Nokia to launch Android smartphone?
'No truth'
Updated Nokia is "months away" from launching its first mobile phone based on Google’s Android operating system, according to reports.
The Finnish mobile phone firm is supposedly ready to unveil the mystery touchscreen talker at the Nokia World conference in Germany in early September,“industry insiders” quoted byThe Guardian, say.
Nokia has always been a strong Symbian supporter when it comes to handsets, though its internet tablets are based on Linux. It even went as far as buying Symbian in 2008 for around €264m (£228/$367).
If the moles are correct in their prediction, then Nokia’s adoption of Android for handsets could be seen as an attempt by the firm to re-energise smartphone sales in the light of the considerable consumer interest in the iPhone and Google's Android platform.
Update
After publication, Nokia told us: "There is no truth to this story whatsoever. It is a well known fact that Symbian is our platform of choice for smartphones." ®
COMMENTS
N900
The N900 is likely to ship with the next iteration of Maemo which currently has no phone stack. I would guess they're more likely to use oFono than freesmartphone.org for the phone stack since oFono is an Intel/Nokia project. However it is likely the community will include freesmartphone.org support. It is on the todo list for those running this on Openmoko hardware:
http://wiki.maemo.org/Mer/Hardware/Freerunner
There's no reason Android wouldn't be able to run on the N900, and if Nokia don't do it someone else will. That's the beauty of having an open device.
Shame
If Nokia gave Android a go, I'd be on it like a fat kid on cake. I love Nokia, and Symbian works, but it doesn't work how I want it to. I mean, at least give me the illusion I have some control. None of this signed apps crap. More visual customisation. SOMETHING.
Symbian
Wont their due-in-Q4 N900 use a Linux (OpenMoko) base though ?
I had my suspicions
I thought Nokia would stay with Symbian too. However all I know is my local Nokia apps R&D place has started recruiting a lot of Java developers for the first time instead of the C/C++ developers it traditionally recruits. This makes a lot of sense if Nokia are looking at developing for Android (which uses Java) instead of Symbian (C).
Shame
Thats a Shame, Android would be less buggy than Nokia's Symbian OS.
And faster too i bet.
