Nokia has announced it will be resurrecting the iconic 3310 mobile phone that thousands of Aussies dropped without breaking. It promises a whopping four weeks of battery life and represents a refreshing antidote to feature-packed, gimmicky smartphones – but will it ever make it to Australia? Here’s what you need to know.
Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the place where smartphone manufacturers show off their latest wares with an emphasis on shiny new features. However, one of the biggest announcement from this year’s show is very much a throwback to the past. Nokia is bringing back the faithful and nigh-indestructible 3310. No, really.
The “re-imagined” Nokia 3310 is a 2G-only phone that sticks to the same basic functionality as the original. It boasts an impressive 22 hours of talk-time and will last a month on standby in-between charges. This makes it a solid emergency phone for the glove box.
Here’s the spiel from Nokia:
Thin, light and incredibly durable, the Nokia 3310 has been reborn with a head turning, modern twist on one of the best-selling feature phones of all time. Boasting an incredible 22-hour talk-time and month long stand-by, the Nokia 3310’s fresh, colourful, modern design brings it bang up to date. The Nokia 3310 is available in four distinctive colours – Warm Red and Yellow, both with a gloss finish, and Dark Blue and Grey both with a matte finish.
Nokia also announced the return of the classic mobile game Snake – which you can play on Facebook Messenger right now by going to Instant Games. If you never played the original, it involves moving a snake around a 2D screen, eating apples and bugs along the way to score points. The more the snake eats, the longer it grows, making it more challenging to control.
Currently, Nokia has not confirmed whether the Nokia 3310 will be making it to Australian market. If it does, the impending 2G switch-off may hamper its lifespan somewhat. We reached out to Nokia and received the following statement:
“We will start roll it out in Q2 to markets where a 2.5G device is demanded by our customers and consumers. We just announced it in MWC and we haven’t shared our plans for individual markets.”
That doesn’t sound particularly promising. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we have more information.
Comments
5 responses to “The Nokia 3310 Is Back (With Snake): But When Is It Coming To Australia?”
That’s gonna be too hard.
Nokia’s owners will want to get into bed with Telstra for the longer game. And Telstra can’t take a 2G device.
It’s got them some headlines, but I doubt we’ll see more of it than that down under.
The 2G network is incrementally being shut down. Why is the point of brining in a device that is going to be rendered a literal brick before the year is out?
This phone is squarely aimed for emerging markets.
Thats what I thought as well. That, nostalgic markets, or people after post-apocalyptic type of basic functionality.
And there are better options for all those. If this came with 3G, there would be a market for it, even for something as simple as a backup phone, but as is, its potential is limited.
I forsee a 3G version called 3315 😉