Nokia 3310 review reveals whether a retro mobile can satisfy modern smartphone owners

IT was one of the cultural icons of the early 21st century and the best-selling mobile phone of all time.

Now the Nokia 3310 is back and promising to drag us back to a more innocent era, when we considered a phone to be smart because it had to ability to send a text message.

8

We got our hands on the rebooted 3310 when it launched in the UK today to find out whether it's a dream for nostalgic tech lovers - or a noughties nightmare that should should be left in the past like combat trousers, the Crazy Frog song and every other cultural disaster from the beginning of the millennium.

Read on to get our first impressions of the Nokia 3310.

What's all the fuss about?

8

Nowadays, Apple rules the roost when it comes to smartphones.

But in the year 2000, the Nokia 3310 was master of mobiles.

If you want an idea of why the phone was so good, just read this article about a former soldier who's still using a ancient 3310 he bought 17 years ago. 

His phone has been put through a washing machine, stamped on and submerged in curry sauce - but remains in perfect working order and needs to be charged just once every 10 days.

Basically, the old 3310 was bombproof and built to last - something you can't say about many modern gadgets.

Will the new one prove to be as resilient?

First impressions

8

The design of the rebooted 3310 will be instantly familiar to anyone who owned one back in the day.

It comes in a variety of fruity flavours, allowing buyers to choose from red, yellow, blue and grey versions.

The new model looks a bit cooler and feels a bit lighter than the first one, but its definitely recognisable as a Nokia.

The graphics look very similar to the old model and the menu system is almost exactly the same, meaning users of the first phone will be right at home.

Its screen will resolutely NOT respond to your fondling, which is rather nice in the age of touchscreens.

There's something pleasingly tactile about bashing buttons to make a call, rather than struggling to press virtual letters and numbers on a display.

Hardware

8

The 3310 is never going to compete with an iPhone 7 Plus, so don't expect to get a tiny supercomputer when you fork out £49.99.

The new Nokia is bare bones, dedicated to making calls and sending text messages.

You do get a straightforward mobile internet connection which uses the 2G network - most smartphones use 4G now - but that's about it.

It's basic, for sure, but comes with everything you really need to make calls - which is what is what phones are meant to be about.

The battery life is also remarkable, offering 22 hours of talk time and a whopping one month on standby - meaning you could leave it your glove compartment in case of emergency and not have to worry about running out of juice.

MOST READ IN TECH AND SCIENCE

PLUTO PALACE

The ‘Gate to Hell’ once used for ancient offerings - it hides a deadly secret

KEY CLUE

Mystery hills found on Mars sparking hope 'time capsule' mounds will solve mystery

SPACE FRIGHT

Nasa warns Mars visitors face ‘invisible’ killer in list of space 'hazards'

HOLY MOSES

Ancient stone with mystery carvings found in land where Jesus 'walked on water'

I did find it a bit fiddly to write text messages using the ancient "T9 dictionary" which predicts text as you type.

But I think the no frills aesthetic of the phone and its pleasingly minimalist feature set should show you that this is not meant to be the sort of phone that runs your life.

I think it's best to think of it as a second phone or a gadget you use if you don't need or want all the (admittedly very handy and innovative) bells and whistles offered by firms like Apple.

The 3310 is great for students, kids, elderly people and anyone who's fed up with carrying around a whopping great smartphone.

Camera

8

You're not going to use the 3310 to take pictures of the sort of quality you'd get with a Samsung S8 or Apple iPhone. 

But the two megapixel camera is definitely servicable.

The 3310 also offers a clever way of sharing the photos you take on it.

Just activate bluetooth and bump it against another smartphone to transfer your images.

Apps and software

8

The Nokia 3310 is resolutely old school on this front.

You get a few retro apps, such as "convert" which will allow you to turn pounds into kilograms or miles into kilometres.

There's also a web browser which is like a time machine to an era when websites looked rubbish.

You won't be doing a lot of web browsing on the 3310, we're afraid to say.

The 3301 also comes with the famous "Torch" app which shines a light from the handset's rear.

Anyone who remembers going to events called "raves" (ask your grandparents) will have probably used a similar function to find things like, erm, contact lenses after they fell onto a dark dancefloor.

The new mobile also comes with a certain game which is forever associated with the old 3310.

What about Snake?

8

It's the first question people seem to ask about the new Nokia.

Is the new version of Snake as good as the old one?

Well, it's pretty similar - but in full colour rather than monochrome.

The action is still the same: eat the apples and then stop the snake from smashing into itself.

It's good, but is unlikely to hook as many addicts as the original did.

Back in the Nokia day, many of us felt a grim familiarity with the black and white snake which spent its life gorging food and growing ever fatter before coming a cropper by crashing into itself.

Haven't we all been guilty of doing that from time to time?

8