So no more Nokia

Well it has been a long relationship but it’s over.

My flirtation with Nokia which has lasted for almost two decades has ended.

And I have to say that if there were one available from my phone supplier I would happily continue the tryst.

But alas not.

The acquisition of the first clockwork Nokia was more accident than a purposeful choice.

Back then I had little idea about make, specification or design.

You made a phone call agreed the price, the plan and didn’t even get a choice over the colour.

That said when that first Nokia arrived I was hooked.

I liked the design, the ease with which you could use it and above all if you dropped it, it just bounced.

Added to which it had a battery which lasted all day and into the next two, and it played Snake.

What more could you ask of it?

Nor did its successors disappoint me and when I finally made the switch to smart I continued to be very pleased.

But the last one creaks and doth protest, so I have moved on.

I did have a brief flirtation with another older Nokia which belonged to Simone and came from Italy but its battery was tired despite constant recharging and by then I could see the logic of a machine which did emails, social media and allowed you to find out the weather in Scunthorpe as well as Naples.

So that is it ........... a little bit of personal history, no more no less.  And bound between the four is pretty much the history of the pocket portable, communication device which would have made Dan Dare and Captain Kirk proud to have used one.

Pictures; Nokia phones circa 1998-2015 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The Nokia 3310 ....... the comeback kid

Now here is a little bit of history which I like.

The Nokia 3310 will soon be back.

And this I know because our Josh told me so.

It has a release date of sometime later in the year and will cost £42 and I can’t wait.

The 3310 was the first Nokia I owned and I loved it.

You could drop it and it just bounced, had a battery that didn’t die in half an hour and played Snake.

It saw me through the early years of the new century and I only reluctantly upgraded.

And I stuck with Nokia even after I washed that replacement phone two years ago and finally entered the age of the Smart phone.

That said when Simone got a new mobile I managed to persuade him to part with his old 3310.

Given that he is Italian and the phone was bought in Italy it needed a bit of adjustment but it works as a Pay as you go phone and remains a talking point when I use it.

Of course it will never replace the smart one I now own, which can pretty much do anything I want.

Although the downside is that I do now have to carry a charger permanently with me for that dreaded moment when emails, facebook and the odd telephone conversation reduce the battery to almost nothing.

At which point I shall reflect on how questionable it is to turn the clock back.

After all I doubt any of us would want one of those small black and white TVs an old BBC computer or dispense with the central heating.

Ah I hear you mutter “just because we can do something doesn’t always mean we should” which the industrialists and politicians were all well aware of back in the 1960s when it first became possible to fully automate a car assembly line.

Sadly today the advance of technology in certain sectors has been allowed to go ahead without fully exploring the social impact.

So yes I will go for the new 3310 when it comes out but more as a toy with a bit of nostalgia than a practical part of my 21st century life.

And I will also keep Simone’s because that is the real thing.

Pictures; Nokia 3310 & 6310, 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*The Story of a Nokia 3310, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20Nokia%203310

Bidding farewell to a clockwork Nokia

The future as seen in 1951

Now I went looking in my collection of Eagle comics today for an image of Dan Dare Pilot of the Future using a hand held communicator which was usually featured as a watch you could talk into.

I could of course have used one of the shots from Star Trek but the franchise quite rightly is very protective about its copyright and any way Dan Dare was a round in the 1950s when the idea of such devices was still reckoned to be either daft or so far into the future as to dismissed.

All of which is a lead into the fact that I have now become the owner of a smart phone.

For years I clung to my old clockwork Nokia and even had a flirtation with the ancient Nokia 3310 but in my heart of hearts I knew the future lay with something bright and new which would connect to the internet, let me wander across social networks and of course let me make a phone call.

To be fair my last Nokia would allow internet access but it seemed more effort to use it and it confused me.

So I stuck with a phone which just bounced if you dropped it, had a battery which lasted all day and played Snake.

A little bit of my future, 2015

But even dinosaur mobiles do not perform well after being through the washing machine on a 45 minute wash.

The bag of rice, and the gentle warm rays of an April day did nothing to bring it back to life and so I have joined Dan Dare, Captain Kirk and pretty much everyone on the planet and can now communicate in several different ways almost at the same time.

That said it remains a painful learning curve and one which continues to impress on me that I may not be that smart to operate a smart phone.

A sad fact illustrated by my discovery that having registered the sim I should turn the phone off and on again to become linked to my provider.  This I discovered only after a day of waiting.

And the point of the story?

Well I suppose it is that simple one that all technologies and message systems have their day.  I no longer listen to the wireless, await news delivered by the telegram and can only just remember a TV which had just two channels which changed by operating a dial on the set and offered no colour.

Pictures; detail from the Red Moon Mystery, Eagle Comic, October 5, 1951, Vol 2 Nu 26, and the Nokia Luminia 635 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

On washing a Nokia 6310

Today I washed my phone.

It was of course not prompted by a desire to give it a clean or even to test out how a fifteen year old Nokia hand set survives a 54 minute number 3 wash cycle.

It was instead just a daft mistake and is really a reminder of how checking in the pockets is a sensible thing to do.

And of course it raises again just how much we have all become reliant on these hand held communication devices.

Now using a telephone box won’t be that much of a hassle but I fear that for a while at least I shall be deaf to the world added to which we will have to make arrangements when we are both out in town as to where we will meet and when, rather than rely on a quick call.

Not that this will be that much of a chore it is after all how have we all got by before the mobile.

A little of me wonders whether given its very basic nature my Nokia might just come through after a long period in the sun.

In the meantime I could revert to my Nokia 3310* which has the added advantage that its battery lasts forever, it bounces when you drop it and it plays Snake.

Alternatively perhaps it is time to explore smart phones, which because they are bigger than my Nokia are less likely to be forgotten in a pocket on wash day.

We shall see.

Picture; Nokia 6310, 2015 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*The Story of a Nokia 3310, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20Nokia%203310

The story of a Nokia 3310 part 4 ....... just how do you turn off predictive texting?

I have never been a fan of predictive text, more so when the mobile I am using is fifteen years old and I have long since forgotten how you navigate the menu.

But having become the proud owner of such an ancient but stylish and iconic phone I was determined to rediscover what to do.

Now when I owned a 3310 I have to confess I found it difficult to turn off that annoying aid to speed texting so I faced the task with little hope of a successful outcome.

But having obtained a charger for the machine, got my provider to send me a free sim card and successfully activated the card and added top up I was not about to give up.

Of course the manual would help but I had long lost mine and the machine I was about to play with came from Italy and I knew Simone had long since got rid of his manual.

But a manual I found by that simple process of going on line and typing “Nokia 3310 instruction manual.”

Now for someone who often downloads old and forgotten books which have been gathering dust on a library shelf in a university somewhere in the mid West of the USA I shouldn’t have been surprised.

But I was, thereby making the point of the story which is that almost anything can be found on that electonic highway of knowledge.

So predictive texting turned off, phone fully charged and I am about to embark on sending messages from the year 2000.

Of course there is that serious point that as technology whizzes along there is that danger that we will loose the keys to unlocking what we have so carefully placed in an electronic place.

Many years ago the BBC committed a vast amount of data to a system which became obsolete and which for a long time meant that it was inaccessible.

And I wounder how long it will be before the operating platforms and software we use to store so much that we cherish will also be unobtainable.

Not so a book of a photograph album, which sits there on that dusty shelf and just requires yo to open it.

Ah well there must be a lesson there but in the meantime how neat of the electronic information highway of the 21st century to provide me with a solution to a problem of one from a past age.

Picture; Simone’s Nokia 3310, 2011 from the collection of Andrew Simpson.

The story of a Nokia 3310 part 3 ....... waiting for the bits

Back about to connect with the world

Now as phones go the Nokia 3310 is as obsolete as our old valve wireless and sits in the history of mobile communication somewhere in the Dark Ages.

But long after the pop up hand set, or all the variations of smart phones have had their day there will be a place for the Nokia 3310.

It was released at the end of 2000 and replaced the 3210 which was the first mass market mobile with an internal antenna, allowed you to send preinstalled pictures and played Snake.

I think mine was a 3310 but it is just possible it was a 3210, but we are talking a long time ago and it may even be that I upgraded.

Either way I have decided to downgrade to the 3310 which is perhaps no great slide back into history given that my present phone is a 6310 which already puts me walking with dinosaurs.

My old 3310 long went, having been lent to two of my eldest sons when their more clever phones gave up the ghost.  It was much knocked about and finally was held together by celotape, but still it worked, until finally with no back, chipped and scratched it was lost.

So this relic of a past age which I shall be using belonged to Simone who would have bought it sometime around 2000 in Varese a small town an hour from Milan.

It did for him for 14 years and now sits in our house waiting for the bits to bring it back to life.

Already I have the sim card and eagerly await a charger which with luck will be here within the week.

Discarded and forgotten

All of which may seem a non story but the 3310 was and is a piece of history.  Its predecessor the 3210 sold 160 million while it sold 126 million and both are still fondly remembered.

And the general consensus has been that it is a pretty neat idea to bring such a stylish and historic phone out of the past and while I may not be able to find out the price of fish in Rome, or the best route to Halifax, the battery on my 3210 will not run out by midday, when I drop it it it will just bounce and yes I will in the absence of Wi fi and internet just sit and play Snake.

So a new lease of life for an old favourite which will be better than the assortment of discarded phones I found in a draw.

All were owned by various members of the family and all abandoned for  sleeker and more expensive models.

Now there is the germ of another story.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Downgrading to a Nokia 3310 and stepping back into history

Now I am minded to change my mobile but unlike most people I am down grading.

For years I have been happy with my old Nokia 6310.

It does the biz, allowing me to phone and text people, with a battery which doesn’t run out by dinner time and most importantly if you drop it just bounces.

I did try a smart version but discovered I was not smart enough to use it.

And now it is time to change so as Tina’s dad has just upgraded I am the proud owner of his Nokia 3310.

It was a model I once possessed and I rather think it will become my new phone,

It is even more robust than my current one and has two added bonuses which are that it is from Italy and it plays Snake.

At which point I could reflect on the massive changes in telephones and mobiles but that is for another time.

Picture; Nokia 3310 circa 2000 from the collection oof Andrew Simpson 

Pictures from Sardinia, an old Nokia and an evening out with friends

I have been thinking of images that sum up our stay in Alghero and it is this old classic Nokia that I have chosen first.

Now I wrote in praise of this early classic Nokia back in February, and rather thought that was that.  http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.it/2012/02/my-old-nokia.html

But here in Italy amongst all the smart phones, there was Rosa’s Nokia, the very model I once owned and long since passed through the hands of various sons of mine.  It was and still is a sturdy phone.  It can be dropped, suffer almost all sorts of neglect and still keep you in touch with the world.  True it will only give you one game, has a small screen but its buttons are perfect for a ham fisted old codger like me.  Rosa must have had hers for nearly a decade, but then if it works why change it?*

And Simone has one going spare, which is tempting.  I can take it back put in a sim card and have a fully working piece of history.

Which I expect is what the men sitting at the roadside café by the sea front will use.  After all the old Nokia is not only reliable but uses so little in the way of battery that you can be confident that it will not need recharging only hours after you have left home.

Now I am quite attracted to the image of the men sitting and talking as the evening wears down.  Of course the climate delivers the opportunity.  The long warm nights are perfect for sitting and watching the town parade past.  And they do.  It is a very pleasant way to see the evening out.  You walk from the apartment into and around the old town, take in a few friends on the way, stop to sit and gaze at the others out for the night and finally finish with a coffee or ice cream.

On one level it serves little purpose, but it is a wonderful way to get out in the evening, enjoy the still very warm weather and is a balance to day on the beach doing little.  Although on our beech underneath the big thatched umbrellas by the bar are a group of old men playing cards.  They arrive about 11 and will play and talk all day.  I guess in the winter they retreat to a bar in the town when the sun departs and the weather is cooler, wet and very windy.

I suppose they have been playing together since they retired and may have known each other during their work days.  Certainly there is something in that social thing.  I remember a friend telling me how during a ship building strike in the 1970s in the North East, the pubs opened especially early and the men on strike would be in there not for the beer but for the company, playing cards, dominoes and darts.  After all if your entire working life has been in the company of a handful of workmates, from 8 till 6, five days a week it is difficult to break the habit.

And so to the men by the road side café.  It doesn’t take much imagination to shift the scene back a few hundred years and wonder if at the end of a day out at sea fishing there would have been a similar group just sitting by the harbour gazing out to sea and passing the time of day.

And as if on cue one of the men reaches into his pocket to answer the phone.  It is a modern smart device and I watch as he concludes the call, zips across the screen and calls up the weather for tomorrow.  Ah well not the ending I wanted but I bet someone in the group had an old Nokia like Rosa’s.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

My old Nokia

It was so long ago that I can’t even remember which Nokia model this was, but it was my first mobile phone. I don’t count the brick I briefly rented around 1994, it was very heavy not easy to use and really at the time there were few people I wanted to contact using it.

Now I got thinking about phones, and smart phones after listening to a sketch on The Now Show on BBC Radio 4.  It was a simple enough idea, the chap phones his mobile company and asks for a down grade, “to a phone which just allows you to call people, send texts and play snake with a battery which doesn’t run out by lunch time.”


All of which I suppose ranks me with the dinosaur or those people who welcomed the rule that a man with a red flag had to walk in front of motor cars.

I did try a smart phone. In fact I tried two. First I went with Nokia who I have always been with, but the screen was too small so following my partner’s advice I tried a different model only to realize that I wasn’t smart enough to use either of them.

Now one of my friends just thinks they are the bee’s knees, allowing him to send emails track where he is, where he was, and where he might want to go, along with accessing his emails, facebook and twitter. So this is the future, and my old Nokia which didn't even have a camera is as antiquated as the wireless and the telegram.

In the same way my friend Lawrence reflected on the demise of the postcard on his excellent blog, Hardy Lane Scrapbook*, http://hardylane.blogspot.com/2012/02/making-new-archives.html
“The long and short of it is they are no longer around. Eventually I did obtain an amusing one from a shop called Number 68 on Beech Road. They brought an old box of them from out of the back. Who needs postcards now - too slow to communicate, it takes days, too expensive to mail, 60p for the old card, plus 35p postage.”


Nevertheless I did downgrade back to an older Nokia which I now see has become obsolete. It is only the second I have got since that first Nokia and I still remember it with affection. It was not unlike the old Morris Minor car, simple and reliable. And unlike its smart successor could be dropped on the pavement and still work happily. The old one went on to to be used by two of my sons when their more sophisticated models gave up the ghost or were lost and is I think somewhere in the house much scratched and battered and held together with tape.

Picture; A cherished first Nokia