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.”