Remember those days?

Phones had just started to shrink to fit the palm. And call rates were starting to get to a level where we could all think in terms of affording two, or sometimes even three calls a day – it meant freedom from STD booths (no, dear teenager, it’s not what you think it might be!)

And we all bought the good old Nokia 3310. At least one.

Sure – some of us started earlier – ok, are older – than that. My first device was an Alcatel OneTouch db – a pretty snazzy looking but terrible handset. It lasted about a year before we parted ways.

But the Nokia 3310 – some things are forever!

I dropped it from a bike – at a 60kmph! We got drenched in a monsoon shower together – and it probably recovered quicker than I did. The keypad was tactile and a breeze to use – and lasted well past the characters printed on it faded. And the phone itself? I think it’s still out there somewhere, working easily through much better signal strength that it never had when with me, and probably on its fifth change of aftermarket casing. I had done the first change and passed it on to a teenage relative a long long time ago.

Recently, Microsoft’s taking over Nokia’s device business took the mind back to all those Nokias one has had over the years. The legendary 3310 surely occupies a special place in that list. What a phone that was.

And Google tells me that I am not alone – people continue to sing paeans to this super-device well into this smartphone age.

Here’s a few

 

or

or the truly cult status

 

Yep, that’s how legendary the toughness of this very popular handset was (it was outsold only by the even more indestructible 1100 – you should get a used one if you can!). Deservedly so.

And of course, the battery lasted forever.

 

The phone was known to be intuitive, and fast. Yes, even compared to the …

By the way, they’re still selling them – used and refurbished – on eBay at under $20 a pop!! One phone that outlasted the company that made it, eh?