Video: We take for granted the ability to pull out our smartphones and watch almost any video imaginable in hi-def resolutions. But back in 1998, the Nokia 5110 represented the cutting-edge of mobile phone technology, and this is what it would have been like to watch YouTube and other videos on its terrible screen.
GIF: YouTube
The folks at YouTube’s Science Nurd first had to connect the 5110’s awful 84×48-pixel monochrome LCD screen to an Arduino to get a proper frame rate, because as basic as that tiny hackable computer is, its processor is lightyears beyond what you’d find powering the Nokia 5110. Twenty years ago seeing full-motion video on a mobile phone would have blown our minds, but today it looks like barely a step beyond cave paintings. Now please excuse me while I go hug my iPhone.
[YouTube via Geekologie]