In terms of being a phone, Nokia's 3210 was, historically-speaking, as impressive as the wheel, sliced bread and hair straighteners. It did everything perfectly that my beloved ex-CNET colleague Flora Graham once said the iPhone sucked at: being a phone.
I remember having a blue 3210 on Orange circa 1999. Now, true, it couldn't offer Google Maps, didn't support corporate email, wouldn't shoot HD video, didn't use GPS, couldn't remotely control my home media library, didn't include a wireless movie rental store and certainly couldn't provide augmented reality experiences.
But do you know what it could do? Make great calls, make texting quick, and didn't run out of battery power in 24 hours. It's something I pointed out in an article I wrote for GQ recently, about the forthcoming Nokia N8: the 3210 really was one of Nokia's finest achievements.
A buddy of mine, Thomas Ricker, who writes for the excellent Engadget blog (and oh-so-kindly did this), once said to me that most of Nokia's mid-range phones have basically been revisions of the 3210. And although he's correct, these mid-range phones have always cowered in the shadows of their older, more feature-rich smartphone brothers and sisters as Nokia's portfolio increased in size and scope.
The 3210 did not. It didn't compete with the Nokia Communicators of the time because, unlike Nokia's current flagship do-all smartphones, it was an entirely separate product category. Today, most Nokia phones -- from entry-level to flagship smartphone -- are essentially just different scripts for the same story.
So next time you see a 3210 covered in dust, do me a favour: give it a polish. And then give it to me, because I lost mine years ago.
Agree? Have a different all-time favourite phone? Leave your thoughts in the comments so I can tell you you're wrong.
Nate Lanxon is the Editor of Wired.co.uk. Follow him on Twitter.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
