back to article Nokia tribute band HMD revives another hit

Nokia tribute act HMD has revived another of the band's classics – the slider phone made famous by The Matrix. HMD has retained the original name from 1996 – the Nokia 8110 – and it hopes to repeat the successful formula that attracted so much attention to the redesigned 3310 last year. The re-recorded 8110 (2018) slider …

  1. Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?

    Those were the days....

    I remember buying new fascias for my old Nokias to make them look like an 8810 with the flick cover. Ahh, nostalgia, changing the while front and back of a phone in under 30 seconds, rather than just putting a case on everything. Buying new fascias from dodgy market stalls in town, rather than from dodgy ebay resellers.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: Those were the days....

      I did that as well. Had a bright yellow slidey case for my 2210 - I think it was (their names were so rubbish). Anyway the one that was ubiquitous just before the 3310, and a bit bigger.

      You pressed a button and the keyboard cover pinged down. Snapped on to replace the front and back covers, and cost about £5 from the local market.

      I've always liked a mobile that you could cover the keyboard, so it couldn't be pressed in your pocket. Had a Motorola MicroTac, that Nokia, a Samsung slider and best of all 2 Motorola RAZRs.

      The RAZR, best ergonomic phone design ever. Some of the worst software though...

      1. Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?

        Re: Those were the days....

        "The RAZR, best ergonomic phone design ever. Some of the worst software though..."

        Oh my god, tell me about it. I was absolutely beside myself when I finally got hold of one of those, then sorely disappointed when I actually had to use it. One of the best examples ever of form over function, which still applies to this day. It is probably still one of the best looking phones I've ever owned, and without a doubt the most awful. Although in it's defence, making calls with one was damn cool

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Those were the days....

          Maybe there's a business opportunity - a remake of the Moto V3. New software, better display, music player and 3.5mm socket, removeable battery and storage, and a really high grade camera. No need for a compass, GPS, maps, or any Googleshit, just a phone, camera, some calendar integration and music.

          Then again, apparently you can'r sell feature phones, or anything without access to at least 50,000 (cr) apps

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Those were the days....

            The V3 was the perfect size for a mobile phone, like some sort of sexy Star Trek communicator. Binatone licensed the V3 design from Motorola before the Google digestion process, dubbed it the "Binatone Blade". Available from purveyors of tech tat everywhere. They screwed it up however... f*cking thing is way too big, almost does nothing useful. Slim sexy and useful? Totally the opposite, much like my wife.

    2. Phukov Andigh Bronze badge

      Re: Those were the days....

      same here, but mine weren't spring loaded covers, you had to flip em down manually, which took some practice to make it look cool :)

  2. thomas k

    Love the Yellow!

    Any word on pricing? A 'vacation' phone is all I need, it could well replace the Nokia 520 I'm using now.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Love the Yellow!

      "any word on pricing?"

      Given the USD and Euro pricing - then probably GBP79 ?

      "It will cost €79 with UK pricing expected to be announced in the coming days."

      1. thomas k

        Re: Love the Yellow!

        Thanks!

    2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Happy

      Re: Love the Yellow!

      Anyone who buys it in black should be ceremonially booed out of the shop by an honour guard of all the staff. Bright shiny yellow only!

      My current smartphone is black...

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "[...] the ability to use the phone as a WiFi hotspot."

    Does that mean tethering for a laptop etc - or can it use a house router instead of the SIM?

    "[...] with plenty of speculation suggesting WhatsApp and Instagram could finally arrive on these budget devices."

    That could provide a cheap one-off way to register WhatsApp to run on my desktop.

    "It will cost €79 with UK pricing expected to be announced in the coming days."

    That's affordable for a phone that might give 25 days standby on one charge.

    1. mark l 2 Silver badge

      "That could provide a cheap one-off way to register WhatsApp to run on my desktop."

      Even at a price of 79 Euro that is quite expensive just to activate Whatsapp to run on your desktop. Much cheaper to just buy a used phone from Ebay or your local classified for under 20 quid, or even just buy a pre-paid SIM card and put it in your existing phone (if your phone has a SIM slot)

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge

      You can't run WhatsApp just off your desktop, your desktop talks to your WhatsApp client which has to be running on your phone.

      Also, it's the Express. They can talk about speculation but they don't know that it's running a fork of Firefox OS called KaiOS which can only run HTML5 apps.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    built-in "curated" apps including Facebook and Twitter...

    No thanks... I don't want to be connected to "The Matrix"...

    1. tiggity Silver badge

      Re: built-in "curated" apps including Facebook and Twitter...

      And hopefully they can be user deleted

    2. adam payne

      Re: built-in "curated" apps including Facebook and Twitter...

      You are already connected to the Matrix you just don't know it.

  5. GruntyMcPugh Silver badge

    I still have a 7110...

    I still have a 7110 in a pile of old phones in my attic. It was quite satisfying to press the little button and deploy the slide with a little 'snick!' noise,.. although tbh it felt a bit flimsy I thought one day it was just going to shoot off the end, and that would not be cool.

    1. wolfetone Silver badge

      Re: I still have a 7110...

      Little known fact (or forgotten) is that the Nokia phone in the film used the mechanism from the 7110. The original 8110 that was used in the film didn't have a mechanical opening system. You had to pull the cover down.

      1. msknight

        Re: I still have a 7110...

        I believe that is the case with this model as well. No spring.

        1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

          Re: I still have a 7110... @msknight

          Definitely had a spring, although the tracks that connected the microphone in the slide were the weakest point. As soon as the contacts got dirty (and they were exposed to the air), the microphone stopped working.

          It was an easy fix, but tedious to do frequently.

          1. msknight

            Re: I still have a 7110... @msknight

            According to this, they are bringing back the 8110 - which had no spring...

            http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-43191571/nokia-adds-steel-flagship-sirocco-and-banana-slider-8110

      2. paulf
        Happy

        Re: I still have a 7110...

        Not entirely forgotten - I found both of mine (7110 and 8110) in a random box in the garage over Christmas. Didn't stop Orange marketing the 7110 as The Matrix Phone. I'd like to think they both still work but they're both still locked to Orange and I no longer have a working Orange mini SIM.

        1. SniperPenguin

          Re: I still have a 7110...

          On Orange, it was the "nk702" (I had one)

    2. SMFSubtlety
      Facepalm

      Re: I still have a 7110...

      it wasn't. a friend had one and after a few months you had to jump out of the way every time he answered the phone.

    3. davidp231

      Re: I still have a 7110...

      And for more nostalgia... the 7110 was Jack Bauer's first phone at the very beginning of 24.

    4. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Happy

      Re: I still have a 7110...

      I really liked the satisfying "snap" as you closed the Motorola RAZR at the end of a call. No other clamshell I tried was quite the same, I think the hinge was slightly sprung.

      Obviously you had to open it yourself, and it took quote a while to train myself to be able to take it out of my pocket and prise the phone open with my thumb while bringing it up to my ear. So I could answer one-handed with a flourish, while carrying a bag.

      A few early attempts at this resulted in the phone opening halfway, and then snapping shut again as I moved my thumb out of the way too quickly, thus hanging up the caller. Sorry.

    5. JimboSmith Silver badge

      Re: I still have a 7110...

      I had a mate who had a 7110 just after it had come out. He was also paying for insurance from Orange and he loved the phone. Then one evening he lost the phone which might have last been seen in the back of a taxi but I couldn't comment. They sent him another one and that lasted a few months before it was removed from his jacket on the back of his chair in a restaurant. He phoned up and asked for a new phone and was told he'd had one, didn't get another one so bugger off.

      He pointed out that he was still paying the premiums and they'd sent him a replacement phone before. As they'd proved that the contract was valid by sending a phone, they therefore owed him another phone. Customer Service Agent says no you get one replacement phone and you lost that so case closed. My mate asks to speak to the supervisor who was called and after some argument and reading of the contract he agreed that my mate was owed a new phone. My mate was well chuffed with that result.

      1. Boothy

        Re: I still have a 7110...

        Also a 7110 owner, it was my first personal mobile (had a few work ones before this).

        I can remember having to clean the contacts now and again, otherwise the mic stopped working.

        Also the stops for the slide wore out eventually, so you couldn't pop it open via the button, as it just shot off the end. Of course this also automatically answered any incoming calls, which you couldn't then talk to until you managed to get the base re-attached! Happy days.

        And WAP! Almost forgot about the wonders of Internet access back in those days :-)

  6. Martin an gof Silver badge

    Might just suit my wife...

    ...who really doesn't get on with touchscreen keyboards, wants a phone that doesn't need charging every evening, but could do with a bit of internet connectivity (maps, email) while out-and-about and can't justify shelling out every month for a data-only SIM for a tablet.

    Pair this phone with a cheap Android tablet and I think she'd almost have the best of both worlds; a phone to use as a phone, with a real keypad for texting, and then a tablet (tethered to the phone - though I think I would prefer Bluetooth tethering to WiFi - doesn't say if this is possible) for internet when needed. She currently has a Samsung XCover 550 which does all of this except for the tethering, which is only available through USB. Works fine for a laptop, not so much for a tablet.

    Just so long as I can delete Facebook and Twitter. Hmmm.

    Of course, all this ignores the fact that five or six years ago there was a plethora of phones that would have fitted this bill (keypad, battery, useful internet) and now there are next to none. If someone would bring out an updated Sony k800 or Nokia 6220 classic, I'd be happy too - I just like the form-factor, particularly the shutter on the back for the camera.

    M.

  7. Philippe

    5110 Next?

    Hopefully, the next one they redo is the 5110.

    It was my first phone, I lost it somewhere in the attics in the early naughties, but I am pretty sure I ever find it, it'll have 50% battery left.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/CSIRO_ScienceImage_2936_Nokia_mobile_phone.jpg/1920px-CSIRO_ScienceImage_2936_Nokia_mobile_phone.jpg

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: 5110 Next?

      Nokia 6310i FTW.

      In fact it seems you can still buy one for 50 notes.

      1. JimboSmith Silver badge

        Re: 5110 Next?

        That was my first company phone, I'm going all nostalgic now.

  8. x 7

    Still plenty of Nokia / Nokia branded Microsoft feature phones available "new" from Ebay / Amazon for around £20 - including dual SIM variants. The obviously overproduced before shutting the production lines.

    Still useful now - only downside is they are 2.5G, not 4G.

    However for a phone to succeed at this bottom end market pricing is going to have to be sub £50.

    Why spend more on a fake Nokia, when you can still get a real Nokia for peanuts?

    1. davidp231

      One reason: Three network SIMs only work in 3G phones, so that's 90% of Nokia's back catalogue out straight away.

  9. Zola

    Might get one in yellow for my step father

    as he keeps losing his phone, currently looking to get him his 3rd phone in 12 months... figuring the yellow might make it easier to find, and the low cost less of an issue if/when he loses it (first two were iDevices).

    Nokia also announced a new Nokia 6 with wireless charging for €279. Sold!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Might get one in yellow for my step father

      currently looking to get him his 3rd phone in 12 months

      Superglue it to his hand., And tell him next time he loses it, the new one will be superglued to his nads.

      1. onefang

        Re: Might get one in yellow for my step father

        "the new one will be superglued to his nads."

        That'll be a bit tricky to use it as a phone, though quite exciting when ever people ring him, and might be lots of trouble using it in public. It will need to be, er, "water" proof.

  10. Inspector71

    Original

    Still use my original 8110. The issue for them these days is the battery. Every one you find will be DOA after 20 odd years. I found a place that can refurb the old batteries so job done.

    Still works with an EE SIM which nostalgically says "Cellnet" on the phone.

    I had a thing for the *110 Nokia phones I had almost everyone at some point. 3110, 5110, 7110, 8110 and of course the 2110, now that was a phone! Pretty sure if you sorted the batteries they would all still work.

    1. davidp231

      Re: Original

      "I had a thing for the *110 Nokia phones I had almost everyone at some point. 3110, 5110, 7110, 8110"

      I had the 6110, which is basically the business cousin of the 5110 (ie with dedicated send/cancel buttons), and an infra-red port.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    woah!

    The 8110 is back? Woah, Deja vu!

  12. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

    HMD phones

    Does anyone have any experience of the HMD Androids? I'm looking to jump ship from Windows Phone 8 soon. Shame, but the few apps I use are starting to disappear, and the phone's getting a bit battered. 21/2 years old and the battery still gives 2 days though.

    Just had a quick look at the HMD / Nokia 6 and 7. Not sure there's a price on the 7 - but it has Android ONE, and they're promising 2 years of updates.

    1. #Comment

      Re: HMD phones

      I have a 5 and love it; replaced my Nexus 4 when it hit the wall of planned obsolescence and I didn't see the point in paying stupid money for a Pixel. If just the screen was a bit smaller (I'm one of those that likes a phone size phone) and it had twice the storage . Just updated to Oreo and Feb security patch.

      I don't play games, I don't watch video I surf and use some communications apps; camera I haven't even bothered to compare it to anything as for important stuff I use a dedicated device. - 4G is fast it's good practical phone.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: HMD phones

      and they're promising 2 years of updates.

      You're using a WP8 device, and you're still falling for this? I have a bridge I'd like to sell you, and you'll be able to use your cut of my wealth as a Nigerian prince to buy it.

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

        Re: HMD phones

        You're using a WP8 device, and you're still falling for this?

        Ledswinger,

        Falling for what? My device is on WP8 by choice. There's been an upgrade available on it for WP 10 for about 18 months. I just chose not to, as Orlowski (and others) said it was a bit worse - and I barely use apps, so don't need to be up-to-date. I like the simplicity of the Win Pho 8 UI. I'll miss it.

        Even where MS abandoned people on WP7 - they still got bug fixes, and 2 point releases (taking them up to 7.5) with quite a lot of the features from Win Pho 8. Leaving millions of users stranded with zero support is what happens in the Android ecosystem.

        HMD seem to use close to stock Android and promise updates (though aren't specific). Hence asking people's experiences. The new Nokia 7 is an Android ONE device and promises to keep you on the latest version and with updates for 2 years. That's legally binding under EU and UK consumer laws.

        You can keep your bridge...

    3. Bad Beaver

      Re: HMD phones

      Also have the 5. It looks great, it works fine, it goes da-da-daaa-daaa-daaaaaa. Internal storage is a little limited but what will you do.

  13. Bronek Kozicki

    list of applications?

    Could not find one - does anyone know if it comes with Signal?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: list of applications?

      State of mobile network regulation in the UK, most mobile phones come without signal.....

  14. Bad Beaver

    Gimme!

    HMD sure knows how to attract attention. The 8110i was may first mobile so I might pick one up just for giggles.

    It's a bit of a bummer that it's such a low-end device though. Imagie the same design but with a spring-loaded slider revealing an expanded, curved touchscreen with proper specs behind it (remember those SonyEricsson phones?). But then we're not in Korea or Japan and probably nobody would want that...

  15. Dapprman

    Miss my old 8110i

    To this day it was the most comfortable phone I've ever had or used to hold and to, err.., use.

    Tempted by this - use as a phone with an android device hung off it's hot spot for errrr PoG..Ingress (honest guv)

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Jailbreak and hotspot!

    It's only a matter of time before it gets jailbroken and mobile hotspot functionailty enabled, if it's hasn't got this facility already... would make it bloody useful for my laptop.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Reboot the 9210!!!!!

    Holy hell that'd awesome! I miss my 9210i... It was like holding a halfbrick to your ear but no other device could do everything it could. I could even send faxes, FAXES!

    Go on Nokia, reboot and Linuxify the 9210!!!!!

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Reboot the 9210!!!!!

      I'd go for the E70. It got the best review ever (maybe NSFW).

    2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: Reboot the 9210!!!!!

      I could even send faxes, FAXES!

      Now I have a mental image of you standing there, giant fax machine held to your ear, as you chat away on Oxford Street - and a trail of that crappy thermal paper coming out of your machine with a loud humming sound and falling in a puddle, thus becoming even less leglible than it already was.

      I HATED fax machines. Even if you managed to get yourself a decent one - it was a cast-iron certainty that the one at the other end would be shit, or have a dirty sensor, so you'd get big black stripes down the middle of the page.

      And they all seemed to be stuck on top of filing cabinets, and have a special mode for spitting one page out of the hopper and down the back of the cabinets.

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