Cell phones and modern music players don't work in Fallout. Microprocessors didn't exist until the early '70s, and weren't conceivable in the 50s. There's a reason that the Pipboy in the original Fallout is monstrous by today's standards, and limited to a monochrome monitor. A microprocessor wasn't conceivable in the '50s: Computers were large. Look at computers in the Star Trek TV series (1960s) for an example. Sure, you had the small communicators, but those were more akin to a walkie talkie than a cell phone.
I believe it was explained in one of the Fallout Bibles that the main divergence between Fallout and reality is that the microprocessor was never invented. Yes, it's the future- you have atomic wonders everywhere (which was a staple of '50s sci-fi. Look at Asimov's Foundation series that had atomic powered belt buckles that shielded people for example), AI robots (again, Asimov in the '40s and '50s) that somehow work without miniaturized computers, marvelous energy weapons, and mutant horrors (despite radiation not working like that) all over the place.
It's all consistent with the original Fallout- the raiders strapping on metal and leather to make armour is very Mad Max too- again, consistent with the original Fallout.
If there's one thing I'd say Bethesda has gotten 'right' with their interpretations of Fallout, it's the futuristic '50s. They went their own way with gameplay, and even appear to have slashed dialog and the RPG elements entirely... but the setting and appearance is spot on. If you want to discredit them, you can accuse them of just ripping it all out of the originals and not using any originality.
While I wasn't pleased to see FEV, Myron's Jet, Super Mutants, Deathclaws, the Brotherhood and Enclave all show up (somehow) on the East coast, I can't really fault Bethesda for not doing what Tim Cain would have done. It isn't as if the same can't be said about Fallout 2. Hell, even Fallout 1 wasn't 'perfect' either. It nearly had talking anthropomorphic raccoons in it.
There have been a lot of chefs in the kitchen for Fallout and Fallout 2, and they didn't always agree about what is and isn't Fallout. Same can be said for this very forum.
Which, in Bethesda's defense, is probably why they recycled everything. If there was no FEV in Fallout 3, that'd probably be something some would complain about (It's not Fallout without Supermutants!). I'm still early in Fallout 4, and didn't play the DLCs for Fallout 3 so don't know much about the 'snyths' just yet. I honestly don't know how to feel about them- on the one hand I'm glad Bethesda is doing their own thing... and androids were present in a lot of '50s sci-fi.
On the other hand, I'm getting more 'Bladerunner' vibe... which is (according to Wikipedia) 1968. Then again, Mad Max is 1980s right?
I'm trying to keep an open mind.
I'm not sure about you, but there were plenty of societies I encountered after leaving Vault 13- and the Vault Dweller was only the grandchild of people from before the Great War.
Most of the people in the wasteland, to my knowledge, didn't come from vaults. They survived the war- nukes missed them. Large cities like Los Angeles were hit hard- small towns were often left intact. The Boneyard and the Hub both immediately spring to mind respectively. Both were also well established shortly after the nukes fell.
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