A long time ago computers didn't have graphics. All they could do was show green characters on a black screen or black characters on white paper.

But programmers were resourceful. They discovered that if you filled the screen with certain characters and squinted you could sort of make out a picture. Thus ASCII art was born.

The ASCII cam application lets you view the world as ASCII art using the camera on an Android device. Characters are displayed as green-on-black, white-on-black, or, for that line printer look, as dark-grey-on-white.

It's just the thing for Android owners suffering iPhone envy: a photography application that's even more retro than Hipstamatic. Short of simulating clay tablets or papyrus, this is as old-school as it gets.

This is the free version that doesn't support the taking of photos. If you want that feature, you'll need to upgrade to the paid version.