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NOKIA IS CELEBRATING its 150th anniversary today and a lot has changed since the company was originally founded in 1865.
Starting out life as a pulp mill before expanding into the rubber, cables and electronics industries, the company is now focused on telecoms infrastructure as well as an online mapping service that seems to be highly sought after.
Yet for most people, it’s best known for its mobile phones and while Nokia is no longer involved in this industry – it sold off its handset division to Microsoft in April 2014 - there’s still a soft spot for one of its most iconic phones, the Nokia 3210.
The Nokia 3210 has had a significant influence on how phones became part of everyday life and they paved the way for smartphones to become a part of our lives. It came at the right time when mobile phones were beginning to gain traction among people, but there were other reasons for its success and how it shaped the industry.
Its focus on style
While it may seem silly now, it’s easy to forget how different the Nokia 3210 was to the competition when it first came out. Back in 1999, mobile phones were usually blocky devices with pokey antennas at the top and flip cover at the bottom.
The Nokia 3210 opted for a compact design with rubber buttons and a plastic casing. The result was a device that was nice to hold and fit neatly in your pocket and hand.
Removing the antenna meant a small drop in reception quality, but it was ultimately nicer to use and is a measure taken by all smartphones now.
Also, you were able to customise your phone by changing the covers, something aimed towards younger people who the phone was marketed towards.
Popularising downloadable content
While now we pay for apps and services, back then the focus was on wallpapers, pictures and ringtones.
You couldn’t go anywhere without seeing an ad which advertised the latest ringtones of the latest songs on TV or in a magazine and it was possible to create and send your own ringtones to another phone if you wished.
The phone as a gaming platform
Sure the only game worth mentioning was Snake, but that was to mobile gaming what Tetris was to the original Game Boy.
Simple mechanics, easy to learn but hard to master mechanics, and a style which allowed you to play for short bursts if you wanted.
It was the perfect game to have on the go and since the battery life was much better – remember the hardware powering the phone was incredibly primitive – you didn’t have to worry about your phone dying.
In a way, it influenced the current smartphone games of today, where the majority opt for simple mechanics to bring people in and keep them playing.
Expression through picture messages
Today, we have high quality cameras on our phones, but picture messaging began when you were able to send your friend a Happy Birthday picture or another picture you saved on your phone.
Sure it was primitive and the small, monochrome display meant deciphering some images felt like a modern day Rorschach Test, but it added to the fun.
This importance would later expand to photos and images as better phones and instant messaging apps began to emerge.
Such devices were no longer for the well off
One of the major reasons for the Nokia 3210′s success was its pricing. Normally priced around £100 – £150 (remember it was released before the Euro came in), the device was affordable for both teenagers and young people, the demographics who wouldn’t usually be able to afford mobile phones.
Adoption among younger people was much greater since you could immediately get in touch with friends or family through calls or texts, and the habits developed from this generation (texting, customisation, etc.) would later influence design for future devices and apps.
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The phone’s finest moment was being featured in the best telecom ad of all time :) – “Hello Kate, it’s me, the guy from the bar”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvbujX4hXOg
Class. Forgot that and it brought a smile to my face.
Call me, call me on my mobile! http://youtu.be/__lipPAL64U
Sure as sh!t wasn’t affordable for me when I was a teenager. Only a few kids in my year had a 3210. I’m still jealous of them, those lucky snake playing b@stards.
It was all about the confirmation money! I still remember getting mine back in 2000!
Still have mine. It’s currently supporting the downstairs extension. Great bit of kit.
My first phone on eircell. I used to download the wallpapers, had a metallica one. Next phone was a free Motorola one for opening a student account. That was a shitbox of a phone.
Startac with the aerial?
Sorry it was a Siemens s35 actually http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056824530/1/#post82084063
Wow, those photo’s are stirring up all sorts of school time nostalgia… Kind of sad really, I’m all grown up now :(
My landlord owns every other property in our neighbourhood but still uses this model as his fone (or somthing similar really!) nicely tucked in leather cover with plastic peek window and rubber band on top! Frugality pays off !
Was a Nokia man up to around late 2011 when I switched to Samsung,I still have the very first camera phone that they released.
I really don’t know how they went from a leading phone manufacturer to be over taking by Samsung/Apple etc.
They just didnt have the vision to see how big the change would be. Got caught napping at the top. Happens a lot!
..and they offered too many different models whereas the more successful brands have kept it down to a minimum
Why is there a picture of a 3310 on the cover? Its clearly about 3210
That’s a 3330. The 3330 was white and had the breakthrough WAP feature
nope it’s a 3310, 3330 was a green and white and had rubberised silver buttons
It didn’t have rubber buttons as standard …
That message screen is bringing back all sorts of memories
I don’t know why but I associate that message screen with a bitch who dumped me when I was a teenager. Painful memories!
sexting was invented about 3 minutes after texting :)
Charge the phone, last for at least a week. Great times!
Before meteor offered free texts they used to be 9pence a text I think. My phone bills were mental !
@john doe. No hotlines, just over exuberant use on my part. Called everyone I knew for lengthy conversations which always started with “I’m on the mobile “….. Felt like a star trek device back then. Huge novelty. Call rates were horrendous at first. That first bill still traumatised me to this day. One of those events you look back on red faced as I was clearly a complete knob!
The phone was great until you got your first bill. Mine came from eircom, 256 punts thanks!
£256, that was a lot. You using the hotlines? Did you meet any singles in your area in the end?
Good to see Nokia reinventing themselves again. It was just a matter of time…it’s in their dna!
Why is there a photo of a 3310 to a dedication Nokia’s 3210. Best phone ever!!
I auctioned a 6310 at a charity lunch last Friday and got €200 for it. Looking at it brought back memories. Happy days.
I feel old.
Covers, snake, wallpapers and ringtones from the paper! Still have a 3510 and it still works.
I used to download them logo’s for the screen, I had the Aer Lingus logo instead of Eircell in 2000, I was fair cool. Then upgraded to the 3510i in secondary school, started downloading them polyphonic ringtones then at about €2 each.. Good times..
Is Nokia not back in the handset business after their recent takeover of Alcatel-Lucent?
I remember my old 3310 (first Nokia handset) and still own it.
I still own a 3310. Neat little handset.
Me too
I think the Nokia 3330 was when mobile phone (not smartphones) reached a level of practical perfection. The size was perfect and the lifespan of the battery could only be measured in half-life it was so long. The models that came out between the 3330 and the advent of the Smartphone were either too small or had hopeless internet capability (remember WAP phones?)
Isn’t there still a Nokia advertisement board up @ o Connell bridge Dublin on the northside? The one with 2 hands?
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