Kalema Lawrence
The most selling and popular mobile handset of early 2000, Nokia 3310, is back to market in a new look at about $51 that is equivalent to UGX185,000.More than 126 million were produced before it was phased out in 2005. This was unveiled by the Finnish start-up HMD Global together with several other Nokia-branded Android smartphones.
According to Ben Wood from the technology consultancy CCS, the 3310 was the first mass-market mobile and there’s a massive amount of affection for it. he adds that If HMD had just announced three Android devices they would have barely got a couple of column inches in the press.
The announcement was made ahead of the start of the Mobile World Congress tech show in Barcelona.
Nokia no longer makes phones itself, but manufactures telecoms equipment, Ozo virtual reality cameras, and health kit under the Withings brand.
The new two megapixels camera handset 3310 qualifies as a “feature phone” rather than a smartphone as it only provides limited internet facilities. It relies on 2.5G connectivity – which has slower data speeds than 3G or 4G – and is powered by the S30+ operating system, which allows web browsing but has a much smaller range of apps than Android.
However, its advantage over more powerful handsets is its battery life. The color-screened phone has up to a month’s standby time and delivers more than 22 hours of talk time. It also comes with the modern version of the classic game Snake pre-installed.
