by diminutive flip phones by Motorola. :) Ah...those were the days!!

    Does anyone even make cool small mobiles these days?
    Still have a RAZR as an emergency phone.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Jet Set Willy

  47. #47
    My kids (7 & 9 yes) have grown up with sky+ and on demand TV. For them it's normal. Hadn't thought about this until we got rid of sky a while back and stuck with freeview for a while. Had to try and explain real time broadcast to them, unsuccessfully I think.

    I miss the days before everyone had a smartphone with video camera, ready to record and embarrass any mistake someone might make and stick it on YouTube. Glad I was able to grow up making my mistakes without all that!

    Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

  48. #48
    My Aiwa hi-fi with a vast array of buttons and lights and double cassette was the height of technology for me in late 80s. I remember having VHS recorder with the remote on a lead and then later a Sony VHS recorder with a TV screen inbuilt and a fold down panel for editing which I thought was cool.

  49. #49
    Master alfat33's Avatar
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    If we are doing games: Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards - 'Knock 3 times and ask for Ken'

    https://www.myabandonware.com/media/...lizards_11.gif

  50. #50
    Master KavKav's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheFlyingBanana View Post
    I think the biggest thing I do miss (but not really for me, more for my children), is the excitement of the pop charts and buying records.

    While iPods and iTunes are undoubtedly incredible things, and I love the immediacy of obtaining music or movies, I feel my kids have missed out on the sheer thrill of the Top 40 on a Sunday afternoon that my generation enjoyed.

    Going to Woolworths or a local record store, buying a single, then listening to (andtaping the charts (trying to edit out the DJ)) was such a big part of being a teenager. Everyone was interested in the charts.

    Now no-one is.
    When I were a ’yoof’ it was a real treat to go into town to listen to and buy the latest single record, you would carry it home in triumph and play it on your record player for the rest of the day! In the day I could easily name you the top 20 and the top 10 in order, nowadays if you offered me a grand to name ONE song in the top 20 in the last YEAR, your money would be safe.

    Those were the days of real innovative music, real artists, real quality groups with very little technology. Modern music to me is just a mess of soundbabble delivered by scruffy soap dodging nonentities who look as weird as the talentless sound they deliver.

    Here speaketh old bastard who is happy to have ‘lived in the day’!
    Last edited by KavKav; 10th October 2017 at 08:17.

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