Screenshots of Nokia’s Android user interface leak, device also appears in AnTuTu’s database

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Published 9 Jan 2014

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normandy

Nokia is apparently working on an Android powered feature phone called the “Normandy”. I say “feature phone”, because Nokia is likely going to brand the device as an “Asha”. That and the device will run a forked version of Android, meaning it isn’t going to have any of Google’s services installed. Instead, it’ll have Outlook, Skype, XBOX, and all the other typical Microsoft services you’d expect to see on a Windows Phone. Last night, famous Twitter user @evleaks shared the first images of Nokia’s Android skin. As you can tell, it looks nothing like anything you’ve seen before.

Now before you continue reading, I want to stress that there’s a high probability that this phone will never hit the market. Nokia probably started developing Normandy before Microsoft announced that they were going to buy the company’s handset division. Why on earth would Microsoft allow Nokia to launch a cheap feature phone running a competitor’s operating system? Granted, Normandy isn’t going to have a Google blessed version of Android, but it’s going to be Android none-the-less.

Why is Nokia even making this thing? Because they’re always thinking about the mainstream; people who don’t spend more than $100 or so on a mobile phone. The company has a great operating system called Series 40 that powers those cheap feature phones, but it’s getting long in the tooth. Instead of maintaining it, Nokia likely wanted to start over, hence the decision to take an off the shelf mobile operating system (Android) and tweak it to deliver a Nokia experience.

If Normandy launches, I’ll be shocked.