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Hands up if you once owned and loved a Nokia 3310! Good news – it’s back
YOU can’t load apps on it and it doesn’t have a touchscreen. And if you’re lost and need step-by-step instructions to find your destination, forget it – this phone doesn’t have GPS. Just about the only thing you can reliably do with it is make calls and send SMSes. Oh, and if you’re bored, there’s one game on it.
This, believe it or not, is one of the most hotly anticipated tech releases of the year. It’s Nokia’s new 3310 and it’s been stirring nostalgic fans into a frenzy of excitement. That’s because they have fond memories of its predecessors, the 3210 and original 3310, which sold 286 million units combined, making them two of the most popular handsets ever.
Long after the advent of phones with far more bells and whistles, the 3210 remains at 34th place on Time magazine’s list of “the 50 Most Influential Gadgets of All Time” – ahead of the Sony Discman and the Segway (a two-wheeled self-balancing personal transport vehicle).
Fans loved the 3310 for its super-long battery life, durability and addictive Snake game and many were heartbroken when the iconic phone was discontinued in 2005. So news that it’s making a comeback – complete with Snake and the familiar Nokia ringtone – have many rubbing their hands in anticipation.
“A lot of consumers have great memories of their first Nokia 3310,” says Tania Retief, communications manager in the sub-Saharan Africa region for HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones.
The new phone boasts a colour screen and allows users to surf the internet, but other than that it’s decidedly low-tech. And that’s precisely the key to its appeal. The people who are queuing up to buy it don’t want mind-blowing apps that offer endless ways to connect with the world – in fact, they want exactly the opposite.
It’s what’s known as “a dumb phone” and is aimed at nostalgic fans, technophobes, people on a tight budget and those who are sick of being held hostage by their devices and want to disconnect.
Launched last month at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the 3310 ended up stealing the show. People can’t wait to get their hands on the revamped retro device which is due to launch in the second quarter of this year.
“Welcome back Nokia 3310,” tweeted a loyal fan. “You have a special place in life for many of us, you will be back on my must-have things list.” UNBREAKABLE The old Nokia 3310 was renowned for its durability. Tests done by enthusiasts included burning the phone with a piece of hot coal, setting it against 1 000 °C heated metal, sawing it, hammering it and dropping it – but in most cases the handset came out unscathed. Will the new model be as indestructible?
“All our phones are tested extensively for durability as part of the quality control and development process – this has always been a strength of Nokia Mobile,” Retief says.
Another strength is its long battery life. Most smartphone users have to charge their phones at least once a day but with the Nokia 3310 you get 31 days of standby time, so you won’t always have to cart a charger around with you. Retief reckons because of this many people might opt to buy a 3310 as a companion phone so they’re never left stranded.
“More and more consumers are starting to carry a second phone – for backup if their smartphone battery runs low.”
You can’t load any apps onto the 3310 and are limited to the ones that are preloaded onto the phone, which include