Nokia 3310 to replace the iPhone?

Remember this?

Well, it’s back with a new look and new features, it is set to take the market by storm – again! When it was first in circulation between 2000-2005, Nokia sold 126 million phones worldwide making it one of the most successful phones ever. So can it do it again?

The main reason for its comeback is to re-live the nostalgic feeling of having an iconic ‘indestructible’ phone and to have a phone that is simple and easy. In a world where mobile phones and tablets are so high-tech and full of software, it is refreshing to see a phone stripped of all the fuss. The only question is – will it be as successful as it’s predecessor? It will definitely be a phone for those people who just want a phone to call and text – it will be perfect as a work phone, a back-up phone, festival or travel phone.

As a design agency, mobile accessibility of websites and emails, is vital for our clients and their customers and plays a huge role in our design work. So how will the Nokia’s internet access effect our clients and their user experience?  The new 2017 model will have limited internet access, with only a 2.5G connection and no Wi-Fi. This will mean no access social media apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook or Twitter – it will also mean no email access. For us, this could change viewer activity on client websites and our own, lowering the amount of potential clients we could have. The small screen will also hugely impact the quality of viewing websites, meaning the user will probably only see a stripped back version of a webpage.

But it also isn’t a bad thing that it will have limited internet – it will give users an escape from checking emails on weekends and during holidays. It will also be the perfect phone for the older generation who find touch screens irritating and who aren’t interested in the ‘smart’ features of modern phones.

The new phone will feature one of the oldest and most popular phone games – Snake. You can play this old classic on the new Nokia 3310, along with:

• A new colour curved screen
• Four colours to choose from
• 2MP camera
• Dual SIM capability
• A headphone jack
• MicroUSB port for charging
• MicroSD card slot

Even with all it’s updated software, you can still get a 22 hours talk time and up to 31 days stand by battery life! It is the perfect festival phone, cheap and cheerful! However, with many updated parts, the phone will use the old 2G connection, and in many countries including the US and Canada, these connections have already been switched off. As more countries shut down the old network frequencies, the phone will eventually becoming a dud. This begs the question as to why they are releasing it now, if it can’t be used in one of the biggest countries in the world.