> While the Memes generally refer to the 3210 or the 3310, the classic 5110 is no less a condender for most robust general use mobile phone available.
The reason for that (I think) is not that the 5110 is less robust, but that the 3210 and 3310 were much more widespread - they came onto the market when mobile phones really started to become widespread, while the 5110 (their predecessor), with its stub antenna and bulkier size, looks a bit like the last representative of the previous era...
Totally! When I got my Nokia 5146 (still basically a 5110) - you had to pay I think £50 for the phone, plus the contract of £15 a month.
A month or two later you could get the 3210 for free, plus a better contract from orange, that took advantage of the MMS options - plus had the programmable ringtones which was soooooo much cooler than the 5110.
I was lucky to jump from the 5110 to the 8210, and then to a 8250 which I adored and used on an off through to 2007 - when I moved to the E61 then e71 - which both still hold a very special place in my heart!
3210 did not support MMS, but EMS with some semi-proprietary extensions. Sending images and ringtones over EMS was generally not interoperable between different vendors.
MMS is much later technology where the user data go over HTTP, which implies at least WAP support and GPRS to be really practical.
You are totally correct - I was thinking of 'picture messages' which this could send. I was only a little jealous of the 3210 as i thought it was quite ugly really, but the 3310 seemed a heap better, especially with the blue led (which is what sold me on the 8250).
At the height of Nokia, nearly half of all cell phones worldwide was Nokia phones with 3210 and 3310 being the most popular models by far.
With stats like that, it is no wonder that Nokia leadership thought they had cell phones figured out and ended up completely oblivious to the challenge the iPhone presented.
The reason for that (I think) is not that the 5110 is less robust, but that the 3210 and 3310 were much more widespread - they came onto the market when mobile phones really started to become widespread, while the 5110 (their predecessor), with its stub antenna and bulkier size, looks a bit like the last representative of the previous era...