Tuesday 14 January 2014

Nokia To Release Normandy Android 4.4.1 Smartphone

In December 2013, some information about Nokia’s “Plan B” revealed that despite the Windows Phone smartphones, Lumia line-up, the Finnish manufacturer had initiated the development of an Android smartphone, codenamed “Normandy.”

Today, the Normandy has shown up on AnTuTu benchmark, and a screenshot has been shared on the Chinese micro-blogging site, Weibo, revealing: the device (model RM-980 A110) is running Android 4.4.1 KitKat.

Nokia had developed a forked version of Android, not aligned with the current release by Google, following Amazon’s approach with the Kindle Fire, according to previous rumors. However, not only the screenshot confirms it’s running the latest version of Android, but also boosts the fact that the device is still in works. Among the features, the device may feature a dual-core processor and 5MP rear camera while rest things are still a mystery.

This past week, the tipster @evleaks also posted three screenshots that show the user interface of Nokia’s Normandy, and it seems that the phone actually is a dual-SIM model, aimed for emerging countries like China and India.

Besides, the screenshots also show Skype, Viber and the phone dialer with a lock screen notification for calendar, missed calls and messages. The UI looks a combo of Windows Phone and Asha platform.

For a recap, Nokia Lumia 520 has successfully grasped the entry-level market and following the acquisition of Nokia’s hardware division by Microsoft, maybe Nokia Normandy will never see the light.

However, there’s still a small chance as some rumors about alleged internal documents has been circulating that refer to the various options strategized by Microsoft to counter Google’s dominance. The Redmond Company would have predicted a scenario in which the user will choose between Windows Phone and Android at the time of purchase, in addition to the possibility to reset the license costs.

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