Nokia 3310 with 4G is now official: Here are three key features to note

Nokia 3310 was announced last year at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona by HMD Global. Unfortunately, for many, the remastered version of the classic Nokia 3310 handset had one big issue: it was missing 4G LTE connectivity. Nokia 3310, when it was introduced was a 2G only device and without Wi-Fi support. The company did launch a 3G variant of the classic phone, but it was limited to Australia and a few other countries. India, a market where feature phones still dominate, did not see the launch of the Nokia 3310 3G variant.

Now HMD Global has upgraded the Nokia 3310 with a 4G connectivity, allowing users to connect to the internet at much faster speeds. Currently, Nokia 3310 with 4G is only being offered in China and we will have to wait and see if the advanced feature phone makes its official debut in India in the coming days. The Nokia 3310 4G should be seen as a much-needed upgrade over the original Nokia 3310. Here are three features of the Nokia 3310 4G.

Nokia 3310 gets upgraded with 4G LTE

A 4G model of the Nokia 3310 makes a complete sense if you are living in India. With falling data tariffs and cheaper plans, the 4G version will offer much better connectivity. It is already predicted that India will have zero 2G internet subscribers by June 2019, according to a report from CyberMedia Research. All four major telecom players, including Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, have substantially reduced data tariffs to boost 4G services in India. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani believes 4G coverage in India will surpass that of 2G in a year. 4G will become the default standard for internet access in India and it is already happening.

Nokia 3310 4G can be used as a portable Wi-Fi hotspot device 

Nokia 3310 4G variant can be used as a portable Wi-Fi hotspot device to access the internet. Almost every smartphone can work as a Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing sharing of 4G connection to any devices, whether they are laptops, tablets, or a phone. It is a useful feature when you have spotty Wi-Fi connection – and in a country like India, it is even more useful.

Nokia 3310 4G comes with Android-based YunOS 

The 4G variant of the Nokia 3310 runs on YunOS, an Android-based operating system from China’s Alibaba Group. It is essentially a forked version of Android. Technically, the OS is capable of running Android apps, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Lite, and YouTube, among others. But for now, it is unknown if or not HMD Global will be selling the Nokia 3310 with YunOS in other parts of the world, including India. The challenge in front of the company is, to make sure the phone natively supports popular applications from day one. With the JioPhone struggling to get third-party apps, HMD Global has a challenging task ahead before the phone gets released in India.