The Nokia 3310 is a discontinued GSM mobile phone announced on 1 September 2000, and released in the fourth quarter of the year, replacing the popular Nokia 3210. It sold very well, being one of the most successful phones, with 126 million units sold worldwide, and being one of Nokia's most iconic devices. The phone is still widely acclaimed

Design

thumb|left|150px|Nokia 3310 with an official "Sahara Yellow" color Xpress-on cover

thumb|A grey, [[Orange (UK)|Orange-branded 3310 seen from multiple angles]]

thumb|Inside a Nokia 3310 with the battery removed

thumb|right|A disassembled Nokia 3310 showing various internal components

The 3310 was developed at the Copenhagen Nokia site in Denmark and unveiled at the "Don't be bored. Be totally board." lifestyle event in Oberhausen, Germany, as well as "Nokia Unplugged" concerts in the Asia-Pacific region. It is a compact and sturdy phone featuring an 84 × 48 pixel pure monochrome display. It is about a centimeter shorter than the 3210.

The 3310 has durable casing and construction, which is often humorously exaggerated in online communities as "indestructible". Numerous videos exist of the phone being put through increasingly-severe tests of the phone's strength, including being dropped from a great height (sometimes protected by makeshift cases made from various objects), being crushed by heavy objects or being struck by vehicles or hammers. The 3310's reputation for durability led HMD Global to develop the Nokia 800 Tough with MIL-STD-810G standard compliance in mind.

Features

The Nokia 3310's main new feature introduced over its predecessors was a Chat function. This is an instant messaging-like feature that works on standard SMS. The 3310 was popular for SMS text messaging because of Chat and also because it allowed long messages three times the size of a standard SMS text message, at 459 characters. It also featured threaded SMS writing and voice dialing for the quick dialing of selected numbers. CNET remembered Space Impact, a shoot 'em up in which the player fires projectiles at oncoming aliens, as a mediocre game overall but impressive for fitting a mobile device with its complexity and length. It was later recreated for other mobile devices.

The Nokia 3310 runs on Nokia's proprietary Series 20 software.

The Nokia 3310 uses a MiniSIM (more commonly known as a standard SIM).

Customization

The Nokia 3310 can be customized with interchangeable Xpress-On covers, and thousands of different designs have been produced by various companies. WAP capability, animated Screensavers, a pinball game named Bumper, and phonebook (stored in the phone memory as opposed to the SIM card in earlier models) with a 100-entry capacity to the model. It also has the capability of downloading additional game content via WAP (such as Snake II mazes, Bumper tables, and Space Impact chapters).

An Asia-Pacific only version, known as the Nokia 3350, was, in essence, an improved 3330 with WAP, rhythmic backlight alert, animated Screensavers, two-way Navi-Key, dedicated call and hang buttons, Chinese lunar calendar, and a 96-by-65-pixel screen. Some 3350s have back covers that feature a photo-insert window, allowing users to put personal pictures from photographs, magazine cut-outs, etc.

AMPS/D-AMPS-based versions (3320 and 3360)

The Nokia 3360 and 3320 are related models designed for the U.S. and Canadian markets, respectively. They are externally similar to the 3310 and 3390, but they use Digital AMPS ("TDMA")/AMPS technology rather than GSM.

Like the Asian 3350, they include two dedicated call and hang buttons and two soft keys. They also feature an infrared port. Unlike the 3390, the 3360 and 3320 do not support voice dialing. At 136 grams each, they are also slightly heavier than the 3390, which weighs 119 grams.

Legacy

The Nokia 3310 has a reputation of great durability, and many Internet memes have been made calling the phone "indestructible" or "the Nokia Brick" and praising its durability compared to modern smartphones. In a retrospective piece, TechRepublic called the Nokia 3310 "a big tough cockroach of a phone" and praised its "legendary durability".

In November 2015, the Nokia 3310 was chosen as one of the first three "National Emojis" for Finland. The emoji is referred to as "The Unbreakable", as the phone was known for its aforementioned toughness and durability.

Revival

On 14 February 2017, it was reported that a revived version of the 3310 would be unveiled at the 2017 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona by HMD Global Oy, the Finnish manufacturer with rights to market phones under the Nokia brand, forecasting a price point of €49. On 26 February 2017, the modernized version of the 3310 was launched at a price of €49.

References and footnotes

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