Welcome back Nokia 3310 — ‘The Captain America’ of the mobile world
The past week and a half made me feel extremely nostalgic. Unless you have been living in a parallel world or stuck in glacial ice a la Steve Rodgers in the Captain America franchise, you will know that Nokia is back in a new avatar! The Finnish giant which ruled the mobile world, before its painful demise at the hands of Android OS devices has announced its return in style.
In its return, Nokia has unsurprisingly decided to take the plunge into the world of Android by announcing a few devices which run on Stock Android. However, it is not wrong to say that Nokia has been on a high in this past week because of its decision to bring the Nokia 3310 back into life.
The 3310 was a basic feature phone in the good ol’ days where Whatsapp, Snapchat & Instagram were unheard of. The 3310 was akin to Captain America in that it was virtually indestructible. 90’s kids can associate with the device, which in its heyday was among the best selling phone across the globe, selling millions of devices in the process. The phone was also known for its popular game — Snake and its almost never ending battery life.
I feel a factor of reasons can lead to the 3310 putting Nokia back on route to becoming one of the big players in the mobile world. We human beings are a sucker for emotions and it would not be a overstatement to say that people who have used a Nokia before will think hard of buying the 3310 or the Android running devices.
Secondly, with the advent of smartphones, we have witnessed several high end features available at highly competitive prices. However, when it comes to battery life and the ability of these smartphones to withstand impact, they are pretty poor. All the smartphone users can attest to the fact that when their butterfingers gave way, its a heart in the mouth moment, till they breathe a huge sigh of relief, that their device has not broken upon impact. Not all smartphones break, but life was much easier when we were using the 3310.
Apple iPhone vs Nokia 3310,True story
Also, the brand recall for Nokia is extremely high because of its golden years in the 1990’s & early 2000’s. This recall will save Nokia from having to start from scratch. It only needs to create an awareness that it is back to doing what it does best — producing phones. Before smartphones started ruling the roost, Nokia did have a set of sensational devices in the E ( 72,73) & N(95,97) series which people fondly remember even today.
Call it good timing or luck, but the 3310 is also being launched at the right moment. With leading analysts predicting that feature phones such as the 3310 will see a rise in sales because of their affordability, the developing countries could lap up these devices in a hurry. Although Internet penetration is growing day by day in these countries, the fact that technology handicaps people in the rural regions of these countries sets it up nicely for the 3310.The 3310 could also turn out to be a handy second phone to just about anyone who is unsure of the battery lasting the distance in his/her smartphone at the end of a grueling day.
Finally, there is the small thing of smartphones almost killing any casual conversation at home or in a restaurant. The craze of modern apps such as Instagram, Facebook et al. have turned most of us into addicts ( including myself ) where we would like to showcase what we are up to, by clicking pictures of the food and broadcasting it to our followers before eating it. It’s safe to say that this will definitely not happen in the presence of the 3310, which could very well bring back sanity to us human beings! It is fitting to say that, the 3310 could save us from constantly broadcasting our whereabouts or checking mails as they arrive in the inbox.
Though the 3310 is not a smartphone killer, its basic features and presence of an almost never ending battery life, will drive sales and might just restore sanity!
