OP did you forget to link the article?
9point6
You're probably seeing either retroarch or launchbox (or its full screen mode, bigbox)
Retroarch is an emulation suite that supports many systems, it has generally superseded many of the original emulators the various cores are based on
Launchbox is a front end that is pretty well polished, and so very popular
I think that one in particular is because Germany and Japan share a surprising amount of history with each other IIRC
And it's an open source os created to compete with Torvax by that Linus Stallman's company
Very unfortunate placement for the 3DO ad
Emphatically disagree with you on image quality, the cameras are pretty much the only thing that are still noticeably improving between phone generations for me. This improvement is seen by proper photography review companies like DxO too.
Digital zoom is still shit today, but it was so much worse back then. We now at least have AI supersampling doing something slightly better.
The photos you're looking at must be either cherry picked, perfect conditions, day time photography, or you just don't know what to look for when comparing image quality.
The easiest comparisons to see the difference will be low-light night time photography, and photos with high dynamic range, such as shooting through a bright window from inside a dark room, etc.
This is all without pointing out that video image quality (using those same cameras) has improved even more noticeably since the phones you're talking about. And with people increasingly caring about shooting video, this also explains why.
Love this stuff.
Unironically, I consider Adult Swim as one of my favourite curators (and funders) of modern art. The breadth of unusual, yet incredibly well done work that they've created a place for over the years is staggering.
Edit: typo
This virus is gonna have turned us all into senseless drooling blobs barely able to breathe in a couple of decades isn't it
Kinda hyperbolic, but protecting right-wing feefees is a fucking stupid reason for not treating this more seriously.
I kinda want to keep my sense of smell and decision making abilities
Cheers!
Needed to unpaywall it, so here's an archive link for anyone who needs the same: https://archive.is/hokvj
Edit: hmm there isn't actually much more there