Well that was awkward. After a Steve Ballmer-sized wave of anticipation, Nokia took the stage on Monday to announce its first Android-powered phone, the Nokia X, which promised to offer a marriage of classic manufacturing (Nokia) and critically-acclaimed software (Android). Finally, Nokia fans could reap all the benefits of the Google Play Store library while enjoying full integration of Google services.

“The [Nokia] X is a feeder system for Lumia,” said Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, “It takes people to Microsoft’s cloud, not Google’s cloud. We are deliberately using Android, but substituting Nokia services. This is a gateway to Microsoft.”

Oh.

Nokia went on to explain the full strategy in surprisingly frank detail. The new line—the Nokia X, X+, and XL—would be targeted at emerging markets (including Eastern Europe, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Middle East), for people who’ve grown up on feature phones, but who are looking to buy their first smartphone on the cheap. The X line’s interface would look similar to the Windows-based Lumia line, would come packed with Microsoft services, and would simply use Android’s open source software stack in the background (presumably, to save costs and provide access to a wider range of apps).

The New Nokia X Line | FindTheBest

So much for that fabled super phone: this is just plain old business—a budget phone for budget markets.

But the questions remain. Will this strategy actually work? Who’s going to buy these? And, with Microsoft’s in-progress acquisition of Nokia, how does the X line really fit in? Here are three unanswered questions about the Nokia X line.

1. Why not push the Lumia 520?

When Elop introduced the X line, he described it as a “stunning, surprising, new family that strengthens our affordable smartphone portfolio” (emphasis mine). But didn’t Nokia already make this phone? If you compare the 11-month old Lumia 520 to the Nokia X, the specs are almost identical, from screen size to pixel density to weight to price. The only obvious difference is the underlying Android operating system…which has been manipulated to look like a Windows phone anyway. If Nokia is trying to build a “gateway” to Microsoft, why not throw out the gate altogether, and just give customers the real thing?

The Same Phone? | FindTheBest

2. Does this really solve Nokia’s app problem?

At every turn, Nokia downplayed the Android integration…except when it came to apps. The Nokia X, X+, and XL “are built on the Android Open Source Project software, which means people have access to hundreds of thousands of applications right out of the box,” Elop said. It’s Microsoft services plus Android’s vast app ecosystem: surely a win-win. But is it really that simple?

In reality, developers will still need to submit their Android-based apps to the Nokia Store for approval before Nokia X users can download them. Nokia has released a cheery video explaining just how easy this will be—75% will work without any modifications! And only a ‘few hours’ for the rest! Yes, that’s a lot simpler than building a Windows version of your iOS/Android app from the ground up, but it still adds one more hoop for developers. Many won’t jump unless they see strong Nokia X sales. Then there are the side issues of Google Play and Google Plus login systems (as it stands, they won’t work on the Nokia X), and developers’ general distrust of Nokia-run app stores (the company shut down the last one).

3. So is Nokia excited to be using Android…or not?

Elop’s jolly “gateway to Microsoft” statements had all the eloquence of a presidential talking point. The words seemed crafted to the syllable, as if they went through 12 revisions, three different writers and a last-minute adjustment by Microsoft. The problem is that the phone is just as safe as these statements. By mixing a bit of everything—Android, Microsoft services, and a half-baked Windows interface—Nokia has built a device that won’t offend anyone, but probably won’t delight anyone either, which might be the biggest problem of all.

Clearly, Microsoft’s pending acquisition is partly to blame. On Saturday, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore had this to say in anticipation of the coming announcements: “They’ll do some things we’re excited about, and some things we’re less excited about.”

Indeed.

This article was written for TIME by Ben Taylor of FindTheBest. 

The Nokia "Normandy," the long-rumored Nokia Android phone, looks squared away for an official reveal at MWC 2014..Normandy will also be released this month, the Wall Street Journal reports.
While it's good news for 'droid lovers, apparently Normandy will be specially tailored so that some Google features won't be promoted as heavily as they might be on a traditional Android phone - you know, one not made by a company now owned by Microsoft.
That means no Google Play Store, and the Normandy will instead feature a selection of apps created by Nokia and Microsoft, like Here maps and Mix Radio, plus a Nokia app store full of Android apps, the Journal's sources said..Let's be practical

Nokia has long been focused on Windows Phone, but its work on an Android handset has been rumored for months. The Normandy's debut at MWC has even been touched on before.
However, ever since Microsoft picked up the Finnish phone maker for $7.4 billion (about £4.4 billion, AU$7.9 billion) in 2013, the Nokia Android phone's fate has presumably been up in the air.
Considering it was never officially announced to begin with, it seemed Microsoft could put its foot down at any time and cancel it altogether.
But the WSJ report says Nokia's engineers were working on the Android phone long before Microsoft began conducting due diligence leading up to the purchase, and the Windows company will reportedly let Normandy continue all the way to retail.
The apparent reason for that? Pragmatism. If the phone is debuting in a matter of weeks, then the legwork was likely completed months ago, and Microsoft would likely rather make some money off of it - even if it does run Android - then scrap it entirely and throw away all of Nokia's hard work.

Nokia, despite its phone division being owned by Microsoft, is expected to show off an Android-running smartphone at Mobile World Congress.Nokia is preparing to introduce a smartphone running a version of Google’s Android operating system, the Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 10, citing people familiar with the matter.After years of loyalty to its own Symbian OS, Nokia entered a partnership with Microsoft in February 2011, and since then its high-end smartphones have run the Windows Phone OS. In September 2013, with Nokia’s financials faltering even as its smartphone sales line was beginning to find an audience, Microsoft purchased Nokia’s Devices & Services business for $7.4 billion. Before the Sept. 2 announcement of the sale, rumors of such a sale persisted for months, and it was widely expected that if the companies couldn’t reach an agreement—the selling price was the sticking point, according to multiple reports—Nokia would turn to the more popular and top-selling Android. However, even after the purchase it appears that Nokia is preparing to offer Android smartphones.
“Microsoft appears willing to outsource part of its phone lineup to Android to boost volumes and support its handset manufacturing operation,” the Journal reported. “Higher sales would help cover the high cost of competing in a smartphone industry dominated by Google, Apple and Samsung…”
According to the Journal, the Android phone was already in development when the pair completed their negotiations. The smartphone will reportedly will feature digital services created by Nokia and Microsoft, as well as Here (Nokia’s mapping suite), the streaming music service MixRadio and access to a Nokia app store. Like Amazon’s Android-based tablets, the Nokia Android phones won’t access the Google Play storefront or certain Google-developed features, said the report.
It’s expected that the phone will be introduced at the Mobile World Congress trade show, which is scheduled to convene Feb. 24 in Barcelona.
“The rumored Android phone strikes me as giving Microsoft and Nokia a way to reach new market segments while pushing Microsoft services and software,” Ken Hyers, a senior analyst with Strategy Analytics, told eWEEK.
Hyers was among those who thought that if a deal couldn’t be reached with Microsoft, it would be “rational” for Nokia to turn to Android. However, he’d noted that Nokia wouldn’t want to risk losing the $250 million “platform support” payments that Microsoft was making to Nokia each quarter.
“It’s potentially the best of both worlds for both companies,” Hyers said of the Android-under-Microsoft’s-roof rumors, “as they could expand their market share while still offering the same core services. I’ll be very interested to see how this plays out.”
Microsoft welcomed a new CEO, Satya Nadella, on Feb. 4. During a webcast during his first day on the job, Nadella, a 22-year Microsoft veteran, said Microsoft’s strategy, going forward, will be all about “devices and services,” and Microsoft will be defined by a  “mobile first, cloud first” world.
Suggesting he’s open to big changes—and acknowledging the mantle he not only picked up but needs to run with—Nadella said that the business Microsoft is in “doesn’t really respect tradition and what we’ve done in the past, it’s all about innovation going forward.”
Commenting on the Nadella appointment, analyst Jack Gold, with J. Gold Associates, suggested that Nadella is unlikely to win when it comes to mobile, and he doesn’t need to.
Thanks to its licensing deals, said Gold, “Microsoft today makes a lot more money on Android than Windows Phone.” 

Nokia X, the rumoured budget Android smartphone also known as Nokia Normandy, has been again spotted under a benchmark which tests the camera section of the handset.

Nokia X has been spotted under the CamSpeed test database, the benchmark test for Sophica with a nearly zero focusing time, hinting the rumoured Android device will come with a fixed focus camera. The device was identified with model name RM-980 once again.

The Nokia X handset, handset was previously said to sport a 5-megapixel rear camera, however the CamSpeed benchmark hints the handset will arrive with a lower 3-megapixel shooter.

Similarly, contradicting the previous rumours of running a highly customized version of Android 4.4 Kitkat OS, the Nokia X will be running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean OS, according to Sofica's Twitter post.

Also last week, a new leak via Browsermark 2 benchmark's database purportedly revealed the alleged Nokia X phone to come with model number RM-980. Unfortunately, the listing did not reveal any details about the device, but includes an image that purportedly showed Nokia X wearing Nexus 5's wallpaper and home screen icons.

Some of the other rumoured features of the Nokia X smartphone include a dual-core Snapdragon processor clocking at 1GHz, a 4-inch TFT display with a resolution of 480x854 (FWVGA) pixels, 4GB storage with microSD card, 1500mAh battery, 512MB RAM, and dual-SIM support.

Besides the often appearing leaks online, one can almost confirm the existence of the handset through various other sources. Recently enough, Nokia X was reported to get certified in Indonesia and Malaysia. The handset is said to fall under Nokia's Asha line-up and will be unveiled officially in March, according to a report claiming to quote an unnamed senior Nokia India executive.

After signing a pact to sell itshandset business to Microsoft, Finnish phone giant Nokia can neither license the 'Nokia' brand for use in connection with mobile device sales nor use the brand on its own mobile devices for a specific period.

"Microsoft has also agreed to a 10-year agreement to use nokia brand
subsequently developed Mobile Phones based on the Series 30 and Series 40 operating systems," Nokia said in a recent US filing.

Nokia, which will be left with only its telecom equipment, location and patent development business, would have right to continue and maintain Nokia brand except for certain period as per the agreement.
    
After the closing of deal "Nokia would be restricted from licensing the Nokia brand for use in connection with mobile device sales for 30 months and from using the Nokia brand on Nokia's own mobile devices until December 31, 2015," it said.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014, subject to approval by Nokia shareholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

As per telecom magazine Voice&Data, Nokia mobile phones has 27.2 % market share India at the end of Financial Year 2012-13.
    
Nokia will seek its shareholders approval on November 19 this year to USD 7.2 billion deal to sell devices and services business to US software giant Microsoft. If shareholders of Nokia disapprove the deal, then Nokia will have to pay about USD 51 million as damages to Microsoft.

In case of any alternate proposal is place before Nokia's shareholder which gets approved, then the Finnish company will have pay less amount as damage to Microsoft.

A niche device, the Lumia 1020 is pricier than most high-end smartphones that will make some salivate.

Nokia's new Lumia 1020 is the company's most significant device yet. Announced only a few weeks ago, the handset's biggest selling point is easily its 41-megapixel camera sensor, which Nokia paraded around as the best mobile camera the industry has ever seen.

Having seen the gadget in action, it's easy to see why Nokia is so confident.

But even with such an enormous sensor, how does it stack up against the competition?

Apple's iPhone is currently the most widely used camera in the world (data is available for Flickr only) — that's an accomplishment in and of itself. And while it doesn't have the highest megapixel count, or even the most robust feature set, the iPhone 5's camera is still more than capable of producing excellent results. Apple says its cameras are so popular because the company focuses on more than just megapixel count.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone's camera captures extremely high-resolution images with fine detail, and puts creative controls at your fingertips.

A niche device, due to its extreme focus on its camera, the Lumia 1020 is USD 100 pricier than most high-end smartphones. Having said that, for the aficionados there are relevant high points, but for the general user, the lens makes it a little bulky while multiple camera apps are confusing. It lacks manual f-stop control and presets for common shooting scenarios.

Lumia 1020 high-octane shooter, along with camera app, defines this marquee Windows 8-based smartphone. What will make photographers salivate is that 1020 pushes the smartphone camera envelope with a combination of raw image-capturing prowess and close-cropping capability that makes it one of the most artistically-enabled smartphone cameras that we've tested.

Casual users may not venture from automatic settings and may not notice much difference in image quality unless they frequently crop photos tightly.

Another similar device is the 16-megapixel Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. Of course, the S4 Zoom's optical zoom element could give the 1020 a run for its money.

Design and build

The first thing you're probably asking yourself is if owning the Lumia 1020 is like carrying a bulky point-and-shoot camera in your pocket. Blessedly, it is not.

Compared with the chunky Galaxy S4 Zoom and bulbous Nokia 808 PureView (the company's first attempt at a 41-megapixel phone), the Lumia 1020 seems only slightly thicker than the Lumia 920 and 928, both of which it physically resembles.

Dimensions of 5.1 inches tall by 2.8 inches wide are pretty standard, and the 1020 measures 0.4 inch thick throughout most of its body. It's that large camera module on the back (about 1.75 inches in diameter) that protrudes a full 0.51 inch from the phone's face.

That means the phone won't lie flat on its back, which is surprisingly sometimes helpful when the face tilts toward you as if on a stand.

Keeping the phone this slim was quite the design feat, especially when you compare the 1020 with the chunky S4 Zoom, which is shaped more like a point-and-shoot device with a smartphone attached.

At 5.6 ounces, the matte yellow, white, or black 1020 is hefty, sturdy, and undeniably solid.

Like all the Lumia 920-series phones, the 1020's 4.5-inch display features a 1,280x768-pixel resolution (WXGA) and pixel density of 334ppi. Its AMOLED screen is also supersensitive, which means you can operate it with fingernails or gloved fingertips. Gorilla Glass 3 helps resist cracks, though smash any screen hard enough or often enough and it'll break.

In keeping with the Lumia design philosophy, you'll find oblong volume, power/lock, and camera shutter buttons on the right spine, and the headset jack and micro-SIM card slot up top. In addition to the front-facing camera there are three capacitive navigation buttons on the front, and the Micro-USB charging port is down on the bottom edge. On the back, the massive camera module includes a wide xenon flash and a six-lens Carl Zeiss lens, plus an LED sidekick that's mainly used for focus.

A completely sealed unibody device, the Lumia 1020 doesn't have a removable battery or microSD card storage, which may make avid photographers jittery about storage limits, especially with large photo files.

Buy?

Avid mobile photographers will love the Nokia Lumia 1020's exact controls, but casual users should stick to cheaper camera phones.
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