From the Mobira Talkman to the new 3310: Nokia phones - in pictures

As the 3310 returns, a brief history of Nokia mobiles, featuring the first brick phone, the birth of T9 texting, the first to feature Snake and 41-megapixel phones

Main image: The new Nokia 3310. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters

  • Nokia Mobira Talkman, 1985

    The first of Nokia’s mobile phones was a car phone produced by its Mobira partnership with TV-maker Salora. It was available on the world’s first roaming international mobile phone network called the Nordic Mobile Telephone service set up by Mobira.
    Nokia Mobira Talkman, 1985

  • Nokia Cityman, 1987

    Made famous by Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev, who was caught on film speaking into a Nokia Cityman in 1989 while in Helsinki, Finland.
    Nokia Cityman, 1987

  • Nokia 9000 Communicator, 1996

    The world’s first smartphone, with flip-open screen and full keypad. It was huge by late 90s phone standards but was a sign of things to come.
    Nokia 9000 Communicator, 1996

  • Nokia 6110, 1997

    The first of the business-focused 6000 series, the Nokia 6110 was the first GSM phone to use an ARM processor and the first to use the Nokia icon-based menu.
    Nokia 6110, 1997

  • Nokia 5110, 1998

    The consumer version of the 6110, the 5110 was rugged, lasted ages between charges and had a replaceable faceplate. Oh, and it was one of the first handsets to come with a little game known as Snake.
    Nokia 5110, 1998

  • Nokia 7110, 1999

    The 7110 was notable for a couple of reasons: it was the first Series 40 phone, had a WAP browser and a navi-roller bar thing, and it was the first mobile phone with T9 predictive text input. Before the 7110, SMS messages had to be bashed out using multi-tap only. It wasn’t the Matrix phone – that was the 8110 – but it looked like it and the spring-loaded slider seemed exciting.
    Nokia 7110, 1999

  • Nokia 8210, 1999

    When small was cool. The 8210 was the smallest phone in Nokia’s 1999 lineup, had changeable covers and Snake to boot.
    Nokia 8210, 1999

  • Nokia 3210, 1999

    One of the most popular phones in history, selling more than 160m units since release, and the first mass-market phone with an internal antenna. But the 3210 will probably best be remembered for popularising Snake and its T9 predictive text.
    Nokia 3210, 1999

  • Nokia 3310, 2000

    The followup to the popular 3210, the 3310 introduced a vibrating alert to the masses, which meant you didn’t have to listen to everyone’s chintzy tones. And it had Snake 2.
    Nokia 3310, 2000

  • Nokia 5210, 2002

    Taking the ‘indestructible’ reputation of the 3310 and running with it, the 5210 had a case that opened in two and completely encompassed the working parts making it durable, customisable workhorse of a phone.
    Nokia 5210, 2002

  • Nokia 6800, 2002

    Texting was big by the late 90s and early 2000s, but how do you combine a traditional phone form factor with a full thumb board? Make the keyboard fold out on a central hinge, putting the screen in the middle of two sides of a thumb board, of course.
    Nokia 6800, 2002

  • Nokia 7600, 2003

    The Finnish firm certainly wasn’t afraid to try the odd unusual design. One of the weirdest was the diamond-shaped 7600, which was big, chunky and difficult to text on.
    Nokia 7600, 2003

  • Nokia N-Gage, 2003

    Part portable games console, part very awkward phone, the N-Gage was Nokia’s attempt at luring people away from Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance. Little did they know that mobile phone gaming would go big, just not like this.
    Nokia N-Gage, 2003

  • Nokia 7280, 2004

    Another attempt at an interesting form factor, the 7280 was known as the ‘lipstick phone’ because it was about the size of a large stick and the end slid out. It didn’t even have a keypad, relying on a rotary selector pad.
    Nokia 7280, 2004

  • Nokia N90, 2005

    The first of the new ‘Nseries’ phones, the N90 was the top of the range with a flip-and-swivel screen and 2-megapixel camera, which meant it could be used like a traditional video camera. It could even print directly to some printers via USB or Bluetooth.
    Nokia N90, 2005

  • Nokia N95, 2007

    The Nokia N95 took camera phones to the next level with a 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera on the back that rivalled most compact cameras of the day. It was a two-way slider with media keys on one side and a traditional phone keypad on the other, but no touchscreen. It was an excellent phone, but launched the same year as Apple’s iPhone, it suddenly looked very dated.
    Nokia N95, 2007

  • Nokia Lumia 800, 2011

    The first of Nokia’s Windows Phones, the Lumia 800 took the basic design of the MeeGo-based N9 and installed Windows Phone 7.5 on it. It had a 3.7in screen and 8-megapixel camera.
    Nokia Lumia 800, 2011

  • Nokia 808 PureView, 2012

    A camera with a phone attached, the Nokia 808 PureView had a 41-megapixel sensor, Carl Zeiss optics and was one of the last phones to run Symbian. It remains the highest resolution camera phone to this day.
    Nokia 808 PureView, 2012

  • Nokia Lumia 1020, 2013

    The Lumia 1020 took the PureView camera technology from the 808 PureView and put it in a Windows Phone. It had a much smaller camera bump on the back and bold styling.
    Nokia Lumia 1020, 2013

  • New Nokia 3310, 2017

    A update to 2000’s original produced by the Nokia-brand owner HMD Global, the new 3310 has a colour screen, a camera on the back, a month of standby time and nostalgia setting turned up to the max.
    New Nokia 3310, 2017
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