The little phone that could..and can!
5/5
I was sent the new Nokia 3310 to stress test it. I filmed it all and came to my conclusion, however when I got back to my computer all the footage had been corrupted. Either the camera or the SD card (or both) are on their way out. Time for an upgrade!
In the meantime, I have a dinged up Nokia which I can't film again as it wouldn't be fair putting it through those same paces with a different starting point.
So here, are my findings.
The bad first:
*Depending on how you feel about it, this could be good OR bad. The screen is plastic. While this makes it much less likely to crack and you'll never have the 'spider's web' cracking across the screen which is a big plus, it is susceptible to scratches. What's more, it does scratch quite easily. It doesn't effect the display beneath and in all honesty, it doesn't actually affect what you can see on the display (depending on how deep/severe the scratch is) but it does scratch nonetheless.
*The camera is also covered with plastic and as such, this can scratch easily too. This is obviously to keep the cost down but I can't imagine it adding more than a couple of pence to the overall cost and would have been a welcome bit of protection as when the phone is laying on a flat surface facing up, that camera is flush with the surface it's sat on. Thus, leaving it possible to scratch easily.
On to the good:
*the battery life is insane. I charged it at the beginning of the week and on standby, it still had life in it well into the following Wednesday, like 10 days!
Being a 'dumb phone', thus having now wifi connection probably helps this a lot but that's still a very long life for a phone battery.
*I got to the point that I wasn't afraid of dropping this phone. From a foot off the floor, knee height, hip high, shoulder and even held high above my head (I'm 6 foot), the phone withstood it all. As mentioned above, the screen will scratch, and that goes for the body too, but it didn't affect the phone's internals or how much you could see the display.
*It was suggested that in my stress testing that I 'throw it against a wall'! This really didn't sit well with me as I was brought up to respect and cherish my possessions and if you treat them as such, they'll last you much longer.
However, this wasn't mine and with the imaginary chanting crowd in my head repeatedly shouting, 'Do it, do it, do it...!'. I. DID. IT.
I launched the phone underarm from approximately 3 feet away toward the brick wall that was running at right angles from hard stone flagging at a height of around 4 feet.
Nothing happened.
A single person from the imaginary crowd shouted, 'Is that it?' and the rest of the crowd seemed to feel the same way. Shouts in my head from the mob with words like, 'harder', 'higher' and 'further' were used.
So with the pressure being heaped on me by...no-one, I retrieved the phone and walked 20 feet to the end of my garden, turned around once more to face the back of my house, picked the spot on my wall that I was going to send this unsuspecting Nokia towards and with the cheers from the non-existent crowd reaching a crescendo I sent that little phone with its 3G connectivity, disappointing lack of WiFi connection but with the much loved Snake installed, hurtling towards its certain and sudden demise.
Or did I?
As I heard the all-round plastic let out a sharp shriek as it recoiled off the wall and down onto the hard, cold stone flagging beneath, it was the aforementioned plastic screen that took the full force of the drop.
Walking up to retrieve it from the floor for the umpteenth time, I knew what I was going to be greeted with. A brick, a dead weight, a paper weight at best. Any of the above but certainly not a serviceable phone.
Buy what did I know? Ah, me of little faith.
Granted, the phone was seemingly lifeless at first, but holding down the power button, seconds later I was greeted with that tune. The 5 note greeting that takes me back still to my first ever phone in 1999.
It was alive!
Yes it was scratched a little and a little worse for wear but I could see everything on the screen. The buttons were scratched a little bit too, but not beyond use and the scuffs and chips on the body added to the feeling that this phone could withstand more than you would think.
It's rugged, it's durable and it will survive all but the most crushing of treatment.
It's referred to as a 'dumb phone'. Well, would you refer to Rocky Balboa as 'smart'? Neither would I, and he could take a punch, couldn't he?
