Gadgetory

conventional wisdom says that if Nokia had opted for Android maybe it would still be on top of the smartphone world today adventures in tech imagines the early Nokia Android phone that never was and asks could it have changed everything for 14 years from 1998 Nokia was the biggest phone maker in the world but it misjudged the smartphone revolution sticking with the Symbian OS until 2011 while rivals built up a huge lead Nokia sided with Windows Phone but its market share didn't recover and in 2014 it was bought by Microsoft ending its bid for independent smartphone supremacy Nokia acted too late and we'll never know what kind of wonderful devices could have been created had it embraced Android earlier unless we change history by building a time machine this is experiment 1 I'm going back to find out what would have happened to Nokia mark I'm you from the nightmare Android future you're about to create don't go back just make this episode using your imagination instead oh ok yeah in imagining the lost Nokia Android phone the first thing we have to nail down is the look luckily industrial design was absolutely one of Nokia's strong suits in 2011 before the launch of Windows Phone Nokia released one of the best-looking smartphones ever in the n9 which ran the ill-fated Mikko OS v n9 had a gorgeous curved screen and a range of colours that made it stand out and as Nokia kept the look for its earliest Windows Phone devices it's likely that if Nokia had embraced Android this is the look it would have chosen and apart from design there's another bit of expertise that Nokia could have brought to our hypothetical Android and masterpiece even before 2012 41 megapixel 808 PureView nokia was making some of the best mobile camera tech around including a real gem in 2010 Symbian powered Nokia n8 the n8 had a 12 megapixel sensor which was huge for the time and coupled with carl zeiss optics produced images that were way ahead of the competition it was a superior snapper that would happily stuff inside our dream Android phone finally the all-important Android software by the time Nokia did dabble with Android with the Nokia X it was already deeply committed to Windows Phone so it's hard to know what Nokia's take on Android would have looked like back in the day we do know that the Finnish firm has always been keen on using respect weeks and apps to give it an edge Nokia's long-standing Maps service and later Nokia music would have made an appearance as would that famous nokia ringtone which incidentally comes from a 1902 composition for solo guitar so horrible when you put these elements together you realize what Nokia had going for it not just design or tech but goodwill too maybe it was nostalgia for those beloved old phones but no key was a company we wanted to succeed and that made us decline harder to bear it's tempting to think that Android could have saved Nokia but I'm not sure Google's green robots can be a cruel companion when similar software is available everywhere phone makers are forced to build cheaper mobiles in order to woo shoppers and today even giants like Sony or Samsung are increasingly struggling to make money nokia was gambling that by offering something different it could dodge those problems the bet didn't pay off but the decision to make it was a logical one what would you have done differently if you were in charge and what are your memories of Nokia let me know and check back next time for another adventure in tech