Report: HMD to resurrect legendary Nokia 3310 at Mobile World Congress

Mobile World Congress is right around the corner, and all month we've been getting a slow trickle of news about each company's expected lineup. Now a report from VentureBeat claims to know the MWC offerings from HMD, and it includes a re-release of the Nokia 3310.

The 3310—first released in the year 2000—was one of the best selling phones ever, and the cheap, durable candy bar phone was one of the models that gave Nokia its reputation for durable, unkillable phones. VentureBeat claims a "modern version" of the little workhorse will be on display at MWC, with a release price of €59 ($62). We're apparently talking about a tiny feature phone that makes phone calls and doesn't do much else. Even with the nostalgic design and presumably long battery life, would such a device do well in a world where smartphones are the standard?

If you're out of the loop on the HMD/Nokia brand transaction: HMD is the new home of the Nokia brand for smartphones, after the brand was purchased and ultimately killed by Microsoft. Unlike your typical zombie brand owner, (like say, TCL's use of the Blackberry brand) HMD was created by former Nokia employees with the express purpose of keeping the light of Nokia phones alive. The update of the 3310 seems designed to show the world that HMD knows what made Nokia phones good, and it's honoring that past.

The report also says Nokia will bring a mid-range to low-end lineup of Android phones to MWC:

• The Nokia 6, a 5.5-inch 1080p device with a Snapdragon 430 SoC and 4GB of RAM. This is already out in China where it retails for CNY1,699, and VentureBeat has a European price of €249 ($263).
• The Nokia 5, which will drop to a 5.2-inch, 720p display, Snapdragon 430 SoC, and 2GB of RAM for €199 ($210).
• The Nokia 3, an even lower-end device, which will supposedly retail for €149 ($158).

There's no mention of the Nokia 8, the company's rumored flagship, so maybe we are only getting low- and mid-range phones at MWC? Also if you haven't noticed from all the Euro price listings, the report says HMD is targeting the European market for now. Plans for the North American market are unknown.

We'll find out more at HMD's MWC press conference, which kicks off February 26.