Nokia Normandy reported to be a Nokia Android phone

Nokia could storm the beaches of the Android app store with rumours of an Android-powered phone, codenamed the Nokia Normandy and possibly set for release in the new year.

Ever reliable Twitter tipster @evleaks showed off a picture of what's purported to be the Normandy a couple of weeks ago, wondering if it's an Asha or a Lumia. But now the Verge reckons it's neither, citing "multiple sources" who claim the Normandy codename in fact refers to an Android phone, set for release in 2014.

The software is reported to be a special forked variant of Android -- as in, following a forked path split off in a new direction from the Android we know.

That sounds similar to the way Amazon uses Android software in the Kindle Fire tablets, which are based on Google's software but have a completely new interface designed to point you towards Amazon's own services.

A Nokia spokesperson declined to comment. 

Nokia is rumoured to have experimented with Android in the past before firmly opting for Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system for its Lumia line of smart phones. With Microsoft on track to buy the Finnish phone company, all concerned may lose interest in building an Android phone, but it may still see the light of day as a low-cost phone to tempt phone fans who have already bought into the world of Android apps.

Access to the world of Android apps would solve one of the criticisms levelled at Windows Phone: that it doesn't have as many decent apps as rivals Android and Apple.

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