Haven’t we all at some time been struck by such an overwhelming sense of nostalgia that we wished we could take a time machine to a moment in our past? Perhaps it’s a scent that reminds us of previous romances, or as we get older, the sights and sounds that take us back to a childhood time when everything was simpler.
Now, an app on your smartphone or tablet is that time machine.
Today we’re all playing casual phone games or epics like Skyrim. But if you’re of a certain age you’ll remember the era of home computer games fondly.
Commodore 64 fans will spot the $5 Commodore 64 app in the iTunes App Store with glee, because it even gives you a chance to type in Basic programs. It has a few reproductions of classic games, and more are available as an in-app purchase. The free Android app Frodo C64 is a little simpler, but it requires you to find the original source code for games elsewhere online.
If you were a fan of the ZX Spectrum computer, you’ll love the $9 iPad app 100 Greatest Hits. It has classic 1980s-era 8-bit games from Elite, with more available via an in-app purchase. Everything is emulated nicely, including some of the quirky sound and graphics of the Spectrum. Marvin on Android is a similar free app that goes even further because it emulates the Spectrum’s interface — though again you have to find your own game files.
Atari game fans can download the free Atari’s Greatest Hitsapp for iOS. This official app contains the classic arcade game Missile Command direct from Atari’s own files and 100 more games via in-app purchase.
Instagram’s retro photo filters are well known. But there are other apps that do the same trick for the higher-resolution photos stored in your phone. For a great app to add a dash of yesteryear’s sepia to photos, try Photo Editor by Aviary, free on iOS and Android. It’s a powerful app, but simple to use. If you spend $1 on its in-app nostalgia pack you can apply some classic effects (and defects) to your photos, even layering them on top of one another.
For a different type of retro effect, I love the $1 iOS app 1-Bit Camera. This generates black-and-white pixilated images like those from the early days of the Macintosh computer. For an even more geeky imaging effect, check out Image to ASCII Lite, free on iOS, or AsciiArt Booth, free on Android. Both are simple apps that turn photos into an array of letters that, from afar, look like the original image.
If you’re nostalgic for vintage films then 8mm Vintage Camera — a very successful $2 iOS app — will be right up your street, thanks to its easy-to-use interface and the great blurry clips it generates. I love its comedic effect when I record my children’s antics on video.
The free Android app Videocam Illusion may actually be a more powerful app because it lets you add different layers of effects, including the 8mm effect. But I found that it was a bit more complex to operate, and the maker warns that some effects will really challenge the processor in less-powerful Android devices.
The app VinylLove, $1 on iOS, tries to bring back some of the old magic of vinyl records. The app’s interface is designed to let you search through your MP3s as if they were stored in a record crate. It places an emphasis on playing and listening to albums in track order, which is a fast-disappearing habit. It’s fun, and if you’re a vinyl fan you may appreciate its visual aesthetic. The static noise effect of dusty records is also rather endearing.
For a different nostalgic sound try out Nostalgic Phone Ringtones, free on Android, which will let your 21st-century smartphone ring with some distinctly 20th-century sounds. (The ads are a bit irritating, but you won’t spend much time in this app.)
To capture the dulcet tones of the Stylophone, and bring back memories of Kraftwerk’s music, check out the $3 Synthophone iOS app. It recreates the look and sounds of that old electronic pocket instrument. For an even older electronic sound try the freeAccelerophone app on Windows Phone. It’s not hands-free like a theremin, but it uses your phone’s accelerometer and gyroscope so waving it about is fun.
Enjoy your trip down memory lane!
Quick Calls
New on the iTunes App Store is the $2 app Eisenhower. It’s a “getting things done” app that uses a novel system for organizing your tasks — the Eisenhower matrix. This helps you by timing you during priority events. ... The social Q. and A. Web site Quora — always handy when looking for an informed answer to a question — is releasing its free Android app this week. It comes with neat features like voice search using Android’s built-in system, and it will let you pin some of its content to a widget on your home screen.
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