Nokia’s Android smartphone is ‘full steam ahead’ for 2014 release

Nokia

                      Evleaks tweeted a picture (which we must point out is highly photoshopped) of the Nokia "Normandy", which was a codename that no one was quite sure what to make of. The obvious question is the one that Evleaks posted with the picture: "Asha or Lumia", but surprisingly the answer might be Android.

A new report from The Verge is saying that not only is project Normandy the codename for Nokia's Android device, but that the phone is still "full steam ahead". The device is claimed to be a low-end Android device from Nokia that will be using a "forked" version of Android, and would not be using Google Play services. Nokia has been planning the Normandy for a 2014 release. The question of course is what to expect from this device now that the Microsoft purchase is also"full steam ahead". 

It seems very unlikely that Microsoft would allow the release of an Android device from its newly acquired hardware division; so, unless Nokia is planning to push out the device before the deal is expected to finalize, which could be very soon. If the device hits the market, it is expected to be more akin to Nokia's Asha lineup than even the low-end Lumia devices. 



 the Android version within the Normandy would most likely be a forked one, similar to that of Amazon's Kindle tablets. This means while the phone can run third-party Android apps and games, it would not have pre-installed Google services and apps.