The still-hard-to-find Nintendo mini NES unit sent gaming fans rushing back to the early eighties with waves of nostalgia over the holiday season. Now it seems that HMD Global, the company with the rights to the Nokia mobile brand will be sending us back to tentative text messaging and games of Snake with a revamp of the classic 1999 Nokia 3310 phone.
We still have one of these, and one of its color-screen successors, tucked away in the family gadget drawer, and yes they still work. Which is why HMD’s plan to sell these as a backup device for emergencies makes some sense. Not only will it sell given the current wave of nostalgia, but for people who find the Samsung wasn’t actually that waterproof, or their iPhone battery keeps lying about power left, a tiny little pocket gadget that won’t bend or flex is a practical choice.
The model is likely to cost around €60 ($64) and will probably come with a vast array of Xpress-on shell cases, and perhaps a couple of features or games to ensure it riffs with the younger market.
What’s next that’s old?
Which leaves us wondering what the next “big” old thing will be in our lives? Surely, Sony and Sega will be looking at Nintendo’s sales enviously and wondering if they can cram lots of games into a Genesis (Megadrive) TV box or original PlayStation reenvisioned-as-a-handheld (as opposed to the many Android-powered emulator knock-offs out there).
Most non-Nokia phones of the time were forgettable or terrible except the Matrix 7110 model, but it is not tough to imagine the likes of the Motorola StarTac getting a second lease of life.
Those aside, record players are already making a comeback for the seventies and eighties kids, but the 90s generation are less likely to welcome back the CD era, and all the comeback tours have been done anyway, so let us know what old tech you’d like to see next?
Photo credit: Alper Çuğun
Source: Tyler Lee (Ubergizmo)
Editorial notice: Source article has been seemingly sponsored by Lenovo.
