HMD’s repairable Nokia phone initiative lands stateside

HMD’s repairable Nokia phone initiative lands stateside

The HMD Nokia G310. | Image: HMD

HMD is bringing its repairable phone initiative to the US with the Nokia G310, a $186 smartphone that’ll be available from T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile on August 24th. This is technically the third smartphone HMD has released with a design that makes it easier to replace commonly broken components like its battery and display, but its previous Nokia G22 and Nokia G42 were focused on European markets.

As with its previous repairable phones, HMD is partnering with iFixit to supply spare parts and repair guides for the G310. The company’s press release doesn’t offer too many details on how exactly the phone is easy to repair, but previous repairable Nokia-branded handsets have included design features like rear cases that can be unclipped by hand to reveal easily accessible screws and batteries that can be lifted out using pull tabs (though they’re not fully user-removable like Nokia feature phones of old).

Image: HMD

The Nokia G310 from the front and back.

Beyond its repairable element, the Nokia G310 has the specs of a relatively entry-level smartphone. It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 Plus processor, with 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and up to 1TB of expandable storage via microSD. It’s got a 5000mAh battery that can be fast-charged at up to 20W via a USB-C port, and the whole device has an IP52 rating which means it has good protection against dust, but only limited protection against water sprays.

Around front there’s a 6.56-inch display with a limited 720p resolution, but at least it offers a relatively snappy 90Hz refresh rate. On the back there’s technically a triple-camera setup, but beyond the main 50-megapixel camera the two additional sensors for depth and macro are only 2 megapixels in resolution. The phone has an 8-megapixel selfie camera, and relies on a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for biometric security.