A Nokia built Android device has been a rumor for a while now. It has unofficially been confirmed a multitude of times. Various leaked images, leaked specs and talks of it being an entry level Android powered device set for emerging markets has everyone in huff. Many of us would like to see a high-end Android powered Nokia device come to market, but it certainly doesn’t sound like that will happen anytime soon.
A recent report from the Wall Street Journal does lean to a launch of the Nokia Normandy, or Nokia X, or whatever the final production name will be, sometime this month. It is fully expected that Nokia will have it on hand and make the official announcement at Mobile World Congress later this month. Don’t expect the Nokia Android powered device to be much though. Talks now push towards the device being free and clear of Google’s core apps like the Play Store, Gmail and everything else we live and die by on our devices. Instead expect a more forked variant of a custom Android build much like that of the Kindle Fire line from Amazon. It will be housing Android as the base but being loaded up with a Nokia app store and powered with Microsoft and Bing.
While we know that the developing community could and probably will break into the device and clean things up, the overall specs of the device that leaked out at the end of January don’t necessarily mean it would be worth it. As Eveleaks mentions “2 x 1GHz Snapdragon, 4″ WVGA, 512MB / 4GB / microSD, 5MP Camera, 1500mAh battery, Nokia Store + 3rd party, dual-SIM, 6 colors.” At the time of the tweet we didn’t even give a thought to the mention of the Nokia Store + 3rd Party. Samsung has their own store on their devices as well. Heck, even the leaked screenshots don’t have any core Google apps in them.
Source: WJS via 9to5Google
