This year's Mobile World Congress 2017 held in Barcelona, Spain brought a resurrection of sorts of a phone model that refuses to fade away.
Nokia 3310 through HMD Global brought back the classic tank of a phone and gave it a fresh update that it is closer to the original. The underlying theme for Mobile World Congress 2017 this year was what's-old-is-new-and-hot-again. It could not have been more apt for the retro classic to be in the right place and at the right time.
Even though it is riding mostly on nostalgia, it cannot be denied that interest in the classic "dumb phone" is at an all-time high. More so, the dumb phone has features that users of smartphones today can only wish their modern phones had. Here they are from seven to 1 in a countdown.
7] Price - There is no denying it that the Nokia 3310 is dirt-cheap. Sure, it does not have the features of many smartphones, but one cannot put a price on positive emotions it brings out. At $50-$52 US, it is more than a bargain.
6] Expansion - with a phone like this, who would think it, will be possible to expand its internal memory via microSD. The original does not have it, nor is today's Apple iPhone.
5] A game that brings the feels - Sure it has an updated version of Snake, while today's smartphones carry hundreds, but playing it via a physical keypad makes all the difference. The game is simple but highly addictive
4] The headphone jack - a 3.5mm jack is a feature that is now extinct today in most smartphones. A trend that Apple started is removing this old school 3.5mm jack. The original does not have this but it is a welcomed change with Nokia 3310 bringing it old school.
3] The brick form factor - the new Nokia 3310 is slimmer than the original and slightly smaller too. The entire phone can fit in the palm of your hand with room to spare.
2] The color options - It has no frills in its color schemes. Users only get four basic colors that do not need compound names to be identified with. You get red, blue, yellow and gray.
1] The unbeatable battery life - The original was legendary for its long battery life, so is the new incarnation and then some. No phone today can last a full month on standby or can claim 22 hours of talk time, according to Digital Spy.
However, there was one thing that HMD Global might have overlooked in bringing back Nokia 3310. It does not have WhatsApp messaging application. According to Express, WhatsApp boasts of more than a billion global users, sending at least 42 million messages a day. However, the Nokia 3310 does ship with access to Twitter and email.
