Remember when mobile phone battery lasted ages? Remember the Nokia 3310?

HMD Global has announced a re-release of Nokia 3310

Back when a mobile phone for was nothing much more than just that (well more or less), the Nokia 3310 was launched. What is a little disconcerting for those of us able to remember the release of the Nokia 3310, this was only in 2000. Although 17 years ago, there is something about that year being perceptually closer in the psyche, at least for some of us older folk it seems. Nevertheless either as a marketing ploy to generate interest in the flagging Nokia brand or the fact its been that magic amount of time automatically qualifying it for a remake/re-release.

HMD Global, a startup born out of the aftermath from the Microsoft acquisition of the mobile phone company, has the rights to sell the Nokia brand world wild and announced this reboot of a classic phone at Mobile World Congress on February 26th 2017. HMD Global’s announcement is for a remake of the phone, with some welcome difference and some features expected to be added but not.

Definitely the release of this phone along with a raft of other Nokia smartphones more akin to modern expectations has done wonders for the press coverage of Nokia’s return to the ring. Is the Nokia 3310 rerelease just that? A PR exercise to get more inches of coverage in the press? Maybe, but it is false to consider that the phone has just been thrown out there without some features to make it bare-able in our modern age. Albeit the sin of no wifi may prove ultimately otherwise.

Highlights:

  • Phone announced to sell at an average of €49 in quarter 2 of 2017 (April - June)
  • Thinner, lighter, with a new 1200 mAh battery giving 22 hours of talk time & up to 31 days stand by time, an increase of 2.5 hours in talk time and around additional 11 days on stand by time.
  • Larger colour display screen (2.4 inch 240x320 resolution)
  • It has a camera and flash light
  • 2.5G support, so no fast 3/4G let alone the emerging 5G coverage
  • 16MB internal memory with microSD slot (upto 32GB)
  • MMS capable!
  • No Wifi :(
  • Opera browser present
  • Runs Nokia 30+ OS
  • Headphone jack to listen to music on your microSD
  • 2MP rear camera
  • FM radio & MP3 player
  • 4 colours (red, black, yellow and silver)
  • Yes it has an updated version of snake to play! Along with those ‘special’ Nokia-esk ring tones

Offical webpage for Nokia 3310 re-release is available here