‘Indestructible’ Nokia 3310 celebrates its twentieth anniversary

The Nokia 3310 is exactly twenty years old on Tuesday. On September 1, 2000, the classic was announced by the Finnish Nokia. The device was on the market for five years and extremely popular: 126 million copies were sold.

At the time of its introduction, the Nokia 3310 was a modern device, with a large monochrome 1.5 “screen on which a lot of information could be displayed. The resolution was no less than 84×48 pixels, more than enough to play games like Snake, a maintain contact book and exchange text messages.

The 133 gram phone was equipped with a Texas Instruments MAD2WD1 chip, based on the ARM7TDMI core. At the time, it was used in many devices and telephones. The processor was combined with 1KB of memory and the battery had a capacity of 900mAh or 1000mAh, depending on the version.

The device gained cult status over the years. The Nokia 3310 is known for its interchangeable covers and its indestructibility. There is therefore no shortage of memes about that. Finland released a series of its own emojis in 2015 and of course the Nokia 3310 could not be missing. The icon is intended to represent ‘unbreakability’.

The Nokia 3310’s success was not limited to the early 2000s. Soon after HMD obtained a license to the Nokia brand name, the company decided to take advantage of the 3310’s cult status by releasing a new version. For example, a modern version of the classic was released in 2017. Initially only with 2g, but later there were also variants with 3g and 4g.

The new 3310 is very similar to its predecessor, but there are also big differences. For example, the modern variant has a much larger screen that can display colors. The new version also has a micro USB connection and a 3.5 mm jack. As icing on the cake, a camera has been added. In 2000, such luxury was hardly imaginable on a telephone.

Old TV commercial for Nokia 3310