Nostalgic Nokia 3310 Reboot Sells Out

But was the 3310 ever that good, or is it just a case of style over substance?  

Since becoming the story of the Mobile World Congress back in February, anticipation has been high for the updated return of the 3310 to our streets. The Finnish company behind the nostalgia buzz, HMD, have been ramping up the fact that it’s been almost 20 years since the original launched. And to prove the fact, when the rebooted version went on general sale in Europe on May 24, it sold out within hours.

The old but completely new trip down nostalgia avenue

Not actually the original…

The new Nokia 3310 is similar in lots of ways the original, but it’s not a clone. The operating system is the one Nokia was using before Microsoft took it over in 2014. The hardware is, perhaps unsurprisingly, different as well. But the 3310 does come with Snake, but be warned, it’s a bit different from the Snake you might remember from back in the day. 

Expensive, for something that’s 20 years old…

The updated Nokia is pricy as well, coming in at around 50 Euro and roughly the same in the UK as well. And that’s a lot to pay for a slice of nostalgia, and that’s what you are buying. There are plenty of feature phones like the 3310 out there already, and that cost less money.

Epic battery life

HMD states the battery life lasts almost a month in standby mode and allows for 22 hours of talk time. HMD also hope that by using the ‘Nokia’ logo, it can lure those who want a simple but robust phone with exceptional battery life. And in fairness, compared to the average iPhone or Android it does. But when compared to the other cheaper available non-smart ‘feature’ phones out there, it’s pretty much the same. I’m just saying.

No Wi-Fi, no USA

The Nokia 331o also won’t work in the USA at the moment, so be aware of that if you live there. It also doesn’t do wi-fi, and data is capped at the prehistoric 2g level. The 3310 does have the ability to make and recieve phnecalls and send and recieve text messages. It does have an earphone jack though, which the latest iPhones don’t, so that’s something, anyway.