
The Nokia 3310 had a reputation for hardiness. You could throw it down a flight of stairs, spill a pint over it, or drop it into a pool of mud, and it would emerge unscathed. It was like the Wolverine of phones, and for that reason, it remains a firm fan favorite.
And now itās coming back, almost 17 years after it first launched in 2000. Nokia plans to re-launch the device at the upcoming MWC conference in Barcelona, according to data obtained by the reliable Evan āEvLeaksā Blass of VentureBeat.
The handset will reportedly cost ā¬59, and will be marketed as a way of getting long battery life in an almost-indestructible form factor.
Although Nokia hasnāt manufactured the phone in years, thereās still a fondness for the device, and it remains to be sold through third-party channels, like Amazon Marketplace and eBay.
MWC will see three other Nokia-branded phones released. Itās expected that the Nokia 3, 5, and 6 will run Android 7.0. According to VentureBeat, these will range from ā¬150 to ā¬250.
Itās worth pointing out that the phones sold under the Nokia marque arenāt actually from the company that originally released the 3310, the N95, and the N-Gage. Rather, the rights to the name were bought by little-known Finnish company HMD Global in a deal that completed last December.
Given that most smartphones have a propensity to run out of juice before the day is finished, Iām convinced thereās still a market for high-endurance feature phones. Phones that lack the bells and whistles of your garden-variety Android handset or iPhone, but only need to be charged once every few weeks.
And letās face it, who wouldnāt want a piece of computing history in their pocket? Especially when it has Snake.
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