New Nokia 3310 - don't buy it
Nokia was at the centre of things at the Mobile World Congress earlier in the year. The Finnish company launched a number of smartphones at the event, but its reboot of the 3310 — the indestructible phone from our childhood that came with Snake installed — ended up hogging all the limelight. In the days to follow, the Nokia 3310 generated a lot of interest, and its makers have garnered many favourable headlines for this nostalgia-evoking phone.
For its part, the HMD Global-powered Nokia has launched a reboot of the 3310 that is not only high on nostalgia, but also brings to the table some new features, along with all that which made it great in the first place.
Having said that, now that the phone is available for sale in India, many have questioned the lack of several important features. The phone has been met with mixed reviews as users have been left unimpressed with a few bottlenecks. Here are five reasons why you shouldn't buy the 3310's reboot:
1) Price
The biggest factor that goes against the phone is its price. Though Rs 3,310 for a phone seems like an attractive price, but a quick look at the competition will reveal that there are phones available in the market which are high on features, but still lighter on your pocket than the Nokia 3310.
By choosing the particular price point, Nokia has left the 3310 to fight against entry-level smartphones that come equipped with much better features. Considering what the phone brings to the table and what it doesn't, the 3310 feels slightly overpriced for the Indian market, where phones with better features can be bought for as low as Rs 1,000.
2) Lack of popular apps
The phone comes pre-installed with a number of applications, but Nokia's decision to not support popular apps like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter have seriously crippled the chances of success for the phone. Facebook has a database of a million users, while WhatsApp has replaced texts for many. Nokia 3310's lack of popular apps like these will be a deal-breaker for many customers.
3) No 4G and Wi-Fi
The 3310 only supports 2G basebands and surprisingly does not even support Wi-Fi connectivity. In times of ultra-fast broadband connectivity and 4G (and soon 5G) mobile internet, lack of high-speed internet connectivity options will definitely work against Nokia 3310.
4) Small display
At a time when big touchscreens with high-pixel density have become the norm, Nokia 3310's 2.4-inch, 167-ppi-TFT display will prove very difficult to use for people who are accustomed to consuming media content on their large-screen phones. Additionally, the use of physical buttons instead of a touchscreen may put off many customers who have rarely used physical buttons to navigate their way through a phone's operating system.
5) Low-resolution camera/ No selfie camera
The phone also underwhelms when it comes to cameras. For starters, it does not come with a front facing selfie camera which has become one of the most important features on a phone these days. At the back, it comes equipped with a low-resolution 2MP camera leaving users disappointed.