FRESH

Hacker News

Home

Everything from 1991 Radio Shack ad I now do with my phone (2014)

221 points by vinnyglennon

by mastazi

6 subcomments

As anyone who's used it knows, CB radio is very much unlike anything you can do with a smartphone[1][2], so I argue it should go in the second list at the end of the article, where the author talks about things that can't be replaced by a smartphone.
[1] notice how CB radios can still be bought at major retailers such as this one, one of the largest in my country https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/4wd-recovery/uhf-cb-vhf-ra...
(the same can't be said of cassette recorders or answering machines or VHS camcorders)
[2] there were many attempts to make smartphone apps where you can communicate with people that are physically around you. These never picked up steam and the two examples I remember are now defunct (I can't remember the names, I will update this post if I find them)
EDIT: the apps in question were called Highlight app and Glancee app.
Highlight:
https://parislemon.com/post/18994363772/meeting-people-is-ea...
https://techcrunch.com/2012/03/08/highlight2x/
Glancee still has a website, but it no longer exists as a standalone app as they were acquired by Facebook many years ago:
https://glancee.com/

by Jolter

4 subcomments

Author seems to have misread what the ”10-channel desktop scanner” is about. He seems to think it’s referring to an image scanner? I think it’s a device that monitors AM or FM radio for you.
I’m sure it’s been made obsolete, but I’m not sure it was by the iPhone.

by nancyminusone

0 subcomment

>(2014)
Here in 2025, I'm thinking of things my phone could do in 2014 that it can't do now: SD card, removable battery, headphone jack, ir blaster, less ads, less surveillance, easier to install third party apps
Besides the camera, almost nothing else has been an improvement.

by citizenpaul

5 subcomments

While its rather cool that its available to everyone. Phones kinda killed the cool gadget market. Since your phone does everything, anything new or interesting is now some $5k+ minimum purchase.
I wonder if inflation adjusted gadgets are similar priced.

by myself248

1 subcomments

I feel the same about the 1993 issue of Mondo 2000's "R U A Cyberpunk?"
https://aphelis.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Mondo_2000_ma...
Except the stun gun, volt meter, and the cash. Even back then, they call out the value of non-digital paper money. A phone absolutely can't replace that.

by TJSomething

3 subcomments

Practically speaking, you can also replace a radar detector with the Waze app.

by Sharlin

5 subcomments

Additional 1991 gadgets you now have in your phone:
- Color TV (screen's a bit tight though)
- VCR
- Pager
- GPS (very recent and expensive in 1991)
- In-car navigation (just barely available in 1991)
- Portable cassette player
- Portable video game console (GameBoy launched in 1989)
- Modem and sound card for the Tandy
- SGI workstation for rendering 3D graphics

by dogman1050

1 subcomments

I still have a pair of those Mach Two speakers in use in my garage. Can confirm that a cell phone can't sound like that and that driving them with a Phase Linear 400 playing Led Zeppelin II can really rock the block until an amp output shorts and blows out the woofer with frying egg sounds. That amp is also known as a "Flame Linear."

by giveita

2 subcomments

CB? Maybe you can get a walkie talkie app but there is nothing like CB on phone. (If there was it would be banned!)

by add-sub-mul-div

2 subcomments

Wow, cool, but is it a good thing? It's a bummer that so much of computing has moved from content creation devices to content consumption devices. Desktop applications can be more advanced than mobile apps, there's just inherent limitations on the mobile input methods and OS. Though if you're playing games or browsing the web, touching and swiping works great.
Don't even get me started on the fact that only one tech giant allows you to run code on your mobile OS without their permission, and next year we're even losing that. Because the other tech giant normalized taking away the freedom.

by lysace

2 subcomments

1991 me would prefer the phone do-it-all.
2025 me would prefer the separate devices.

by paulkrush

1 subcomments

From 2012. 13 years ago. It's interesting to note if we are talking just the desktop almost nothing has changed from 2012.

by modeless

5 subcomments

> Mobile CB
It's actually ridiculous that our phones support dozens of sophisticated radio protocols but can't act as two way radios without a cell tower from the right company nearby. A $10 walkie talkie can communicate over miles but your phone is a brick without service. This capability would save more lives than Apple's satellite SOS IMO.

by zkmon

3 subcomments

So all of those different technologies got swirled into the magic lamp (smart phone). And then what happened in the next 10 years until now? The phenomenon stagnated. The lamp got bigger and bigger screens, more hardware, but the core abilities didn't change as much they did back in those years.

by waltwalther

1 subcomments

The author lists everything his phone has replaced, and the two items his phone cannot replace yet. One of those is a radar detector. To that I offer the Waze app. While it is not exactly a radar detector, it still serves the same purpose.
Funny story. I first heard of the Waze app while reading a Car & Driver magazine in my doctor's office nearly 15 years ago (possibly before 2010). There was an article on illegal cross-country car racing. One of the drivers said something like, "I use a combination of radar detector and Waze to avoid the police."
I had no idea what Waze was, and researched it as soon as I got home. It has always been crowd-sourced, and there were not many users back in those days (at least in my area), but I used it and spread the word anyway,

by wrboyce

2 subcomments

Tangibly related, but I enjoy remembering my GCSE (an exam taken in the UK at 16 as you leave compulsory education) Maths teachers telling us “you won’t always have a calculator in your pocket”. I guess they were half right, in a way? It’s not a calculator, but it does have a calculator alongside access to the entirety of human knowledge.
On the other side of the coin, while I enjoy this memory I do think it’s a shame how lacking most people’s mental arithmetic skills are… and indeed their understanding of some basic mathematical constructs, like multiplication being commutative, but I suppose that’s not the calculators fault.

by gxs

0 subcomment

The good old days when iPhones came with earphones and a charging block
To a lesser extent, the good old days when swiping up brought up the control panel

by zer00eyz

1 subcomments

> Mobile CB, $49.95. Ad says “You’ll never drive ‘alone’ again!” iPhone.
I mean sort of. CBs are still a thing that the phone doesn't quite replicate.
I would make the argument that the modern version of this is LORA/Meshtastic... Im sure at some point they will jam a few more radios into the phone just to have more features.

0 subcomment

by bawolff

0 subcomment

> Tandy 1000 TL/3, $1599. I actually owned a Tandy 1000, and I used it for games and word processing. I now do most of both of those things on my phone.
I think its a stretch to say the iphone does word processing well.

by mingus88

2 subcomments

Interesting that one of the items that they iPhone can’t replace is the “fuzz buster”, a radar detector
Arguably that’s also covered by Waze or any other speed trap app
But the dystopian take is that the iPhone gave away far more to the surveillance state than we ever had with scanners and radar detectors of old. I don’t think we’ll ever go back.

0 subcomment

by zippyman55

0 subcomment

But Radio Shack had a tube tester and gave me a free battery on my visit

by wallopinski

0 subcomment

I'm really surprised 286-based machines were still $1600 in 1991. But it was a brand name and not a frankenclone assembled from the back of computer shopper.

by anonymousiam

1 subcomments

My Valentine One radar detector has an app. You still need the external hardware, but you can use it via the phone if you like. Partial credit?

by ielillo

1 subcomments

Iphones don't have fm radios so add 13.88 to the bill

0 subcomment

by KevinMS

0 subcomment

What was better in 1991 than on my phone today: Caller ID

by integricho

0 subcomment

I find it distasteful whenever someone says iPhone instead of smartphone, where it is clear that iPhone is not the only solution. I don't like Apple, and I even less like cult followers.

by jameslk

1 subcomments

* $1,599 for a computer
* $799 for a camera
* $149 for a speaker/woofer
Over 30 years ago and yet these are roughly the prices I’d expect today

by pfexec

1 subcomments

> All weather personal stereo
> AM/FM clock radio
> In-Ear Stereo Phones
> Microthin calculator
> Mobile CB
> Deluxe Portable CD Player
Maybe I missed the rollout for the iPhone that performs all these functions, but no iPhone has ever:
• Picked up AM/FM radio (even though throwaway Nokia mobiles could do so)
• Allowed you to talk to truckers on the CB band.
• Played CDs you already own.
iPhones no longer come with earbuds (so they can sell you overpriced wireless ones), and a wayward update to the Calculator app kept it from functioning like a traditional 4-function calculator ever again. (Delete button? Really?)
Considering this article is nearly 12 years old and there have been no improvements on the above I declare this list dubious at best.

by filchermcurr

2 subcomments

I was sort of on board until the Tandy 1000. It's disingenuous at best to assume that your phone can replace it because it 'does games and word processing'. A phone, no matter how much you like it or how much you can do with it, does not replace an actual personal computer. A phone is a locked down appliance running software written on personal computers. By design, you will never be able to truly explore the system or get it to do anything you can dream. You can do what the software designers / managers want you to do and that's it. (Obviously there are exceptions, but those exceptions are rapidly diminishing.)
These old PCs encouraged exploration, expansion, tinkering, and development. They were true personal devices that you could do whatever you wanted with. Phones are personal in that they know everything about you but they will never match the freedom and exploration of a personal computer.
I truly feel like we've lost something special with the move to smartphones and tablets. :(

by bilsbie

0 subcomment

This is how I talk myself into spending a lot on a phone.

by Am4TIfIsER0ppos

0 subcomment

Which bit of kit was the government wiretap and tracking device? I guess the phone and the computer (like is still the case).

by leephillips

0 subcomment

But the things I used to buy at Radio Shack before smartphones existed, like capacitors and solder, can no longer be found there, and phones don’t replace those.

by Aloha

3 subcomments

So my broad comment is, yes, your iPhone will replace all of these things, with some compromises. Its just like the things I see with with UI/UX design in my day job - I can make an app that does three unrelated things, but you lose something for each functionality you're adding in.
* All weather personal stereo, $11.88. I now use my iPhone with an Otter Box
Sort of, but not exactly, yes it does all of the things my portable radio does, but not as well - mostly audio fidelity.
* AM/FM clock radio, $13.88. iPhone.
Again, sort of, but not exactly, yes it does all of the things my clock radio does, but not as well - mostly audio fidelity.
* In-Ear Stereo Phones, $7.88. Came with iPhone.
This is a place with notable improvements from then.
* Microthin calculator, $4.88. Swipe up on iPhone.
This is a place with notable improvements from then.
* Tandy 1000 TL/3, $1599. I actually owned a Tandy 1000, and I used it for games and word processing. I now do most of both of those things on my phone.
If this was an iPad I would agree, but it's the same thing as the others - sort of but not exactly. It can do those things, but not as well.
* VHS Camcorder, $799. iPhone.
Again, yes if I squint at it - but it's the same thing as the others - sort of but not exactly. It can do those things, but not always as well without additional accessories.
* Mobile Cellular Telephone, $199. Obvs.
This is a place of clear improvement, todays cell phones are a world better in both audio quality and coverage.
* Mobile CB, $49.95. Ad says “You’ll never drive ‘alone’ again!” iPhone.
Yes, iPhone can do these things, but not as well as a dedicated device (no PTT button for a start)
* 20-Memory Speed-Dial phone, $29.95.
Yes, a clear win for replacement.
* Deluxe Portable CD Player, $159.95. 80 minutes of music, or 80 hours of music? iPhone.
Yes, a clear win for replacement.
* 10-Channel Desktop Scanner, $99.55. I still have a scanner, but I have a scanner app, too. iPhone.
Not much of an improvement over a dedicated device.
* Easiest-to-Use Phone Answerer, $49.95. iPhone voicemail.
Voicemail (which you could get in 1991), is a clear winner over an answering machine.
* Handheld Cassette Tape Recorder, $29.95. I use the Voice Memo app almost daily.
Also a clear improvement.
* BONUS REPLACEMENT: It’s not an item for sale, but at the bottom of the ad, you’re instructed to ‘check your phone book for the Radio Shack Store nearest you.’ Do you even know how to use a phone book?
The internet replaced the phonebook before ubiquitous mobile data, I do miss phonebooks however.

by aswanson

0 subcomment

Everythings computer

by LorenDB

1 subcomments

(2014)
I'd argue this is important to add since iPhones no longer ship with earbuds (or so I'm told; I'm an Android guy myself).

by know-how

0 subcomment

[dead]

by curtisszmania

0 subcomment

[dead]

by thendrill

2 subcomments

So we pay roughly 3 times more for the same functionality... Is the convince worth that much?? By this logic in 2090 people would have to pay most of their salaries for that "one device".... Dystopian....