Whilst walking around the expansive halls here at Mobile World Congress, I couldn’t help but think about the re-release of the Nokia 3310. Why? Well, here in the Fira Gran Via it’s all about the future of mobile, not the past. Stands are pushing “5G” (even though nobody quite knows what that is just yet) and showing off the latest smartphone innovations. It’s all about the next big leap – not something we’re perhaps viewing through rose-tinted glasses.
Yet, the Nokia 3310 has got a LOT of interest. Here’s the stand at 7PM last night. 7PM. A lot of the other stands had packed up, people had gone home, but at the Nokia stand there was a noticeable gathering around the retro devices.
So that’s it then. Feature phones are back in vogue, right? Well, there’s certainly more than just a smattering of them here at the congress. If you head into Hall 5 you’ll see lots of feature phone handsets. Here’s a couple from a company called ENOK.
The staffer on the stand was a bit puzzled as to why I was interested in them so much, but they do 3G and there’s dual SIM. In addition you’ll get the Opera browser for viewing those web pages that you can’t really view on the 2G Nokia 3310.
If you go to the Nokia stand in Hall 3 you’ll see that they have a range of feature phones, not just the 3310.
Fancy the Nokia 222?
Perhaps the Nokia 230 is more your thing?
Some of these are arguably better than the relaunched 3310 but look at how many people were crowded around the other Nokia feature phones..
Err… nobody. Roughly the same amount of people that are looking at those feature phones on other stands too.
Why are people keen to buy the Nokia 3310? For the memories perhaps. Whether the “want” will translate to actual sales remains to be seen, and there are better feature phones are out there.
The 3310 though, even if only 15 people buy it, has done the job. It’s reignited interest in the Nokia brand. It’s stolen the show and it’s got is all talking about how phones used to be reliable and last for days or even weeks on a single charge. I guess that can’t be a bad thing, so let’s take a look shall we? Here’s a little video hands-on I did.
And here’s some more photos. Please. Stop throwing money at the screen and check out our earlier story for all the details. 🙂
