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Twenty years after its introduction. the Nokia 3310 still holds a special place in our hearts. This device was absolutely adored for all that it could do at the time.
Yesterday was the anniversary of Nokia’s original announcement the 3310. So, it’s a good time to remenis about the legendary device. Basically indestructible, the ‘bar’-type Nokia 3319 sold more than 126 million units. To put that into perspective, thats about 20 times more than the 1st generation iPhone.
Oh, how times have changed.
This phone could survive one hell of a drop and had a nearly week-long battery life. With the Nokia 3310, we never had to deal with things like security bugs, and the buttons (remember those things?) responded with an ultra-satisfying tactile ‘click’ with each press. In an era of trendy miniaturization, the Nokia 3310 was about as small as it could be given the state of electronics at the time. And we all remember it’s ‘killer app,’ Snake II.
The Nokia 3310 had a lot to love
Remember those swappable faceplates? You could switch them out for different designs and colors, and unlike most modern devices, the Nokia 3310 had a removable battery. The chat function found in the 3310 revolutionized text messaging. This is where the public got their first taste of threaded messages, and those threads featured expanded character limits. With this phone, you could download ringtones and apply screensavers, both of which were cutting-edge features at the time.
Remember, simply HAVING a mobile phone at the time was fairly rare. In 2000, the Pew Research institute took its first cell phone ownership survey in the United States. By then, 53% of the population had adopted the technology. After 9/11, though, by the time the second survey was done in 2006, that figure had leaped to 73%.
Also, and possibly most significantly, the right to repair your Nokia 3310 was never disputed. The device’s screws were, and for that matter, the required screwdrivers, easy to locate. I wonder if the remake of the classic phone will live up to its namesake’s reputation.
Happy birthday Nokia 3310. We miss you.
