Nokia teases ‘X’ phone ahead of expected Android announcement at MWC next week

Ahead of its scheduled announcement at Mobile World Congress on Monday, Nokia is teasing what we expect to be its first venture into Android handsets.

What has been codenamed Normandy, an Android variant with a Windows Phone-like user interface seen on Nokia’s recent smartphones, is being branded as Nokia X according to information shared by evleaks and mirrored by Nokia’s promo (seen above).

Nokia X. pic.twitter.com/meA05ALusT

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 17, 2014

Specs provided by evleaks point to a somewhat low end Android with a 5MP camera and 4GB of local storage relative to most hero smartphone offers from Samsung, Motorola, and HTC.

Nokia X: Snapdragon (1GHz x2), 4" WVGA, 512MB/4GB (+microSD), 5MP, 1500mAh, Android apps from Nokia Store + 3rd-party stores. Six colors.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 14, 2014

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Nokia is expected to ship its Android smartphone, a project which started before its acquisition by Microsoft.

Despite this model seemingly hitting the low end market, I can’t help but wonder if it could be a test bed for a flood of Android-powered Nokia-branded from Microsoft at its own Windows Phone platform struggles to maintain any notable marketshare.

We’ll bring you full coverage on Monday as Nokia shares the official details.