14 DAY TRIAL // According to the latest hearsay, Nokia Normandy is likely to be announced next month at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014. However, the information hasn’t been confirmed yet, so there’s room for more speculations on the subject.
The folks over at NokiaPowerUser have a very interesting theory on Nokia Normandy’s launch, which is related with other Lumia smartphones that have been released in the past.
Apparently each Lumia smartphone that leaked ahead of the official announcement had the launch date displayed on the screen, along with its market name.
For example, the Nokia Lumia 720 was launched on February 25 and the wallpaper from the lock screen indicated the time as 7:20, February 25. The same goes for Nokia Lumia 520 and Lumia 1520.
If we are to take into consideration this pattern, according to the latest press render of the alleged Nokia Normandy, then the smartphone would be officially introduced on March 25 as Asha 1045.
However, given the fact that this is Nokia’s first smartphone powered by Android operating system, it might receive another name instead of Asha, but the 1045 looks to be set in stone for the time being.
Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014 is set to kick off in late February and will end in early March, which means the Normandy will be announced during a dedicated press event. That shouldn’t come as a surprise given the unique nature of the device.
As many Nokia fans probably know by now, the Normandy will be powered by a “forked” Android version that won’t be fully compatible with all Android applications.
Moreover, the smartphone won’t come with Google Play Store or any Google apps and services instead it will provide access to its own apps store and services, such as HERE Maps.
It will also allow users to set their Gmail accounts and Google as the default search engine if they do not wish to use Bing and Outlook.
