It looks like Nokia's first dual-sim Lumia smartphones could hit developing markets pretty soon.
An alleged screenshot of the home screen of one such phone was posted online by Twitter user @evleaks. The tweet didn't reveal much except the codename of the phone, mentioned as 'Moneypenny.'
The screenshot though, offers a peek in to the next iteration of the Windows Phone OS, complete with onscreen navigation keys for Back, Start and Search. The onscreen keys were also leaked by @evleaks, earlier this month. The home screen of the phone features two network bars, both indicating support for 3G networks, and two separate tiles for Phone and Messaging, most probably corresponding to the different phone lines for the two sims.
@evleaks had first tweeted in November that Nokia was planning a dual-sim version of Windows Phone-Blue (Windows Phone 8.1) powered Moneypenny. A report by The Verge had also reiterated that Nokia's Moneypenny handset will feature on-screen navigation buttons that are being offered to device makers with the latest iteration of the OS. Windows Phone 8.1 is expected to be unveiled at Build 2014 scheduled to be held in April 2014.
It was reported that two of the major new features of the Windows Phone 8.1 OS would be a notification centre and Siri-inspired personal voice assistant. Sources have revealed that the mobile operating system would feature the highly requested notification center, which will be enabled by swiping down from the top of the screen, similar to iOS and Android. The personal voice assistant, dubbed 'Cortana', is expected to replace the existing Bing search on Windows Phone and allow users to interact using voice or text input.
Meanwhile, @evleaks has also posted a new picture of a big-screen Nokia Asha-like handset, codenamed Normandy. The picture just features six colour variants of the phone. It was previously reported that the Normandy was Nokia's Android phone which was being tested by the company. The phone was running a special "forked" variant of Android that's not aligned with Google's own version, akin to what Amazon does with its Kindle Fire line and was believed to be an equivalent to the company's low-cost Asha range and support Android apps.
The rumour was dismissed by another report that claimed that Nokia had dumped plans for Android smartphone and tablets completely as it cannot launch any phones under its own branding for two years after the completion of the sale of its mobile unit to Microsoft. However, it is reported to be focusing on nascent technologies in the field of wearable computing, such as smartglasses, flexible displays, wireless power transmission and electromagnetic energy generation.
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