For a long time people have said that Nokia should move from Windows Phone and begin building Android devices as well but Nokia seemed to have no interest, or so we thought. According to some new information Nokia has been working on a device which they have code named “Normandy” along with various other names internally, and it is said to be their Android device. From the images that leaked you would never guess it would be an Android device as it looks almost identical to all the other Lumia series devices, just without the capacitive buttons on the front.
Nokia is allegedly working on the device to be the next in its series of lower end devices and it is not running stock Android. Nokia is said to be working on a forked version of Android for its handset, similar to what Amazon has done with the Kindle series devices, but it will still run Android applications. According to the sources Normandy will support major applications such as Skype and others, but unfortunately the release is unknown.
With Microsoft having recently purchased Nokia it is unsure at this time the fate of the device. Sources have told The Verge that Nokia aimed to bring this as an equivalent to its Asha line of smartphones that did not take off very well. This would not be the first time that Android was forked and used in a unique case, and it would be great to see Nokia leverage the platform for their own gains as well. Nokia employees who are tasked with working on Normandy have said that the project is “full steam ahead” and that the device is set for a 2014 launch still. The next year should be an interesting one for Nokia and Microsoft, so now we wait to see how this all plays out.
