A Nokia branded smartphone with Android One markings has now been spotted passing through the FCC, hinting at a possible launch at the upcoming MWC 2019 event in Barcelona. The listing doesn’t showcase much information about components used or any images. Those are still being held under a standard temporary confidentiality agreement. Regardless, the test documents included do betraying some information about the HMD Global-built device.
Listed with model designation TA-1157, the paperwork indicates that the handset has been tested with a 3,000mAh battery and that its internal configuration supports multi-band support for GSM, WCDMA, and LTE. Compatible bands for each of those are listed as well as support for Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n standards, and at least one test appears to be centered around NFC.
For GSM, the Nokia TA-1157 will work on the 850, 900, 1800, and 1900MHz bands while WCDMA is available on bands 1, 5, and 8. LTE goes significantly further, with compatibility listed for bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40, and 41.
What exactly is the Nokia TA-1157?
As alluded to above, there don’t seem to have been any leaks prior to this pertaining to the Nokia TA-1157 but its model number and the information provided could give way to at least some speculation.
The next closest device in terms of model number, as pointed out by the source, is the Nokia TA-1152. That’s been rumored to launch in India as the Nokia 1 Plus, with reports around the web suggesting that will land at the MWC 2019 event and be released sometime thereafter. That’s predicted to ship with relatively bottom-rung specifications including a quad-core MediaTek SoC, qHD+ display panel, a single Gigabyte of RAM, and Android 9 Pie Android Go edition.
With consideration for the specs of Nokia’s rumored 1 Plus and the similarity in model numbers, it isn’t unreasonable to speculate that the TA-1157 will be a more powerful variant of the same in the budget-segment. The fact that it’s running Android One means that it won’t be so low-powered and that the Android 9 Pie experience, presumably, will be completely stock. The relatively low-capacity battery unit and additional features such as NFC seem to support that as well.
Filling out a lineup
If the newly reported handset does launch at MWC 2019, it may be intended to bring a similar experience to the Nokia 1 Plus but with more appeal for an international audience than the affordable to mid-range smartphones popular in India. But it would also serve to round out a far-ranging lineup that’s expected to land at the same time.
MWC 2019 is expected to see HMD Global launch not only budget-minded smartphones but also a successor to the Nokia 8 flagship, dubbed the Nokia 8.1, and an even more powerful, five-camera enabled Nokia 9 PureView. While the Nokia TA-1157 would appear to be a more budget-friendly offering, those two devices are decidedly not in that category.
The Nokia 8.1 is predicted to be a dual-SIM handset with ARCore support and an 18W fast-charging 3,500mAh battery. Android 9 Pie is expected to be powered along by an octa-core Snapdragon 710 SoC clocked at 2.2GHz and backed by 4GB or 6GB of RAM coupled with either 64GB or 128GB storage in two configurations. Above that device’s 6.18-inch FullHD+, a 20-megapixel selfie snapper is expected. The primary snapper is predicted to be comprised of a 12-megapixel and 13-megapixel dual-shooter topped by ZEISS Optics.