Launching The Nokia X Series: Specs, OS And Target Market For Nokia's Very First Android Phone
The simple announcement – even at the point in the past when it was nothing more than an unlikely rumor – that Nokia plans to release an Android based smartphones stirred a lot of hype. Was the company really ready to give up on their platform, which to be honest did not live up to the current mobile OS's, in spite of sticking with it for so many years, come hell or high water? Now that the Nokia X has been officially made public at the 2014 edition of MWC in Barcelona, it’s time to put all doubts aside, take a deep breath and find out what this unlikely hybrid has to offer. Spoiler alert, not everything is as you’d have expected with the X generation.
Does the Nokia X series really run on the Android OS?
The short answer is yes, but a more accurate way to put it is that the three devices in the series, namely the X, X+ and XL have a proprietary hybrid operating system based around the 4.1.2 Android OS. It may not be the “droid you were looking for”, but it’s certainly as close as you can currently get to a Nokia with an Android operating system.
You see, while the Nokia X’s platform was developed utilizing the open source Android 4.1.2 code, the interface integrates numerous elements drawn directly from the Windows mobile OS and the Asha. The tiles, which can be reordered and resized according to your preferences, remind us of the Windows mobile OS, whereas the other screen packed with apps, notifications, updates, so on and so forth is clearly an Asha reboot.
Microsoft has also implemented numerous alternative services to Google’s popular versions, including Skype, OneDrive, Outlook, Here Maps, etc. Users have virtually the same bundles of apps that can be found on the Lumia models, but everything is embedded in and adapted to the 4.1.2 Android OS.
Was it even worth using the Android OS then?
In the light of these facts, it is only natural to ask yourself why Nokia went through the trouble of working around the 4.1.2 Android OS. After all, the proprietary apps are just adapted versions of the older ones! Well, there’s actually a good reason for their approach, namely that the Nokia X is entirely capable of running any app designed for the Android operating system. *cough* providing you can download it *cough*.
Right, there’s also another catch: there’s no Google Play store. Therefore, in order to use Android apps on your new Nokia X, you’ll have to download them from alternative sources, such as Yandex, 1Mobile or Nokia’s over-curated store. A glimpse of hope, however, was their promise to sell the X series preloaded with bundles of numerous popular Android apps.
The target audience = Teens and young adults in low tech countries
Before we discuss the technical details of the X models, let’s first state that these incredibly affordable devices are not designed to turn heads or compete with the latest models released at the WMC (see Xperia Z2, Sony 5, etc.). The Nokia X is targeting the niche of first time smartphone buyers with a limited budget who want to catch a glimpse of what switching from a simplistic mobile phone to an Android smartphone is all about.
So yeah, the $89 price tag of the X ($99 for the X+ and $109 for the XL) is probably tailor made for teenagers who manage to save up enough on their allowance to purchase their very first “showoff” phone. The limited specs, which we’ll discuss in a moment, also constitute the main reason why the Nokia X series will not make its way to high end markets like the United States, Japan or Korea. Instead, the manufacturer plans to sell the model mainly in Eastern Europe, Eurasia and South America.
Let’s talk features
The most basic model in the series, Nokia X, features a 3 MP back camera with fixed focus and no blitz, a screen with the dimension of 4 inches capable of displaying 800 by 600 resolutions. Like its other two brothers X+ and XL, the X version is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon dual core CPU with 1 Gigahertz cores. In terms of storage space, the Nokia X is just shy of 4 Gigabytes, but it can go up to 32 Gigabytes if you upgrade to another microSD card.
According to the manufacturer, the smartphone’s 1,5k mAh accumulator should provide you with juice for up to 10.3 hours of uninterrupted conversation, which knowing the teenage demographic market of today, is probably not nearly enough.
For $20 more, and providing you have the patience to wait until the second quarter of 2014 for the release of the X+, you can get a 5 MP back camera and a 2 MP front camera, a 5 inch screen with WVGA capabilities, and an SD card with more storage (how much more is yet to be announced).
Verdict: Yay or nay?
We firmly believe that the Nokia X series represents a step in the right direction for the company. These devices represent the living proof that the manufacturer finally understood two aspects of critical importance pertaining to the mobile market of today. More exactly, going against well established giants in the industry like Samsung, Sony or HTC heads on is suicide and that prolonging the life of a subpar operating system was not doing them any favors.
The X model is targeting an untapped demographic rather than trying to compete for an overcrowded high-end market without the proper arsenal. Even though Nokia still clings onto some of the relics of the past when it comes to designing the interface of their OS like an alcoholic making his way towards sobriety, “enrolling in rehab” by switching to the 4.1.2 Android was definitively the right call. The price of the Nokia X as well as several attractive offers courtesy of Microsoft such as 1 month of Skype-to-Landlines calls free of charge constitute the ace in the hole Nokia needed to rebuild its once great empire.
Now that you have heard it from us, are you anticipating to hold a Nokia X model very soon? Tell us about it, smartphone addicts!
