This ex-soldier's Nokia 3310 has survived war and washing machine to still work after 17 years

The Nokia 3310 launched in September 2000, a year before the twin towers of World Trade Center fell in New York City. And 17 years later, a former British soldier's trusty Nokia 3310 is still going strong, having survived the war zone of Afghanistan and Iraq pretty much unscathed.

Dave Mitchell, a 49 yr old retired British Army soldier, literally can’t live without his Nokia 3310 phone. He says he would be ‘distraught’ if he were forced to give the handset up, according to a Dailymail report.

He has a special relationship with his old and faithful Nokia 3310 phone, because it’s still going strong even after 17 years of non-stop use. And there’s no signs of it stopping anytime soon.


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He only charges the Nokia 3310 phone once every 10 days, and doesn’t miss any modern features offered by faster, more powerful smartphones. He credits the Nokia 3310 for being virtually indestructible as he’s inadvertently dropped the phones several times over its 17 year lifespan -- sometimes in a washing machine and curry sauce, too -- and each time he’s either wiped or dusted off the handset, turned it on for it to work perfectly.

Why is he still hooked on to the Nokia 3310? After all it’s an old phone, has only 1KB of memory, space for only 250 contacts, 84x48 pixel monochrome display, and no camera or Internet? Because Mr Mitchell is happy with the phone’s features, doesn’t take selfies and has no interest in surfing the Internet on his phone.

He even forgot his spare Nokia 3310 in a drawer in 2010 when he left for duty, knowing full well that he has a backup phone to keep him company should his current 17-yr-old active Nokia 3310 were to conk off. For his sake and for the sake of Nokia’s legacy, we hope the phone continues to go past the 20 year mark and beyond!