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New Nokia Smartphones and Tablets Are Coming in Late 2016: Company Executive (pcworld.com)

Posted by msmash on from the Nokia-returns dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The resurrection of the Nokia brand may happen in the fourth quarter of this year, which could make for some really nostalgic holiday gifts. According to Chinese site ThePaper (in Chinese), Nokia executive Mike Wang confirmed that three or four Nokia-branded Android devices are on the way for the fourth quarter of 2016. The comeback effort would include both phones and tablets. There is a chance, however, that the timeline could get pushed back depending upon how things progress. It wouldn't be a terrible shocker considering we're talking about a new company, HMD. It's composed of former employees from Microsoft, the old Nokia, and others who are banding together to resurrect the once-iconic brand. The best rumor we have is that the phones will have 5.2-inch and 5.5-inch Quad HD, OLED displays, a Snapdragon 820 SOC, 22.6MP back camera, and a metal build with water and dust resistance. No word on what a tablet would look like.

3 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing but the name by bdh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People salivating over this should remember that Nokia has already released an Android; the N1. That was two years ago. Was it a good tablet? By all accounts, it was excellent. Did it make a massive effect on the market? It barely made a ripple, and was quickly forgotten. And this is a spinoff of that Nokia.

    People who are expecting Nokia to come roaring back are going to be disappointed. I'd love to see some new of the old Nokia magic myself, but like Ashton-Tate, Borland, Sun Microsystems, and the like, their time has sadly passed. Nokia was exceptional at making quality feature phones, and some really smart stuff went into their smartphones (I had a 5800 and loved it), but their skills didn't map to the mass market smartphone market. Like Blackberry, they were still selling phones with some computer features, while the rest of the market was selling hand-held computers that happened to make phone calls.

    Fortunately, they appear to be making tentative steps. Maybe they'll come out with some cool features and give Samsung some competition. I hope so, but I'm certainly not expecting them to become one of the big three phone/tablet vendors any time soon.

    1. Re:Nothing but the name by npslider · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The big players (Apple, Samsung, Nexus, etc) have already established themselves, and like all new market niches, competition eventually kills off the weaker ones. Nokia is too late to the party, the music is over and the lights are out.

      I do hope they can buck that trend, but short of inventing a NEW kind of phone, what will they do to stand out. Smart phone shoppers already know the brand names in the race. Nokia, for some will bring back fond memories, for others... blank stares - "Noki- who?"

  2. Re:Just another "me too!" by npslider · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Maybe not the camera.

    The camera's mega-pixel count did sound high, but those numbers are nearly meaningless w/o the quality optics and image sensors to make those huge images actually look good.

    But yeah, it's not going to be just random Chinese phone with Nokia brand? Like Blackberry does? Actual hardware from Nokia?

    Will the place of origin matter to anyone comparison shopping? Will we even know?