THE dream of a proper Android phone from Nokia lives on. The storied phone maker will return to the smartphone market in early 2017 under a company called HMD Global, which acquired the exclusive rights to use the Nokia brand on phones and tablets for the next 10 years.

HMD Global had already taken the reins of Nokia’s feature-phone business from Microsoft, so it would be fitting for the firm to take on the challenge of bringing the once-illustrious brand back from the brink and up to scratch with today’s heavy hitters.

Incidentally, HMD is based in Finland and is said to employ plenty of former Nokia staffers. And it sure knows how to tease fans, as it unveiled a new phones section on the Nokia website, alongside this message:

“Elegant simplicity. Trusted reliability. Lasting quality. We are unlocking new and extraordinary possibilities for billions of people. And we’re just getting started, with new smartphones coming in 2017.”

As you may recall, prior to its multibillion-dollar acquisition by Microsoft, Nokia, very briefly, flirted with Google’s Android operating system, culminating with the release of Nokia X, a phone with a questionable purpose and even more questionable software. A Nokia-branded Android tablet was launched much later, but by then Nokia had already lost the war to Apple and Google’s hardware partners. Fast-forward to today, and we’ve been told to expect the first Nokia smartphones running Android sometime next year.

Rumor has it the launch will coincide with the Mobile World Congress or MWC, which will be held from February 27 to March 2, 2017, in Barcelona, Spain. HMD previously confirmed a press conference at the international tech show. It didn’t divulge further details, but we’ve been hearing a lot lately about two Android Nougat smartphones code-named D1C and P1.

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about two Android Nougat smartphones code-named D1C and P1.

The latter has been tipped to come in two sizes — 5.2 and 5.5 inches — each fitted with a 2K display and Qualcomm’s best processor yet. It may even come with a water-resistant metal body. The D1C, on the other hand, will reportedly have a 5.5-inch screen and a Snapdragon 430 CPU backed by 3GB of RAM.

Which Nokia will we see as it returns to the market next year? Will its upcoming releases mark a return to form for the brand? We’ll find out soon enough. Personally, we’re just happy that a familiar name is back in the headlines.

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Story via The Verge. Image via Digital Trends

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