It sounds crazy, but the excitement around the old-new Nokia 3310 can be compared with what happens during the presentations of flagship smartphones of new brands. Whether at MWC in Barcelona or at the official presentation in Moscow, the 2017 Nokia 3310 was without a doubt a star. The news about its appearance, and then about the start of sales in Russia, immediately shot up to the top of Yandex - this also says something. So HMD Global and Foxconn - namely they released the new Nokia 3310 - made, without a doubt, a brilliant marketing move.
And although even just turning it over in your hands, it becomes clear that the old man is no longer a cake, it is simply impossible to resist getting to know her better.
Let's not deny ourselves this pleasure.
Appearance and equipment
A simple cardboard box, in Chinese style, cheerful colors, the only thing missing is Pikachu.
Everything inside is laconic: the phone itself, the battery, instructions in Russian, a Micro-USB 2.0 charger and a headset.
The first impression of the phone itself is that it is VERY small and light. The new Nokia fits into your hand like a toy. And it looks very frivolous. If you nostalgically remember the Nokia 3310 as a brick, forget it.
Our hero is blue, a classic of the genre. In addition, it is practical: there is a suspicion that the glossy versions of the case - yellow and red - will very quickly lose their original appearance.
To insert the battery and SIM card, you will have to open the cover by hooking it on the connector from below, and this is not very easy. When opened, the plastic bends and a loud click is heard. It's scary, but that's normal.
Under the cover there are two slots - on the left is a single slot, where a SIM card is inserted, on the right - a double slot, you can insert both a SIM card and a memory card into it at the same time.
The Nokia 3310 has a power connector on the top and a headphone port on the bottom.
There is a speaker above the screen. On the back cover there are, to quote the instructions, a loudspeaker, a flashlight and a camera.
To turn on the phone, you need, as before, to press and hold the power button under the screen.
Nokia 3310 - the return of a legend
Not long ago, Nokia re-released the legendary model 3310 (2017). But few know insider information about the true state of affairs. The company went even further, unofficially declaring that it was tired of the dominance of monotonous smartphones and decided to revive the very legendary 3310 in its original form. The initiative was supported by employees of many government agencies where the use of cameras is prohibited, and this is simply the scourge of modern phones. Also, the initiative received the support of a huge Internet community, in which the phone has long become a meme, and in 2020, Nokia 3310 was even chosen as the national emoji of Finland with the caption “unkillable.”
Well, let's go, let's get nostalgic. How can Nokia 3310 surprise the modern generation?
- Dimensions : 113×48×22 mm
- Weight : 133 g
- Processor : MAD2WD1
- GPU : PCD8544
- Built-in memory : no
- Memory cards : miniSIM
- Screen : 5 lines, LCD, 48 x 84 pixels, monochrome
- Battery : 900 mAh, Li-Ion (Lithium-ion)
- Camera : ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- SIM card : miniSIM
- Wi-Fi : no
- USB : no
- Bluetooth : no
- Communication standards : GSM/TDMA
Find out the price
The power button is located on top - an obvious borrowing from the first generations of iPhone, as they would say now.
The back cover is easily removed - an echo of the ancient fashion for removable batteries. There is also a service connector hidden under the battery. SIM card format - mini. They say that it can be removed without turning off the phone, but such a skill is achieved through long training. There is also a legend that disconnecting the phone from the battery for less than 5/10/15 seconds does not reset the clock.
Quite a bold decision with the keyboard: the QWERTY, which had long been boring to everyone, was replaced with the familiar and time-tested ABCDEF, which fit into only 8 buttons - excellent optimization, Jobs never dreamed of. The buttons are physical, so sensor glitches are excluded, and it’s more difficult to miss here.
There are 3 connectors at the bottom: power, dock and headset - and they are all unique. Such diversity and proprietary nature will surely make Tim Cook jealous. By the way, this provides a high degree of protection, because no one will be able to connect their Chinese microUSB or, God forbid, Lightning to your phone. So the phone out of the box is protected from incorrect charges and computer viruses. And to flash the phone you need two different cables, so no viruses will fly through the air.
The color gamut of the display is very narrow, not reaching sRGB. There is no camera and no need.
The phone fits perfectly in your hand, pocket and bag. It is almost impossible to drop it, but if you do, try not to drop it on the tiled floor so as not to damage the tiles. Unlike iPhone-shaped rectangles, the glass here is plastic, so you can drop the phone thousands of times before it breaks.
The phone comes pre-installed with the legendary Snake and Space Impact, which is much more intelligent and more complex than the newfangled runners and spinners. On the subway, everyone will look at you with undisguised envy. Enthusiasts say that you can download new games, but it’s not easy - don’t take risks, turn to professionals. In addition, you will need a data cable, but it is not included in the package. There is no Internet here, not even WAP, however, as they say, it is “not needed.”
In fact, Nokia, of course, did not resume production of the old 3310, but it was resumed by the Chinese, who simply restore old phones. Previously, you could buy it for about 300 rubles, now the price has increased, but all of China is still inundated with them. So this is still the same “tube” 3310, produced in Finland, but restored in China. Of course, the phone won’t hold a charge for a week in standby mode, but it’s enough for three days. And it is unknown how plausible the legends about its endless charge are, because 18 years ago everything was different, even time passed differently.
Nokia 3310 keys and menus
For some reason, the default date on the Nokia 3310 is 10/1/2015. If I were the manufacturer, I would put the year 2000, of course. It would be beautiful.
The screen displays information about SIM cards, date, time and incoming information. You can control the phone only with keys; the screen is not touch-sensitive, and this, of course, is very confusing at first. I remember Elari SafePhone, in which push-button controls were combined with touch controls, which made it very easy to switch to it from a smartphone.
The buttons themselves are small, but generally convenient. The only (and very sad) exception is the central selection key, with which you can enter the menu. Scrolling up and down with it is still okay, but to scroll left and right, you will have to get used to pressing exactly on the edge, otherwise it works like “ENTER”.
The menu has a lot of things: Call log, Contacts, Photos, Internet (when clicked, the Opera Mini browser is installed), Messages, Snake (yes!), Music, Mobile Store, My Applications, Camera, Radio (only works when connecting a headset that performs role of the antenna), Settings, Weather, Calendar, Alarm clock, Notes, Voice recorder, Files (photos, notes and voice recorder recordings that can be saved to the phone memory or to a memory card), Calculator.
There is also a menu for managing SIM cards, Counters (in it you can view statistics on calls, SMS and MMS, as well as data transfer) and an Additional menu (here you will find a timer, stopwatch, flashlight and converter)
The icons are generally intuitive; confusion may arise only with the browser and Mobile Store icons, they are very similar. The display of the menu itself can be customized, showing icons in a 3x3 and 4x4 grid or a list (taking into account the problems with the central button, a list is most convenient).
The most used applications are placed on the left function button; by default, this is access to photos, locking keys, turning on the flashlight, adjusting the volume, and device settings. Menu lists can be modified or moved around the list.
Pressing the right function button turns on the camera; in other cases, it acts as the Back key.
Nokia 3310 review
Nokia 3310
is a cell phone that was released by a Finnish company at the end of 2000.
It replaced the 3210
.
Nokia 3310
is one of the most successful models in history and the most popular.
It's no joke - about 126 million devices were sold. For reference, the number of iPhones
of all generations only recently exceeded 250 million copies. And we are talking about one phone model!
Nokia 3310
is a compact device with a monochrome LCD display supporting a resolution of 84 by 48 pixels.
Its shape is a slightly rounded parallelepiped, it fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. Now this is simply called a monoblock. The 3310 is a fairly heavy phone - it weighed 133 grams. That's why it was sometimes called a brick. It's no joke - students in classes beat him on their desks and on their heads, there was even a belief that they could hammer nails with them. For comparison, other iconic Siemens
with model numbers 35 and different letters were not so durable and sometimes fell apart in the hands, so there was a specific problem with the back cover.
In addition to ten numbers from 0 to 9, the star and pound keys, there were also 5 functional buttons - reset, forward and backward keys made in the form of a rocker, a “home” button - which served for calls, selecting items, etc., and at the top the power key and profile selection. Apart from power supply and turning on the headset, there were no connectors for synchronizing with a computer, although flashing the phone was possible using the programmer. One of the most important features of the phone, of course, appeared at the beginning of the 2000s - removable panels. Since the vast majority of cell phone owners in general had this model, people wanted to stand out - they changed the panels, put on stickers and all that. The user also has access to screen savers and ringtones, which can be downloaded or created independently using the built-in ringtone editor. Creating a melody was always quite a fun, but tricky activity - it was especially fun to copy a favorite melody from the Internet or from a friend’s mobile phone.
Of course, now, when people say that a phone is needed only to make calls, many remember phones from the beginning of the 21st century - especially the Nokia 3310. Despite the fact that it was an ideal dialer, it also had some good functions. Firstly, there was a T9 dictionary, although about half of the owners used it. There was also a timer, alarm clock, calculator, voice dialing system, as well as 4 games: the very popular Space Impact - a horizontal clone of Space Invaders and the cult Snake. People got so carried away that they sometimes bought 3310 solely because of the Snake. It is worth saying that in later models there was a Snake, but its evolution did not become so popular - the three-dimensionality and colorfulness of the game did not add popularity. Only in 3310 was it a perfect game.
It is worth saying that after
the Nokia 3310
the company had quite a difficult time.
On the one hand, they found a super-popular formula - but at the same time, the Nokia
did not develop and remained at the same height.
Various budget mobile phones - which were extremely popular - were essentially distinguished by the presence of a flashlight or some other simple modifications. Nokia
with a higher class for many years - because when other brands were making thin and light mobile phones, the Finnish company was making cobblestones - functional, but cobblestones, plus, on top of that, they were also quite expensive.
However, a revision of positions and the release of the touch 5800
at the end of 2008, which became popular and fought quite well in the market against
the iPhone
.
Well, then you know everything yourself - Lumia
, the sale of
Microsoft
Nokia 3310
did not dissolve .
And I will probably never forget how I was in the city clinic and my Nokia 3310
. And it was so amazing and so hard to believe... It was my first mobile phone, which I will remember forever.
The biggest disappointment with the Nokia 3310 is...
...lack of Wi-Fi module.
This is understandable, because the new Nokia 3310 is built on the Series 30+ platform. Let us recall that Nokia recently (before the transition to Windows) had four main platforms: Series 40 - for advanced push-button and touchscreen devices, Series 30 - for budget ones, Series 60 - for Symbian smartphones and Series 80 - for laptop smartphones on the same Symbian (and there were such ones).
So, the new owners of the Nokia brand inherited the Series 30+ platform (well, that is, Series 30 on steroids) with a very stripped-down set of modern software components, essentially limited to a player, tools for working with a camera and Bluetooth.
Therefore, you will not find in the Nokia 3310 a Wi-Fi module, high-resolution video support, or an alternative to the Opera Mini browser, and you will have to download applications from the Opera Mobile Store, and this, believe me, is an extremely painful process.
At this point, the manufacturer wants to ask - couldn’t they have installed at least a minimum set of applications, the same messenger, for example? A classic, a classic, but still, in 17 years, a lot has changed in our methods of communication.
What is inside
Under the back cover, which is very difficult to remove, there are one or two slots for microSIM cards and a compartment for a microSD memory card up to 32 GB. For what? For taking photos with 2 MP camera and storing music. The phone itself has only 16 MB of memory.
Example photo from 3310. Not bad for 2 megapixels?
The phone's hardware is identical to the Nokia 150, the only difference being the camera resolution and the ability to connect to the Internet. The Series 30+ platform is used here. She doesn't know much, but everything she needs is there.
A simple player, radio. The menu even suggests watching a video, but you're unlikely to want to do that on a 2.4-inch display with a resolution of 240x320 pixels.
In addition to these functions, it offers a complete gentleman's set of a unit converter, an alarm clock, a voice recorder, notes, a calendar, a calculator and other good things typical for such phones.
There is even an Opera for those who miss the Internet on a small screen. You just have to access the Internet via 2G; no other standards are provided. But that's not the main thing.
The main thing is that there is a Snake here. Alas, it’s not the same as before, but upgraded by Gameloft, but also very addictive. The primitive application store allows you to install Twitter and Facebook, but installing such applications on the 3310 is like insulting its very essence.
Take a break from social networks, play Snake, call your family, take a photo with a simple camera, and get back into the old days. A 1200 mAh battery with a month of standby time and 22 hours of talk time will allow you to properly mock the 3310 in different conditions.
And the quality of voice transmission and network reception will definitely not disappoint - this is Nokia .
Communications and connections
There is no Wi-Fi, but what is there?
There is support for 2G networks, that is, you can access the Internet, but loading will be slow, not to mention how “convenient” it is to surf the Internet on such a tiny screen. There is a Bluetooth module, but in practice it was not possible to connect the Nokia 3310 to any of the existing devices.
But the Nokia 3310 connects to a computer via a USB connector without any problems, and you can easily transfer information to a memory card or, conversely, from it. You can also recharge your phone via a USB port.
Camera and image quality of Nokia 3310
2 megapixels - what can we talk about? Everything is bad, of course. But HMD Global tried to make sure everything was like the big ones. The camera menu has a video recording function, brightness settings, and even photo effects (you can shoot in black and white, sepia, green and blue, and invert colors). You can also shoot in night mode and even burst mode. With all this, there is no focus button, sorry.
It's even worse with video.
Sound and signals
You don't have to be a music lover to understand that the sound of the new Nokia 3310 is terrible. The speaker clearly wheezes, and it’s better not to hear how the headset wheezes at the maximum volume level.
The only thing I liked was how touchingly the manufacturer urges you to take care of your ears as soon as you try to make the sound louder.
By the way, the downloaded melody can be set as a signal for an incoming call, message, or as an alarm clock if you are not satisfied with the standard ones (they are really so-so).
Like any self-respecting push-button phone, the new Nokia 3310 has several operating modes - normal (sound and vibration), silent (completely turning off all sounds, including the sound of keystrokes), quiet (short ringtone and minimum volume), outdoors ( maximum sound) and personal (customize as you want). Any of them can be set temporarily by setting the end time of the mode in the settings.
Software
The re-released feature phone runs on the Nokia Series 30+ platform. In this it differs from the original. The menu can be configured as a list or as a matrix of three applications in a row and in four columns. There you will find the following applications: magazine, contacts, photos, internet, camera and others.
There is no option to assign a separate ringtone to different contacts, but you can attach a separate picture and one phone number to each contact. There is a speed dialing option - hold down the key and assign any phone number from the list.
Using the navigation key on the start screen you can launch some programs:
- Pressing the top button will open the flashlight.
- Bottom - access to the calendar.
- The side ones open up quick texting and open the calendar.
There are right and left multi-function keys that:
- The first one launches the camera.
- The second activates a quick list of access to programs - assign items from the list in the settings.
