“The Indestructible Cell Phone'

Taking a nostalgic look back at the cell phone that so many online consider to be the very symbol of robust build quality in tech: the original Nokia 3310 from the year 2000. And also comparing it to the 5110 and 3390 models that were popular in the USA!

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● Music used in order of appearance:
"Rotations 2," "Midnight Breaks 1"

[deepblued]

Interesting, You pronounce Nokia like a native Finn. If it comes so easy, maybe You should consider learning the language =D =D

[MrCowabungaa]

My grandmother actually found a 3310 washed up next to the river here. She found out it still worked and gave it to me, and it was my cellphone for years after that. So you could say I got some first-hand experience with this meme.

[HMan]

Fun fact: back in 2000 a friend of mine was teaching a self-defense class, and had a chapter of sorts on how to use your Nokia phone as a weapon to defend yourself if you get mugged.

This is not a joke.

[otakuribo]

Finland makes it's own emoji:
• people in saunas
• a Nokia phone
• *metal headbanger*

[slashslash]

*searches how to destroy a Nokia 3310 searches how to fix a hydraulic press*

[Atlantis]

Nokia 3310 (and its predecessor - model 3210) was introduced when cell phones started to be much more common. It was the time, when more and more high school (or even middle school) students were able to afford them. So for many of my friends it was "first phone ever". In Poland at the beginning of XXI century owning 3310 was like owning and new iPhone or high-end Android device nowadays. I was using Motorola T205 back then, I simply couldn't afford 3310 in middle school. ;)

[peccantis]

My friend had one of these back in the day, she couldn't open the shell with her stubby fingers so every time she needed to access the battery/SIM card or wanted to change shells, she had to open it the hard way... by throwing it to the floor with considerable force. Not only did her shells withhold the constant abuse, the phone was fully functional for years until it was retired for a newer model.

[alastair]

Nokia Smartphones are still extremely solid. I dropped my Lumia 635 down a flight of stairs onto a tile floor and it didn't even turn off.

kinda wish it did break though, that way i wouldn't be stuck with a Windows Phone anymore.

[TomatoFettuccini]

My 5110 got run over by a tow truck. Don't worry though, the truck was fine.

[Meswan]

I half-expected him to hit the phone with a hammer when he set it down at the very end

[ashleyspratlin]

The Nokia 3310 was the first phone I ever owned. I lost it in a fire that burnt down our trailer.

Nearly a decade later, I came back to the burn site and found that phone buried in the dirt. After cleaning it off and putting a new battery into it, it still came on.

[splicetape]

I had a Nokia 3360 from 2003 until 2015. Had to replace the phone after my network dropped support for it. Three weeks without a recharge. Those were the day.

[Himmelgren]

The whole 3000-series is legendary. I'm from Finland and I've personally owned the 3110, the 3210 and the 3310. The two latter ones were built like tanks. They had no external antenna and as you said, were shaped like soapboxes with no straight angles so they would take any impact better than the earlier models.. I think I still have them somewhere and I'm pretty sure they'd boot up just like they did in the late 90's / early 2000s.

I broke the plastic screen (well, not the actual screen but the cover) of the 3110 when changing tires to a car and really leaned onto the phone in my pocket.. still worked fine though, but that was "a teenager cracking the screen of their mobile phone" in the 90's, which had to be pretty rare back then. :)

Another thing to mention is the awesome battery life - on idle these things would last forever. Screens were small, they had no special sensors, no gps, no wifi, no camera. No instagram or whatsapp or snapchat to keep you occupied.

Does anyone else remember the time, when you had to call your friend's house on a landline to see if they were home? And if they weren't, you had basically zero chance of knowing where they are? Unless they were at another friend's house when you kept calling them through. "Oh yeah we came to our place after school to play Shadowrun, wanna join us? We're still rolling character stats.." *nostalgia feedback loop*

[busyak]

This was my very first phone! I was living in Russia then, this must've been 2001 or 2002. What a legend. Even had some bootleg chrome cover and keypad for it. Held on two charges a week. Space Impact was the shit, too.
Not the most durable in my experience - mine died a few hour after some minor water damage.

I traversed the most wonderful journey through Nokia phones since then. I had a Nokia 3100 (with that crazy light-up 'game' cover and ridiculous PT-3 external camera), a sports-style 5410, and Symbian-powered 6680 (most powerful phone ever, I swear) and even an N93 for a little bit.
Nothing but fond memories! Then the iPhone broke my Nokia streak.

I get truly overwhelmed with nostalgia and uncontrollable grief for the phones of that era. Seeing the ads in a mid-2000s magazine could literally bring a tear to my eye. From the 90s to the mid 2000s phone designs took risks, were fun, inspiring and innovative. But most importantly, they were pleasure to use both in terms of hardware and software.
Nokia was always at the forefront with their risk-raking, bold and sometimes odd designs. They ranged wildly, from appealing and soft, to hip and colourful, to wildly customisable to sharp and abrasive.

In the early 2000s, there were models with a unique, useless yet gratifying quirk - I remember my sister had a 2100 that had a little window on the back cover, to frame a photo. 8910 and the stainless steel 8800 were aimed at the luxury/business market. The 3200 had unique, vertical oval buttons and completely customisable paper designs that could be placed under the translucent covers. 5510 and 3300 were the first qwerty candy bar phones. The thin 8210 was the smallest phone available when it launched. I hold its successor, the 8310, to be one of the most beautiful phones ever produced. There was the buttonless 7280, the 3650 with the rotary dial keypad, the 6800, which bridged the gap between candy bar and the qwery phone, and the 7600, which I struggle to even describe.

My new phone's just a black piece of glass. my last three were the same.
And the worst thing is that I spend much more time staring at it than I ever did with any of my beloved Nokias.

[helmgimble]

I couldn't understand how you hadn't come across a 3310 until you mentioned they weren't sold in USA. They were everywhere in Australia

[skuppejou]

As stupid children we used to throw these on the football field to see who got it the furthest with most bounces. The worst outcome was that the battery fell out. Stuck it back in and kept going.

[ProtoMario]

No joke, had one of these in Afghanistan in 2009

[kirbsmeister]

The design still seems quite appealing in 2019

[mjbraighboy]

Fun fact: the famous Nokia ringtone was created by Thomas Dolby, the guy who did "She Blinded Me With Science." I personally owned a 3360 back in 2002. I was a sophomore in high school and I remember having to write an essay for my parents as to why I needed a phone.

[invalid_user_handle]

The Nokia 3310.
Light As A Feather,
Though As A Diamond.