If you’re Samsung or Apple, be very afraid of this announcement.
And if you’re a smartphone user aching for nostalgia and lamenting the
lack of sturdy, well-built phones that won’t disintegrate with minor
drops and bumps, you are in for a treat!
Nokia is returning to the phone business early next
year, and will be releasing its brand new Android smartphones as soon as
February 2017. Previously, Nokia was bought over by Microsoft, before
being sold off and effectively shutdown rather unceremoniously, much to
fans’ chagrin.
HMD Global Oy (a Finnish company) has officially
taken over Nokia’s phone business with an exclusive license for the next
10 years. And it has promised to resurrect Nokia back to its former
glory starting with the launch of spiffy Android phones in the coming
year.
If you visit nokia.com/phones, the website currently
only lists a small list of Nokia feature phones. But that will soon
change as early as Mobile World Congress that takes place in Barcelona
from February 27 to March 2 next year.
Nokia Pixel and Nokia D1C
Before this announcement, a handful of mid-range and top-end Nokia
Android smartphones have already been leaked along with its rumoured
specs. The rumours reveal a flagship Nokia smartphone labelled Pixel,
sporting a high-end display and running on Android’s upcoming Nougat 7.0
OS.
Leaked earlier in the year, Nokia D1C is another
alleged Android smartphone in the works, which will come in two
variants. The premium version will supposedly feature a 5.5-inch
display, 1080p display, with 3 gigs of RAM and 16MP rear camera, while
the cheaper version of the Nokia D1C will offer a 5-inch Full HD screen,
2 gigs of RAM, and a 13MP primary camera. Both the Nokia D1C variants
are reportedly powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 430 processor and Adreno
505 GPU.
All
we can say is that we can’t wait to get our hands on Nokia-branded
Android smartphones! And it’s great to see Nokia back where it truly
belongs -- in the smartphone business, giving the now established
players a serious run for their money (we hope). Go Nokia!