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Home / Features / CES 2015: You can’t go back: Android ‘retro’ kit just isn’t the real thing

CES 2015: You can’t go back: Android ‘retro’ kit just isn’t the real thing

Craig Grannell dons his old-git hat and grumbles about how iconic old gadgets simply become yet more Android devices

 

Each year, CES throws up (figuratively, although some people might argue almost literally) certain themes that set the course for technology for the rest of the year.

In 2014, it was all about smart technology, which, sure enough, became increasingly absurd as the months passed.

This year, possibly due to the economy still being given a thorough thrashing, there’s a clear attempt to infuse technology with familiarity and the warm, fuzzy glow of nostalgia.

By way of example, there’s the new Kodak Instamatic and the new Sony Walkman. Both of these names propel me back to simpler times, blissfully free from mortgage payments, nappies, constant nagging notifications on multiple black rectangles, and spam.

READ MORE: CES 2015 – an interview with Oculus founder Palmer Luckey

WIRED FOR SOUND

CES 2015: You can’t go back: Android ‘retro’ kit just isn’t the real thing

My Walkman was already old when I got it – a hand-me-down from my mother. I recall it (probably erroneously – although only slightly) being about the same size and weight as a housebrick.

The thing was so bulky that it came with a shoulder strap rather than a belt-clip, in order that it not yank your trousers down at inopportune moments. Its heft was such that if you spun round too quickly, the thing would fly dangerously about your person, causing you to send friends flying into walls, or turn hideous (but, at the time, weirdly fashionable) ceramic owls and field-mice into exciting three-dimensional puzzles.

Despite this, I loved the thing, with its giant clicky buttons, even as it chewed through batteries (and sometimes the cassettes it was supposed to be playing). It was this that cemented itself in my head whenever I thought ‘Walkman’, eclipsing any successors with their new-fangled shiny discs, MiniDiscs, and MP3s.

CES 2015: You can’t go back: Android ‘retro’ kit just isn’t the real thing
Profile image of Craig Grannell Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.

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