The past week or so has seen a handful of interesting leaks. Primarily from Samsung and Nokia devices. Everyone wants to know if Nokia will eventually release an Android device. And – although it was just swallowed up by Microsoft – the rumors aren’t going away. A device codenamed ‘Normandy’ has been doing the rounds, running a skinned version of Android that looks a lot more like Windows Phone than traditional Android UI. Perhaps that’s a good thing.

The problem many OEMs seem to have is that they create a skin that just looks like a slight variation on something that already exists. There’s very little thinking outside the box. It’s perhaps one of the reasons the Galaxy brand is so popular. People like it, and don’t want iPhone, what reason do they have to switch to anything else?

So, when Nokia comes along, it’s allegedly thinking along the same lines as Metro UI in Windows Phone. Instead of having floating icons above a wallpaper, it has a black screen with tiles. Just like WP. Perhaps an indication that it’s not as confident about the future of Windows Phone and needs to branch out, but realizes that doing what everyone else is doing isn’t going to cut it.

For me – if it’s real – it’s a winner. It has the unique design of Windows Phone, but the much stronger ecosystem of Google. Let’s face it, Google’s Play Store has much more to offer than Windows Phone’s app store.

What do you think? Would you like to see something like this make its way to Tmo stores?

Via: @evleaks