Nokia X: Ditches Windows Phone for Android!

Nokia was reportedly working on an Android phone before it was acquired by Microsoft. It had little success with Windows Phone, and now it's going back for Android! Nokia is launching not 1, not 2, but 3 Android handsets at once: X, X+ and XL.

The X and X+ models have 4-inch displays with 800x480 pixels while the XL has a 5-inch display (thank Nokia for the pun) with the same resolution. All 3 models will share a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, microSD slot, dual-sim slot and 1500mAh of battery.

The base model, X, has 512MB of RAM and a 3-megapixel camera. The X+ is similar but has slightly more RAM at 768MB, and includes a 4GB MicroSD card. The larger variant, the XL comes with 768MB of RAM, 5-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front camera. Do note that all cameras on these phones do not have flash.

Although it runs Android, it is heavily tweaked and will include Microsoft and Nokia apps pre-installed. Skype will be pre-installed and includes 1 month of free calls to landlines and mobiles. Nokia's navigation apps are also included.

The user interface looks like a cross between Windows Phone and Android. The glance screen and colorful tiles at the homepage looks to be plucked directly from Windows Phone. However, Android's familiar notification bar sits on top, reminding users that they are on Android.

Steve Elop, the Executive Vice President of Devices & Services at Nokia, said that the X range are meant to be more affordable than the Lumia range. The X range phones will be "broadly available globally" and will cost &125 for the X, $135 for the X+ and $150 for the XL.

These little devices certainly look cheerful with its range of colors: green, cyan, red, yellow, white and black. The X range phones will not sell in high-end markets like the US, Korea or Japan. It will target Asian markets instead.

Seems like the mid-to-low end smartphone competition is heating up.


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Written by: Kheng Wei Ang