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Will This Phone Bring Back Our Childhoods?

For many of us, the re-release of the Nokia 3310 is all about nostalgia. We remember it as the phone that lived through free falls and swimming accidents. We remember what it was like to text our crush on it. Also, who can forget that it was one of the first phones to have Snake II? Finally, we could go through walls. But with the new 3310 comes some rather dramatic design changes. It’s thinner, it will come in different colours instead of the classic blue-grey, and there’s a camera. You also get a screen with full colour, along with a slight reconfiguration of the buttons. All this, we’re told, is because Nokia wanted to have some fun with the new model.

This looks tacky now, but back then, this was high fashion. At the same time, the 90s was also the golden age of “ah beng” neighbourhood phone shops, when phone modding was in. From phone covers to keypads, everything could be changed. The more eccentric or tasteful your colour combinations, the cooler you were.

Remember Nokia's yellow, blue, and white backlights? Nokia also used to vary the backlight on all its phones. The 3310, like the 8210, both had yellow backlights. It was kind of ugly, but it was also kind of the reason we loved it so much. Those who resisted the urge to switch to the 8250 with its fucking cool blue light were considered true style heroes. And remember when you could actually purchase ringtones? Normal people had basic tones, but if you were trendy, you had songs like Bomfunk MC’s Freestyler or Top 40 hits. It was only the introverts who insisted on setting their phones to ‘vibrate only’. But whether or not you did any of the above, only one thing truly made a 3310 what it was—the fact that it was built like a tank. It survived everything from rugby games to when you got dunked in the pool at parties. All these memories, if you still have them, remain attached to a very specific model of the 3310—the one released back in 2000. The new 3310, with its modern classic look, tries to channel some of these nostalgic attachments that make Nokia’s phones so special. But chances are, it won’t survive being dropped in a toilet bowl.

This was literally the only way to destroy a Nokia 3310. It might be unsurprising to some, but on platforms like Carousell and eBay, you can still pick up an actual 3310 from over a decade ago. At an average of $40, it’s still a hell of a lot cheaper than what the new, plastic looking 3310s are going to be. If, like us, the 3310 is all about nostalgia and not because you truly intend to leave your smartphone behind for whatever reason, go buy the real thing. The new one, when you finally get your hands on it, might just prove to be a disappointing reflection of your childhood and simpler times.