Blast from the past: the return of a popular dumbphone

It's a new twist on an old classic. 

Seventeen years after its debut as a sturdy, indestructible device, on Sunday Nokia rolled out its once-popular cellphone: the Nokia 3310. 

Compared to the original, it's got a much bigger screen; a larger battery; it's slimmer; and it comes with a camera attached to the back. The updated version also comes in fetching new colors: yellow and red, in addition to the standard blue.  

Those who remember the first generation of the Nokia 3310 will have no trouble with the new version, says Ian Bogost, a professor of media studies and computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. 

"With its distinctive style — and it's like a classic car or landmark building — it kind of burned its form into your mind," he says. 

Fans of the original may be pleased by the updates and the simplicity. 

The market for non-smartphones hasn't vanished, even though it's not talked about very much. "It's certainly been supplanted, largely, by smartphones," says Bogost. But "when you have a phone like this that is cheap, it's rugged, it's simple … it might be better suited for certain users and uses than a smartphone."     

The target audience may be people who don't want to be tethered to their smartphones. "Maybe you want a phone for emergencies to leave in the car. … Maybe you want one to take with you when you go camping, or rafting, somewhere where you're afraid your thousand-dollar phone might get damaged. Maybe you want to take one to a concert or a sporting event where it could get stolen [and] you just don't want to worry about it."

There you have it: a dumbphone for 2017.