Is Nokia prepping an Android phone?

We at TechRadar often get asked how we get to bring you all the best and most innovative news, and we often give a knowing shrug and a wink before turning away enigmatically.

Well, it's actually because sometimes a spec sheet gets leaked detailing all the prototypes a company is working on, which has happened most recently in the case of Nokia over on Engadget Mobile.

While it's a long and extensive list, the last one mentioned has caught our eye, where it gives a list of specs for a phone codenamed Eitri, with the prototype due to be finished in Q2 next year.

Feature rich

It features a landscape candybar with QWERTY keyboard, a 3.5-inch touchscreen, tactile display with gesture recognition, 8GB onboard memory, a proximity sensor, an accelerometer and an integrated compass.

Hmmm, don't some of those features seem familiar? Why, they look like some of the specs needed to make a Google Android handset!

While it might seem a bit spurious Nokia would effectively walk away from its own baby in the shape of the newly purchased Symbian OS, perhaps the Finns are just hedging their bets and getting a compatible handset ready for when it's likely Android will be really taking off?

Check out the full list of all the prototypes over on Engadget Mobile, but be warned, it's pretty long!