Created on 27 April 2009
Which came first, Nokia phones or the famous Nokia ringtone? It might come as a surprise that the Grand Vals (also called Grande Valse) ringtone was composed in 1902 – a full 92 years before Nokia released the 2110, the first phone to use an identifiable musical ringtone. That’s not all the immensely popular 2110 had to offer, of course. This solid (235g) handset was one of the earliest digital GSM phones, operating on a single frequency band, and had a large four-line LCD display, Navi-key and SMS messaging. It was also one of the first phones with a vibrating alert – although you did need to buy a replacement vibrating battery to enjoy it. Batteries faded fast in the early days of GSM, but the Nokia 2110 squeezed over 2.5 hours talktime and 30 hours standby from its nickel metal hydride rechargeable. It also had a larger than average 125-entry phone book.
In the mid-2000s, a mangled, seconds-long polyphonic ringtone would cost about three times the price of a CD single of the same tune.
