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Make Nokia Great Again! HMD official explains how Android will help Nokia return to former glory

By Plamen Dimitrov

Updated: Apr 10, 2017, 6:03 AM

Nokia

Android

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The Nokia 6 in Arte Black

Simplicity, ease of use, build quality. These were some of the main attributes that made Nokia phones so popular in the pre-iPhone era. Although the Finnish firm went through some very tough times in the past 10 years, its recent Android revival through HMD Global has undoubtedly delighted fans of the brand across the globe.

As you may know, HMD Global secured the rights to produce and sell Nokia-branded handsets for the next 10 years, and according to one official from the company, a bright future lies ahead for the new Android-powered Nokia smartphones.

Speaking to Gulf News, HMD Global’s vice president for the Middle East and North Africa Per Ekman promised that the latest handsets will retain the same brand qualities which consumers loved in older Nokia products, while also giving details on how a new strategic partnership with Google will help propel the company back to its former glory:

Most of the smartphones in the market do not have the Android OS in the way it should be. Vendors are adding a skin on top of the OS. Consumers have the right to have the latest version of the OS and we will be pushing the latest version and the patches as soon as it is available from Google... We and Google will jointly enhance the Nokia brand to put the right kind of inputs into the phone, including Google Assistant

HMD has been very keen on emphasizing that the Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and Nokia 6 will run the most clean, unaltered version of Android possible. This was officially announced back at MWC, where the company surprised everyone by stating that the three handsets will roll out with Android 7.1.1 out of the box, along with monthly security updates, and all of the latest software features from Google. This gives the trio a major advantage over its competitors, as the number of Android phones that run the latest version of the OS is extremely small (less than 1% of Android devices are on Nougat 7.1).

According to Ekman, the results that HMD achieved with this year's January launch of the Nokia 6 in China are more than promising. Labeling the East Asian country as "the toughest market", he stated that more than one million units were sold in pre-registration within 23 seconds of the announcement. The handset will have a global launch alongside three other Nokia models, and although Ekman did not share any information about an exact release date, industry experts predict that the new phones will hit the shelves at the end of May or in early June.

source: Gulf News via BGR

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