I’m sure everyone remembers the Nokia 3310 – whether it’s because of its legendary status as being so durable that it is often depicted as being indestructible in numerous internet memes, or being such a big best-seller that they even made a somewhat less popular modern “remake”. Would you believe, it is now 22 years since the legend was born?

Back when the 3310 made its debut, I was entering high school. All the cool kids had one … but of course, I wasn’t a cool kid. Instead, I was lugging around a hand-me-down Ericsson GA628, which the others promptly nicknamed “brick-phone”. My GA628 still had a visible stubby antenna, a single-line display and such limited memory that not immediately reading and deleting text messages could cause an out-of-memory condition. I always looked upon the others with envy – the 3310 was small, light, didn’t have an unsightly antenna bulge, could do a rudimentary “picture” messaging aside from ASCII-art formatted for its popular multi-line display, had better ring-tones, the unforgettable “Snake II” game and cell broadcast reception in the background that would even tell you the suburb name of the base station you were connected to (channel 050).

Unfortunately, I don’t have my GA628 anymore, nor the Siemens A55 eventually I later upgraded to. But fortunately, because of a donation from a family friend, I have a Nokia 3350 (a later, WAP-enabled version for Asia-Pacific) in my possession that I can take apart and play with. Since the 2G network has long been switched off, it won’t be possible to use the phone anymore (short of emulating a base station at home illegally), so there won’t be any calling.

The Legend of Durability

The phone arrived in what appears to be an aftermarket belt-clip pouch with leather back and clear plastic front. Such pouches were common to protect the phone from harm, even though the 3350 was no doubt durable, as phones were not particularly cheap unlike nowadays.

There were minor changes between models – this one has a slightly improved button layout, a two-tone case colour scheme and a picture window in the back which could be customised, but never was.

The body has some slight curves to it, with the front and back plastic shells easily removed and replaced (including the silicone button sheet). This was a very smart design choice that made it both customisable but also cheap to maintain – reminds me a bit of what they said about VW Beetles, as you could buy aftermarket phone trim pieces in many shops.

The power button was on the top and the charge port below, with docking charge contacts and 2.5mm socket for a hands-free headset.

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