Nokia snatch back their iconic Lumia Camera user interface

Much of what made Windows Phone special was due to Nokia’s efforts, and even though the company has been through a number of convolutions recently, they are finally back in the phone business and want to bring some of that same magic back to their Android devices.

To that end, HMD, the company that are producing smartphones under license for Nokia, has acquired the design patent for the iconic Nokia Camera user interface which first debuted on Windows Phone many years ago.

The design patent has now been transferred from Microsoft Mobile Oy to HMD Global Oy on July 26, 2017 and will presumably soon show up on the  Nokia 3, 5 and 6.

While under Nokia Windows Phones had multiple unique design features, under Microsoft’s stewardship we saw the phone operating system seek to hew closer to the design standard of other operating systems, including adding unwelcome features such as hamburger menus, losing unique elements such as swipe to preview in the camera and, in the ultimate insult, adding round contact pictures.

Nokia recently posted better than expected results and it would be interesting to see if they can win back their fans of old, but now on a more vibrant, less burnt, platform.