Nokia feature phone with Android, selfie camera, Google Assistant button appears in sketch

The rumors about a Nokia feature phone have been going around for quite some time. It all started with a Nokia N9 (lookalike) a year and a half ago being displayed at a Google booth at CES19. We still don’t know if that was some prototype Google mistakenly displayed or some employee having fun by putting the iconic Nokia N9 alongside KaiOS feature phones. A more serious leak was a when a video appeared of a Nokia feature phone running some version of Android. That phone might sooner go official than we expect.

We received a sketch of a Nokia feature phone with a keyboard, centrally placed Google Assistant button and a front camera. The sketch seems legit because we also got a glimpse of what looks like a document connecting this sketch/device to Nokia Mobile. And after some research into the archives, the device from the sketch is in fact the one that appeared in the video of Nokia Android feature phone.

This tip might indicate that Nokia Mobile is in the last stages of launching this Android feature phone, which would also represent Google’s direct entrance on the feature phone market with their own OS. One can argue that Google is indirectly present in the feature phone market by the recent investment in Nokia phone maker HMD Global and the investment made in KaiOS some time ago.

When will we see the phone (and if we will see it launched at all), only time will tell. This device has been in development for at least a year, because the first photo of it appeared in July last year. Also, a Nokia feature phone with model number TA-1316 recently passed FCC, but besides being a feature phone, there is nothing else indicating that TA-1316 might be the device from sketch.

In any case, I hope we will see it sooner than later, but I would also like to see some attractive smartphones as well. 🙂