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 practice. Having simply began a brand new relationship, that is seen as a catastrophe, even in such benighted pre-social media occasions.
Flush with money (nicely, 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 a complete new relationship is kindled, one that may finally lead him to put in writing about cell know-how 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 in all my favorite ever telephones.
Do I do know you?
Whereas 1 / 4 of a century is a very long time in, nicely, 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 style nifty design.
This factor regarded like nothing else in the marketplace 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 characteristic an inside antenna, creating an immediately iconic clear define that basically carried by to at present’s smartphone period, albeit by way of a major flattening-out course of.
pulling the brand new Nokia 3210 out of its field utterly did not evoke any sense of nostalgia in me
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 utterly did not evoke any sense of nostalgia in me. Reminiscences may be difficult 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 below the Nokia license, hasn’t actually launched a brand new Nokia 3210 in any respect. It’s launched one other new Nokia characteristic telephone in its in depth Nokia characteristic 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 acquired 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 regular.
You’ve modified, man
Performing a Google picture seek for the previous Nokia 3210 confirms that my powers of recollection haven’t utterly deserted me. The 2 telephones look fairly totally 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, quite 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 assist, displays its potential to function an MP3 participant – one thing that the unique was incapable of doing. With solely 128MB of storage, nevertheless, you received’t have a lot house for music information – not with out slotting a microSD card into the hybrid second-SIM slot.
One other much more fashionable 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 characteristic telephones, you possibly can depend the standby time in days, not hours.
One of many quirky, youth-leaning options of the unique 3210 was its interchangeable faceplates
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
The brand new telephone leaves a equally sized ‘candybar’ footprint, nevertheless 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 factor that’s utterly totally different to the unique Nokia 3210 is the display screen. It’s a essentially totally different beast right here, in keeping with modern-day characteristic telephones that proceed to be bought 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 acquired a a lot taller side ratio, a a lot sharper QVGA decision, higher brightness, and naturally precise color.
I sort of want HMD hadn’t bothered
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
It received’t be giving any vaguely fashionable smartphone a run for its cash, nevertheless it’s actually extra nice to fireplace off texts on than with the monochrome unique.
Flip the telephone over and there’s one other factor that speaks to fashionable occasions. There’s a teeny tiny single digicam module, which wasn’t one thing that the unique Nokia 3210 featured.
I sort of want HMD hadn’t bothered. The standard of pictures captured by this meagre 2Mp sensor is nothing in need of horrible. There’s a flash right here, however actually you shouldn’t even be contemplating taking any pictures in less-than-optimal lighting.
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.
One thing previous, one thing new
Getting again to that show, it’s essential to run Nokia’s Sequence 30+ working system. This can be a characteristic telephone OS that may observe its legacy again to 2013, nevertheless it’s nonetheless far more superior than the unique Nokia 3210’s Sequence 20 UI.
The house display screen shows a rudimentary 3×3 grid of app icons that can 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 online on the latter is an train in ache, even with entry to 4G community speeds. There’s no Wi-Fi provision in any respect.
Moreover that low-res non-touch show, a big a part of that sub-optimal net 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 will usually neglect how succesful even the most cost effective smartphone is lately, however telephones like this present a stark reminder.
After all, net searching is about probably the most intensive factor you are able to do on the brand new Nokia 3210, with no entry to fashionable functions. There are some video games preinstalled, however they’re correctly old-school.
It’s acquired Snake, like the unique Nokia 3210, but in addition trials for Doodle Soar and a enormously simplified Crossy Highway. 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 a whole lot of sense. Sure, there’s the same old baked-in market of nostalgic 30 and 40-somethings wanting again to less complicated occasions. However there’s additionally a portion of the youthful technology 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 actually 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 out there. The reality is that characteristic 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 significantly nicely both. Past a really obscure bodily resemblance, this new Nokia 3210 is de facto nothing like its predecessor. Its key structure is totally different, the tall color display screen is a very separate prospect, and the OS is from a special period fully – although nonetheless fairly restricted.
As a stripped-back characteristic telephone for contemporary people who desire a compact system for calls and texts, the brand new Nokia 3210 is completely superb. It’s not a telephone that my Y2K teenage self would have recognised, nevertheless.
