Secrets on the inside: Nokia had Android, Microsoft had the Surface Phone

Shortly after joining Nokia as CEO, Stephen Elop issued a company internal memo titled "Burning Platform". The memo served as a wake-up call for Nokia to rethink their strategy going forward in regards to which mobile platform they were going to build the company upon. Information technology was then a couple of months afterward at Mobile Earth Congress 2022 that Nokia announced they would be using Microsoft'south Windows Phone operating arrangement.

Since and so, tech pundits and consumers alike have cried for a high-finish Nokia smartphone running Android. Nokia has always shot down those pleas, merely that might not having always been the case internally. Nokia had Android running on Lumia hardware at i betoken.

A post by the New York Times details the history between Nokia and Android. While Microsoft and Nokia have publically always seen eye-to-eye in regards to their bullishness with Windows Phone, behind airtight doors things weren't so rosy. An internal secret project at Nokia had Android running on Lumia hardware. The projection was sort of a Plan B if things with Windows Phone didn't piece of work out. The deal between Microsoft and Nokia was always up for renewal at the cease of 2022.

Nokia wasn't alone in having a Plan B. We've ever heard rumors of a Surface Phone, a device from Microsoft to salvage Windows Phone from OEMs. Over at The Verge, we now know a picayune bit more about the long rumored device. According to internal sources, Microsoft had several prototype devices internally every bit their own Plan B. The hole-and-corner phone project was headed by Terry Myerson.

What pushed Nokia to really look into Android? It was the progress at which Microsoft had with the Tango update for Windows Phone. Tango was the update that immune Windows Telephone to run on lower end hardware, something that Nokia was determined nigh having. They played around with Linux and Android on low-end hardware internally as Microsoft worked on Tango. As we know, the adjacent billion smartphone users volition come up from hardware that isn't on the cut border.

What would the globe be like with Nokia making Android devices and Microsoft producing their ain hardware? We'll never know, merely we'll might see those questions answered in a weird way. Microsoft phones made past "Nokia".

Source: New York Times, The Verge

History catches up

The problem for a consumer HoloLens was always the lack of Windows Phone

What is the future for Microsoft (and Windows) mixed reality? The latest report from Business organisation Insider sheds some low-cal, but this all comes back to one major trouble for Microsoft: No mobile Windows OS. Just what virtually a future headset that is cloud-based? Some thoughts on what could happen for Microsoft mixed reality.

Buyer'southward guide

All our picks for the very best laptops with USB-C ports

Looking for a new laptop that has USB-C ports? Perchance you need Thunderbolt 4, or maybe Thunderbolt 4 isn't a requirement for you. Either way, we've rounded upward what we call back are the best USB-C laptops available to buy today.