BARCELONA/SINGAPORE — Online buzz for Nokia’s 3310
“dumbphone” picked up several notches on Monday morning (Feb 27)
when the Finnish brand confirmed rumours that it was bringing back
the classic model, known for its sturdiness and battery life.
But don’t hold your breath if you are hoping to buy one
in Singapore. It looks like the 3310 won’t be coming to our shores
any time soon, according to checks with the major telcos here.
M1 and Starhub said in response to queries from TODAY
that there are no plans to sell the phone here. TODAY has reached
out to Singtel with similar queries.
There are two main reasons why the beloved 3310, phased
out more than a decade ago, won’t likely reappear in Singapore.
One, the phone maker has not made any plans to
distribute the phone in Singapore, said Starhub.
Second, Singapore plans to disable 2G services from
April 1. Seeing that the 3310 runs on a 2G network, it would be “a
pointless exercise” to bring it in, said a spokesperson from
M1.
But judging from the positive online reaction and from
those at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC), the Finnish
brand’s classic phone still has strong appeal.
The new Nokia 3310 aims to bring back everything you
loved about those plastic communication bricks one used to own in
the ‘90s.
It’s sturdy; purportedly lasts a month on standby (or
22 hours of talktime); and it has the game, Snake.
Of course, there’s a lot it also doesn’t do. First of
all, it doesn’t boast a touchscreen - everything’s done through the
keypad.
It also doesn’t have Wi-Fi, which constantly sips away
on the battery, so it also doesn’t offer notifications.
It doesn’t even support apps really, aside from the
ones pre-installed and available through the Opera Store.
So why are people going nuts for this thing?
PLASTIC FANTASTIC
First of all, it’s cheap. In Europe they will cost €49.
Yes, you read right. That’s less than one-tenth the price of an
iPhone 7 there. And while the 3310 is so shamelessly functional and
plastic — and comes for colours, red, yellow, grey and blue — it
does feel sturdy. You can’t pull the fascia off and replace it with
new colours a la the old Nokias, but you can take the back panel
off to replace the battery.
It also feels built to last, and has some nice cheeky
styling — the base of the screen seems intended to represent a
smile, for example.
Sitting above that smile is a display with 2.4-inch
QVGA screen which crucially isn’t touch-sensitive - you use the
buttons to interface with the device. Oh, and it’s running on
Nokia’s Series 30+ software, which sadly isn’t an Android fork.
(Hey, you wanted retro, so you’re getting retro.)
OPERA FUN
When it comes to utility, though, the Nokia 3310
actually packs some welcome surprises.
First of all, it supports dual SIM cards, so you can
run it on two networks at the same time. There’s a headphone socket
(hey, it’s worth confirming this detail in this day and age) but
the phone does have Bluetooth if you want to use wireless speakers
or a headset.
There is also a microSD slot which supports cards up to
32GB, so you could use the phone as a pretty serviceable portable
music player.
While the Nokia 3310 certainly isn’t intended for
anyone who is addicted to Snapchat, WhatsApp or any other number of
always-on social apps, it won’t be completely useless to
millennials.
It comes with the Opera browser and supports 2G
connectivity, meaning you can check Facebook, Twitter, Instagram no
problem. In fact, because it uses Opera, it automatically optimises
pages for image size, meaning everything should be fairly quick to
load.
It also has a 2MP rear camera with flash, meaning you
can still take shots and video to be uploaded to social networks
later. There are a host of built-in apps as well. There’s a
flashlight, a converter, stopwatch - all the usual “must-haves”
that Nokias have offered since the late ‘90s.
Which, naturally, leads us to Snake , which if anything
may be a little too advanced for fans of the monochrome original.
This new version of the game moves at much more precise angles than
up, down, left or right, but the same rules apply: Eat fruit, get
bigger, avoid crashing into your ever-elongating body.
There are also a load of other built-in apps that have
become much more essential to our modern lives since then, such as
calendar, notes, contacts. We were also amazed to see an FM radio
in there, with your wired headphones acting as the aerial.
WHO WANTS THIS?
But who is the Nokia 3310 actually for? Well, emerging
markets such as certain parts of Africa for one, where mobile
networks are still in the process of developing.
There are plenty of other use-cases, including
festivals and gigs where you don’t want to risk losing a premium
smartphone. It’s also something to have in your glovebox, or to
give to someone who doesn’t want or need a smartphone, such as a
young or elderly relative.
Then there’s the pure nostalgia factor - there are
groups of people who will think it’s funny or cool to own a Nokia
phone that doesn’t even have Wi-Fi. (Although we were surprised at
how quickly we got back into T9-based texting again.)
From our experience at the press showing, there were so
many people who seemed to love the idea of having a phone that they
didn’t have to charge for weeks on end. We’d hazard a guess that
there are also those who want to be available for their loved ones,
but are beginning to lament the always-on nature of modern
smartphones. ADDITIONAL TEXT BY CHRISTOPHER TOH
A version of this story first appeared in Stuff
Singapore.
