New Nokia 3210: Not The Phone I Remember

It’s early 2000, and a younger man in his first yr of uni has realised that he has left his creaky previous Nokia 5110 on the prepare. Having simply began a brand new relationship, that is seen as a catastrophe, even in such benighted pre-social media occasions.

Flush with money (properly, credit score) from his quickly dwindling scholar mortgage, he rushes to the closest Vodafone store and indicators up for his or her newest and biggest cell phone: the Nokia 3210. And so an entire new relationship is kindled, one that may finally lead him to jot down about cellular expertise for a residing.

We’re taking this self-indulgent journey down reminiscence lane, pricey reader, as a result of HMD has simply launched a brand new and up to date model of the Nokia 3210. I’ve been utilizing it for a few weeks, so right here’s the way it compares to one among my favorite ever telephones.

Do I do know you?

Whereas 1 / 4 of a century is a very long time in, properly, something actually, it’s not exhausting to recall what made the unique Nokia 3210 so particular. It set itself up for future Corridor of Fame standing by good old school nifty design.

This factor appeared like nothing else available on the market on the time, making even Neo’s Nokia 8110 really feel just like the clunky gimmick it was (come at me). It was the primary telephone to function an inner antenna, creating an immediately iconic clear define that basically carried by to in the present day’s smartphone period, albeit by way of a major flattening-out course of.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

The primary and maybe most pertinent factor to notice is that pulling the brand new Nokia 3210 out of its field fully didn’t evoke any sense of nostalgia in me. Recollections could be tough issues to pin down after all, however there was solely the vaguest sense of familiarity right here.

That’s as a result of HMD, the Finnish producer that makes telephones beneath the Nokia license, hasn’t actually launched a brand new Nokia 3210 in any respect. It’s launched one other new Nokia function telephone in its in depth Nokia function telephone vary.

That’s proper, you possibly can nonetheless purchase model new Nokia dumb telephones, and have been ready to take action for years – the Nokia 3310 received the identical remedy 5 years in the past. This Nokia 3210 is much less a blast from the previous, and extra a case of enterprise as common.

You’ve modified, man

Performing a Google picture seek for the previous Nokia 3210 confirms that my powers of recollection haven’t fully deserted me. The 2 telephones look fairly completely different from all angles.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

The bodily keypad has the identical structure, however above that there’s a brand new directional pad with a central choice button instead of the unique’s solitary central button. There are additionally devoted name and finish buttons every joined by two contextual menu buttons, reasonably than a ‘C’ button and an up and down navigation rocker.

There’s the contemporary provision of a 3.5mm headphone jack on the highest of the telephone which, along with Bluetooth help, displays its potential to function an MP3 participant – one thing that the unique was incapable of doing. With solely 128MB of storage, nonetheless, you gained’t have a lot area for music recordsdata – not with out slotting a microSD card into the hybrid second-SIM slot.

One other much more trendy flourish is a USB-C slot on the underside of the telephone for charging with the bundled brick, in addition to for knowledge switch. As is the best way with all such easy function telephones, you possibly can rely the standby time in days, not hours.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

The brand new telephone leaves a equally sized ‘candybar’ footprint, however it’s about 40% thinner and lighter than its chunky predecessor.

One of many quirky, youth-leaning options of the unique 3210 was its interchangeable faceplates, which enabled you to customize the look of the telephone. There’s no such provision right here, sadly.

Sight for sore eyes

One other key aspect that’s fully completely different to the unique Nokia 3210 is the display. It’s a essentially completely different beast right here, according to modern-day function telephones that proceed to be offered to older customers and people embarking on a smartphone detox.

Out, then, goes the tiny 1.5-inch backlit monochrome LCD of the unique, and in comes a 2.4-inch TFT show. It’s received a a lot taller side ratio, a a lot sharper QVGA decision, better brightness, and naturally precise color.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

It gained’t be giving any vaguely trendy smartphone a run for its cash, however it’s definitely extra nice to fireplace off texts on than with the monochrome authentic.

Flip the telephone over and there’s one other aspect that speaks to trendy occasions. There’s a teeny tiny single digital camera module, which wasn’t one thing that the unique Nokia 3210 featured.

I type of want HMD hadn’t bothered. The standard of photographs captured by this meagre 2Mp sensor is nothing wanting horrible. There’s a flash right here, however actually you shouldn’t even be contemplating taking any photographs in less-than-optimal lighting.

One thing previous, one thing new

Getting again to that show, it’s essential to run Nokia’s Collection 30+ working system. This can be a function telephone OS that may observe its legacy again to 2013, however it’s nonetheless far more superior than the unique Nokia 3210’s Collection 20 UI.

The house display shows a rudimentary 3×3 grid of app icons that will probably be broadly acquainted to a contemporary smartphone-savvy viewers. There’s an FM radio app, which is sort of quaint, in addition to icons for primary capabilities like Alarm, Messages, and Contacts.

Navigating the Settings menu is a little bit of an ordeal, as I found after I tried to mute the hideous boinks that accompany your each D-pad press.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

The one nods to web connectivity right here come from devoted Fb and Opera Mini browser apps. Browsing the net on the latter is an train in ache, even with entry to 4G community speeds. There’s no Wi-Fi provision by any means.

Moreover that low-res non-touch show, a big a part of that sub-optimal internet efficiency (to place it mildly) comes right down to the common-or-garden Unisoc T107 chip that runs the present right here, in addition to a minuscule 64MB of RAM. We are able to typically neglect how succesful even the most affordable smartphone is as of late, however telephones like this present a stark reminder.

In fact, internet shopping is about essentially the most intensive factor you are able to do on the brand new Nokia 3210, with no entry to trendy functions. There are some video games preinstalled, however they’re correctly old-school.

It’s received Snake, like the unique Nokia 3210, but additionally trials for Doodle Leap and a tremendously simplified Crossy Street. You should purchase the total video games, however would you actually need to in a time when many far more superior smartphone video games are completely free, and when you possibly can play a full-fat model of Resident Evil 4 Remake on a tiny smartphone?

I had such excessive hopes…

Reviving the Nokia 3210 really makes loads of sense. Sure, there’s the standard baked-in market of nostalgic 30 and 40-somethings wanting again to easier occasions. However there’s additionally a portion of the youthful era looking for to take a break from the fixed distraction that smartphones now present by getting primary telephones (aka dumb telephones).

The brand new Nokia 3210 definitely has potential for the latter group of individuals, with its lack of app entry and restricted on-line capabilities. However in that sense, it doesn’t actually supply something that hasn’t at all times been obtainable. The reality is that function telephones by no means actually went away, and you should buy a telephone that does the identical staple items for even lower than the £74.99 asking worth of the Nokia 3210.

As for that nostalgia crowd, I don’t suppose the Nokia 3210 serves them notably properly both. Past a really obscure bodily resemblance, this new Nokia 3210 is absolutely nothing like its predecessor. Its key structure is completely different, the tall color display is a completely separate prospect, and the OS is from a special period fully – although nonetheless fairly restricted.

As a stripped-back function telephone for contemporary people who need a compact system for calls and texts, the brand new Nokia 3210 is completely effective. It’s not a telephone that my Y2K teenage self would have recognised, nonetheless.