Nokia 3310 Is Out Now For £49.99: Hands-On With The Retro Mobile Reboot

The new Nokia 3310 is available in the UK from today, 24 May, and costs £49.99.

The device was first shown off at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in February and is manufactured by HMD Global under licence from Nokia.

Rather than simply re-release the old 3310 in order to tap into a vein of tech nostalgia, the 3310 has a few twists, notably 2.4inch QVGA display, a 2MP rear camera and Nokia’s Series 30+ software, as well as a microSD slot and micro USB port for charging the mobile.

Support for 2G connectivity is present but no Wi-Fi or GPS, so one could call it a semi-smartphone. However it does promise 22 hours of talk-time battery life and a lengthy month work of power when on standby.

Available in matte grey and blue, and glossy red and yellow colours, the 3310 will sell for €49 (around £40) and will go on sale in the second quarter of 2017.

Silicon hands-on first impressions

Nokia is clearly gambling on nostalgia with the 3310 reboot, as other than a potential backup phone or a cheap mobile to give to children, there is little the 3310 can really offer a market awash with smartphones for all budgets.

Now the 3310 certainly feels pleasant to the touch, conjuring up memories of using ‘text speak’ to fit missives into limited text message allowances telcos provided some ten years ago. The keypad feels pleasingly responsive and tugs at the nostalgia glands.

Sadly, that where the fun ends with the Nokia 3310, while it does have 2G connectivity there is scant little in the way of smartphone functions. Sure, the 3310 is not designed for such use, but that leaves little to do with the phone, than well use it as a phones.

The petite display is fairly functional and playing a game of snake on it was mildly fun for around a minute or so. The 2MP camera feels like a joke by HMD, only not a very funny one; it predictably yields poor photos and offers scant functionality.

As far as ‘retro’ handsets go, the 3310 is not a bad mobile, and at £49 it’s not expensive wither. However, solid budget smartphones phones from the Lenovo-owned Motorola for around £30 more raises the question as to why one would purchase the 3310 other than as nostalgic stocking filler.

However, what it does do is serve as a means to attract attention to the rebooted HMD Nokia brand, and encourage punters to take a look at the trio of affordable Android smartphones the company has revealed.

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