# Nokia is the UK's third most popular phone brand!



## editor (Feb 28, 2018)

Who would have thought it, eh? 

How the hell is Nokia the UK's third most popular phone brand? | WIRED UK

There's new phones coming, including a revival of the 'Matrix' phone and a pricey curved glass Android model:












HMD launches Nokia 8110, Nokia 1, and the Nokia 8 Sirocco | WIRED UK


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## cybershot (Feb 28, 2018)

Think it comes from being a brand people trusted so much back in the day more than anything. Which just goes to show how much being good at what you do in the first place is vitally important, and that the brand name alone can carry the company. 

Not even a Microsoft clusterfuck seems to have harmed it.


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## mod (Feb 28, 2018)

texting used to be so, so easy on those old Nokia phones. no typos. Batteries lasted days too.


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## weltweit (Feb 28, 2018)

I have an old Nokia 6303 Classic at the moment. It does what it says on the tin! 

It replaced an older Nokia I had before it. And I had an iPhone 4s for a year also. 

I just decided I wanted a phone, with a good battery life, which it used to have. 

Next time I will get a smart phone because browsing to be able to find things like phone numbers when out and about is definitely useful. But I like limiting what I do on my phone. Facebook like stuff, and Urban for that matter for me is things I do on my PC and I don't expect that to change.


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## cheesethief (Mar 1, 2018)

Presumably this refers to popularity in the sense of recent phone sales, rather than overall market penetration? 

I'm not sure I'd buy one, but I'm quite pleased they've made a comeback, even if just for the nostalgia factor.


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## salem (Mar 1, 2018)

cybershot said:


> Think it comes from being a brand people trusted so much back in the day more than anything. Which just goes to show how much being good at what you do in the first place is vitally important, and that the brand name alone can carry the company.
> 
> Not even a Microsoft clusterfuck seems to have harmed it.



I think it comes from smart phones being probably the most technical thing bought by non-techies so brand recognition is important - especially as many of us will have been burnt by shit phones over the years leaving us wary of random brands.

I don't think the Microsoft years were too bad from a hardware point of view - the ones I came across seemed well built and the software seemed reliable enough - if a bit limited. But for the lay person that's probably less of a problem then super buggy tech which does everything.

That being said I'd be interested to see how the new phones stand up from a quality point of view - if they're not good the name will be ruined quickly. They need to be careful not to be seen as a company that's just rehashing old ideas which will also damage the brand before long.


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## skyscraper101 (Mar 1, 2018)

I can’t believe it’s taken them this long to work it out that they should’ve been doing what they did best all along which is and design cool, simple handsets with good battery life rather than get mixed up with the Steve Balmer Microsoft shambles.

It’s rather a shame still that when they did rerelease the 3310 it wasn’t originally 3G compatible and this one still doesn’t have the one thing everyone liked about the Matrix phone was the spring loaded snap out function to answer.

(They also need to make these phones compatible with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger if they really want to capture a larger market IMO)


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Mar 1, 2018)

skyscraper101 said:


> I can’t believe it’s taken them this long to work it out that they should’ve been doing what they did best all along which is and design cool, simple handsets with good battery life rather than get mixed up with the Steve Balmer Microsoft shambles.
> 
> It’s rather a shame still that when they did rerelease the 3310 it wasn’t originally 3G compatible and this one still doesn’t have the one thing everyone liked about the Matrix phone was the spring loaded snap out function to answer.
> 
> (They also need to make these phones compatible with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger if they really want to capture a larger market IMO)



They did some blackberry like devices which I loved at the time. Even used to browse urban on one.

I'd consider an updated one if the price was cheap enough, as when I need a backup phone with long battery, I still need to send messages. Cheap smartphones are shit though.


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## skyscraper101 (Mar 1, 2018)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> They did some blackberry like devices which I loved at the time. Even used to browse urban on one.
> 
> I'd consider an updated one if the price was cheap enough, as when I need a backup phone with long battery, I still need to send messages. Cheap smartphones are shit though.



I had a Nokia E71 which was very similar to a blackberry. It was great for its time but I wouldn't go back to it now, it was a little fiddly but I wasn't quite ready to jump on the touchscreen ship until some decent Android sets came along.

Going back to those really classic handsets like the 3310 and the 8810, they have a huge opportunity to play up their retro/trendy credentials on one end, while there's a very big market for non-expensive smartphones amongthe very young, and older people. However most cheap smartphones which many of these people have are shit, unfashionable, laggy, don't age well and have mediocre battery. Whilst most basic 2G phones are very uncool, and lack the simple messaging apps which everyone uses now like whatsapp. Even for those us who have high end smartphones, we're probably long past the point where we think they are hip, if ever they were. We've just all got them. And that's that. There is a massive opportunity to re-captivate the market for both young/cool people (second phones) and the very young/old (affordable sole phnoe) market.

All Nokia need figure out is to combine their once unrivalled design credentials, with a big nostalgia marketing push, play up their affordability and chic design, and add in a little more functionality (whatsapp, facebook messenger for example) and they'd be quids in. It's really annoying that they come *this* close to getting it right, but miss a few key tricks.


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## Lurdan (Mar 1, 2018)

It's not smart, it's not clever...  The Lurdaphone. A Nokia 2600 which cost me £33 back in 2005 and is still happily chundering on. Surviving various mishaps along the way including falling out of my pocket through an open loft hatch and after a 20 foot drop bouncing down a flight of concrete steps. 

Next to it the still boxed Nokia 100 I bought for £19 as a backup/replacement four years ago and have never had to use. 

Nokia obviously can't depend on the likes of me to remain profitable, but that reputation for just doing the job wasn't an illusion.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Dec 5, 2018)

I ended up getting a Nokia 8 after losing my S8 in a mine. Screen doesn't have the wow factor of an OLED and the camera is nowhere near as good, but unlike other cheap Androids I've used, it's every bit as quick and the battery lasts way longer!


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