Amazon rumored to hire HTC for a Kindle smartphone

According to a report in The Financial Times, HTC and Amazon are working together on an upcoming smartphone. The article goes further to point that there are three different devices in the works, with one of them being in advanced stage of development.

Amazon has not responded to requests for comment on the report, though it stated that it has “no plans to offer a phone this year”. HTC’s chief of marketing Ben Ho also declined to comment on the Amazon partnership, but said that the manufacture is “always exploring new opportunities”.
A partnership with Amazon could give HTC a break from its troubles, as the device will likely be a high-volume product which will give the ailing company’s balance sheet a welcome boost. It will also represent a back to basics approach for the Taiwanese manufacturer, which made a name for itself by producing hardware under different brands.
As far as Amazon is concerned, a potential cooperation with HTC will signal an even more aggressive stance towards the market for mobile devices. The current family of Kindle Fire devices has been developed in-house by the retail behemoth. GSMArena

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Nokia X budget Android smartphone purportedly spotted in benchmark listing

With each passing day, Nokias yet-to-be-confirmed first Android phone, the Nokia X gets tipped in new leaks, fuelling speculation that the Finnish handset maker may actually unveil the device.

The new leak comes via Browsermark 2 benchmarks database, which lists a device believed to be the Nokia X (aka Project Normandy), running Android on top. According to the Browsermark 2 database, the alleged Nokia X device comes with model number RM-980, and scores 1885.88 in the test.

Unfortunately, the listing does not reveal any details about the device but includes an image that purportedly shows Nokia X wearing Nexus 5s wallpaper and home screen icons. However, the current image contradicts 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 giants Kindle Fire tablet range.

The alleged Nokia X was recently listed at a Vietnamese online retailer that have 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 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.

The alleged Nokia X aka Nokia Normandy is said to get introduced in the upcoming MWC 2014 event held in Barcelona starting from 24 February.

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