Nokia Close to Showing Off its First Android Smartphone

[william.dg08]

Nokia Close to Showing Off its First Android Smartphone

­Increasing levels of speculation that Nokia is about to show off its first ever Android based smartphone, on the eve of Microsoft buying the handset division.

Rumours have been swirling for several months, but fresh reports are coming in that suggest the new phone will be shown off at the Mobile World Congress in a few weeks.

Nokia are reported to have started work on the Android phone before the deal was announced to sell the division to Microsoft, but was able to push ahead with the development anyway.

A lot of Nokia's strength came from the easy upgrade path for users switching from a basic phone to more sophisticated models that often shared similar menu layouts.

A hybrid Android OS that mirrors the style of Windows Phone could then be offered to cheaper handsets, and offer a comfortable upgrade path for users who later buy a more powerful Windows Phone only device.

That would remove one of Windows Phone's weaknesses -- that it doesn't work that well on cheaper handsets. And for the foreseeable future, the cheaper end of the market, which has traditionally been Nokia's strong point will be the engine of growth for the mobile industry as a whole.

As a customised version of Android, the Nokia phones wont have access to Google services, but Nokia has its own mapping division and can drive traffic, and derive revenues from its own app store.

Managing its own app store also gives Nokia a convenient app migration process for Android users switching to Windows Phone.

Nokia's first Android phone -- often codenamed Normandy -- should be shown off in a few weeks time.

[Critter]

Nokia-Android.jpg

It is suppose to be a low-end device. I have attached a picture of it, but I cannot tell if it is here. I am not allowed to view for now. Let me know if you can see it. Best,

[Critter]

http://m.androidcentral.com/nokia-x-...world-congress


normandy.jpg


Nokia X shows its tiled face before Mobile World Congress






Smartphones
By Richard Devine | Feb 20 2014 | 5:46 am | 35 Comments






Nokia's first Android device has a whiff of the Windows Phone about it

Mobile World Congress

The Nokia X – or Normandy as it has been known – leaks continue, with this claiming to be an actual full front on shot of the device. The image is one of a series that has appeared in China at Coolxap and shows the design we've seen many times before along with a very Windows Phone-esque user interface.

As we'd expect, there's no sight of anything Google related, but Nokia's own Here Maps are present and correct. There's also a Store clearly shown, so providing everything is legit, Nokia it seems has decided how the X will be getting its apps.

Other pointers we can gather from the images are that this is indeed budget hardware as expected. There is no rear camera flash, the display even from these images looks pretty low res, and the side on images – see the source link for the full set – don't exactly scream high-end. Two SIM cards are clearly shown in the status bar – even though they're missing – and it looks like you'll be able to increase the size of the homescreen tiles as you can with Windows Phone.

Actual details still elude us, but we'll know for sure this coming Monday, February 24 what this is all about. We'll be live from Barcelona for Nokia's press event, so keep it locked to Android Central for all you need to know.