Nokia Android Phones are official; releases Nokia X, X+ and XL
Lakshmi Rajan
The X family is only based on Android and uses a forked version of Android rather than the truest sense of Android most users know. It takes a backdoor Android entry similar to Amazon’s Kindle. To begin with, it doesn’t have Google Play certification and notable absence would be Google Play Store and would bypass Google services for Android experience. In stead, the apps would be curated on Nokia’s own App store which will have an exclusive section for X family. The UI looks very similar to the Windows Phone OS. May be the idea here is to make the entry-level segment get used to the Lumia language whenever they switch to it.
Nokia says it is very easy for developers to port their existing Android apps and only three APIs have been changed, so if a developer isn’t making use of these, no changes are needed at all. It is also possible to download apps from third-party app-stores as well as side load an APK directly from the computer to the device.
As expected, the devices would be baked with many Microsoft services as well as Nokia’s exclusive apps like Mix Radio and Here Maps.
Nokia X devices specifications and pricing
The first of the device and the one in rumor-mill for long time is Nokia x which is very similar to the Lumia 520 device. It features a 4-inch WVGA (800×480 pisxels) display and is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor paired with 512MB of RAM. Other specs include 4GB of storage with microSD support, 5-megapixel camera and a 1,500mAh battery. Nokia X would be the first device to hit the market immediately. Nokia says it would be available for 89 Euros.
Nokia X+ and XL would rollout in the second quarter and would be priced at 99 Euros and 109 Euros respectively.
Nokia X+ shares the same specs as of Nokia X but with only a beefed up internal storage.
Nokia XL is the biggest device of the trio, sporting a bigger display – 5-inch WVGA (800×480 pixels) display — and gets better cameras– 5-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front-facing camera.
All the three devices are dual-SIM smartphones .As an introductory offer, Microsoft is offering buyers one month free calls Skype, and 1GB of OneDrive storage.
