HMD Global Hints At 4G LTE Capable Version Of The Nokia 3310
Nokia fanboys across the world can still not stop talking about the new Nokia 3310 that was officially launched at MWC 2017. However, many of them were left disappointed after Nokia announced that the 3310 would only support older 2G networks. If that wasn’t all, the handset only supported 2G network frequencies that are typically not used in the U.S. or North America. However, there is a slight ray of hope for these users if we are to believe fresh reports coming in from the other side of the planet.
The new Nokia 3310 will be practically unusable in many countries, including US https://t.co/w0GTBAu1m2 pic.twitter.com/2sN3EOPy8j
— TNW (@thenextweb) March 4, 2017
According to a recent report by Indian press agency PTI (Press Trust of India), Nokia could launch a newer version of the Nokia 3310 with support for the newer 3G and 4G LTE networks that are used by most carriers in the United States. Nokia also plans to manufacture the Nokia 3310 for the Indian market in India, an Economic Times report said. This was confirmed by HMD Global’s India Vice President Ajey Mehta who said, “We will attempt to ensure all our products are made in India. We will source all our products from India.”
In the course of the interview with PTI, Mehta also hinted that Nokia is looking at the prospect of making a 4G enabled feature phone. While he did not clearly hint the possibility of the Nokia 3310 getting a 4G LTE variant, fans are already rooting for the company making one in the near future. When asked about the possibility of a 4G feature phone, this is what Mehta had to say,
“We are evaluating all opportunity in the market. All consumer requirements are fed up to the product team at our company which then develops the final product.”
Even in India, there is demand from people to ensure that the Nokia 3310 gets a mid-life upgrade so that it can be used on more modern networks. India’s newest carrier Reliance Jio, for example, is a 4G LTE only network that doesn’t even support 3G handsets and demands that all handsets be 4G VoLTE capable for use on its network. So, there is still ray of hope for all you Nokia 3310 fans out there who would love to use the handset on a modern network.
It was just one day before the Mobile World Congress that HMD Global officially took covers off the Nokia 3310. While everyone expected the new 3310 to be visually close to the older model that was released back in 2000, the final product was slightly different and only the keypad bore close resemblance to the original phone. The handset also turned out to be a lot thinner than the older model.
The new Nokia 3310 features a fairly large 2.4-inch QVGA display (for a feature phone, that is) and even gets a very basic, 2-megapixel camera with a LED flash for low light imaging. While the original Nokia 3310 was known for its legendary sturdiness, many people believe that the new model might not match up to the original when it comes to sheer quality. The new model boasts of 22.1 hours of talk time, 31 days of standby time, MP3 playback time of up to 51 hours, and FM radio playback time of up to 39 hours. The new Nokia 3310 also gets 16MB of storage space (yes – that’s 16MB and not 16GB) — thankfully, with support for adding a MicroSD card for memory expansion.
The Nokia 3310 is slated to go on sale later this year and will cost just over $51. Let us all hope the 4G LTE version of the handset does see the light of the day as well with a price tag that is close to the $51 mark. Would you buy the Nokia 3310 if Nokia announces a 4G LTE variant of the same? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
[Featured Image by HMD Global]
