HMD Global, the small Finnish start-up responsible for bringing the Nokia name back into the mobile game, has silently launched a new model of the Nokia 3310 in China which not only supports 4G VoLTE and Wi-Fi but runs on a forked version of Android.

While the refreshed Nokia 3310 undoubtedly grabbed a lot of eyeballs last year and invoked a ton of nostalgia, its actual usability is slim at best. The smartphone supports age old 2G networks and runs on Nokia’s S30+ feature phone platform which does not support any modern applications and is quite old-fashioned.

The launch of the JioPhone and subsequently the Micromax Bharat 1 has opened up an all new market for ‘smart’ feature phones which has limited the appeal of the 2G Nokia 3310 even further. The 4G variant however has all the makings to give the JioPhone a solid run for its money.

Let’s see how the Nokia 3310 4G fares against the JioPhone

1. On the design front, the Nokia 3310 4G – which looks almost exactly like last year’s 2G model – easily trumps the JioPhone. The JioPhone is very conventionally designed. It looks almost exactly like any feature phone of old – with no design flair or unique elements to speak of. The 3310 on the other hand looks very funky and youthful and is available in a plethora of colours. The JioPhone on the other hand can be had in any colour as long as its black. Both the phones are made out of plastic and come with a traditional old school T9 keyboard with a color screen at the top.

2. Both the JioPhone and Nokia 3310 comes with a 2.4-inch QVGA colour display. Nokia’s panel however has a polarised layer on top which helps reduce reflectivity. Compared to the 3310, the JioPhone has a bigger battery (2,000mAh vs 1,200mAh), higher internal storage (4GB vs 512MB), a front facing camera, NFC and an in-built virtual assistant that can be used for voice search.Other specifications are more or less similar – both smartphones come with a 2MP rear camera, microSD card support, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 4G VoLTE support and a microUSB port for charging.

3. The software is where things get rather interesting. While the 2G and 3G models of the Nokia 3310 run on Nokia’s S30+ operating system which is very limited, the 4G variant runs on YunOS – which is a forked version of Android made by China’s Alibaba group. In China, the mobile comes pre-loaded with popular applications for music, books and audiobooks. If the global variant of the phone also runs on a forked version of Android, it could come with stripped versions of apps like WhatsApp and Facebook which would give it a leg up over the JioPhone which has no third-party app support. The JioPhone, which runs on a custom build of Firefox OS called Kai OS, does come with a web browser and all of Jio’s applications pre-loaded such as JioCinema, Jio TV, Jio Music and so on which give users unlimited access to music, movies and TV shows.

4. Do not let Jio’s advertising fool you – the JioPhone is not a free phone. You have to pay Rs 1500 as a security deposit which is refundable only if you return the phone after three years. If you return it after one year or two years, you will receive only 500 and 1000 rupees respectively. Additionally, the JioPhone is locked to Jio’s network – which means it cannot be used with any other SIM card. The JioPhone also has to be recharged with specific plans that start at Rs 49 per month for unlimited voice and 1GB of data. While the Nokia 3310 4G has not been launched in India, we can expect it to arrive as an unlocked device with no contract or security deposit in play. With the 3310, you will be able to use any network and choose whatever plan you want. As the 2G variant costs Rs 3310, it is obvious to assume that the 4G variant will be dearer when it lands in India. However, Nokia might surprise us all and price it quite competitively to give the JioPhone and Micromax Bharat 1 a run for their money.