Nokia X budget Android phone launching in Asha series in March

The much-awaited but yet-to-be-announced Nokia X, aka the Nokia Normandy budget Android smartphone, is once again in the news, this time, with a report of the device being set to launch in March in India, under the Asha line-up.

The report, by GoAndroid, quotes an unnamed senior executive officer from Nokia India, whoreportedly also confirmed that the much-rumoured dual-SIM Windows Phone device, akaMoneypenny, would be launched in the country at the same time. 

The numerous rumours (some from established tipsters) surrounding the speculated first Android phone from Nokia are slightly difficult to believe, what with Microsoft's takeover of Nokia's mobile devices and services division - why would the Redmond giant allow Nokia to offer a device on a competing platform? We'll have to wait to see if such a device actually arrives.

The alleged Nokia X aka Nokia Normandy was previously reported to be introduced at the upcoming MWC 2014 event held in Barcelona, starting from 24 February. The March launch timeline is therefore in line with this report. 

Last week, the rumoured Nokia X has been leaked in live images, revealing design of the alleged device. A French publication, No Where Else, has posted three images of the alleged Nokia X, showing the front panel, the rear panel, and the side panel.

Also last week, a new leak via Browsermark 2 benchmark's database purportedly revealed the alleged Nokia X phone to come with model number RM-980. Unfortunately, the listing did not reveal any details about the device, but includes an image that purportedly showed Nokia X wearing Nexus 5's wallpaper and home screen icons. However, the current image contradicted earlier reports that claimed that Nokia, following the lead of Amazon, has been working on a fully-tailored or forked version of Android, like the software on the online retail giant's Kindle Fire tablet range.

The alleged Nokia X was also recently listed at a Vietnamese online retailer that revealed most of the specifications, including a 4-inch TFT display with a resolution of 480x854 (FWVGA) pixels; a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor; 5-megapixel rear camera; microSD card support and Android 4.4 KitKat.

Further, the Vietnamese retailer listing seemingly confirmed that the rumoured Nokia X would come with dual-SIM support, while connectivity options include 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, EDGE, AGPS and Micro-USB. Other specifications include 4GB of inbuilt storage and Adreno 302 GPU. Notably, the listing claimed that the alleged Nokia X supports Google services like Google Play store, Google Search, Google Now, Google Maps, Calendar and YouTube.