Nokia Branches Out from Windows With Android-based Phones

By Jane McEntegart
published

Nokia takes its first tentative step into the world of Android.

Surprisingly, the focus of Nokia’s press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona wasn’t a Lumia. In fact, the Lumia line didn’t feature much at all during the presentation. It did get a couple of name drops when Nokia announced the new X family of smartphones.

The Nokia X, X+ and XL all feature a tile-like interface inspired by the Lumia line, which runs on Windows Phone. However, these are Nokia’s first Android-powered devices. They’re probably not as Android as you might like, though, as Nokia has used the Android Open Source Project to create its own custom version of the Android software stack called Nokia X. This means these devices can run Android apps, but you won’t be able to access the Google Play Store.

 
The Nokia X is based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 processor cocked to 1 GHz and features 512 MB of RAM with 4 GB of on board storage (expandable to 32 GB via MicroSD. The WVGA display measures 4 inches in size and has an 800 x 480 resolution for 233 ppi. There’s also a 3-megapixel camera, dual-SIM support (MicroSIM), WiFi, and Bluetooth 3.0. The 1500 mAh battery is good for about 10.5 hours of talk time on 3G or 17 days of stand by. The Nokia X+ is basically the same phone, but it has some extra RAM (768 MB) and comes with a 4 GB memory card on top of the 4 GB integrated storage. 

 

The Nokia XL is the bigger brother but it’s not really ‘XL’ as far as today’s phones are concerned. It packs a 5-inch display (again, WVGA, 800 x 480) with 187 ppi, the same dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor clocked to 1 GHz, 768 MB of RAM, 4 GB of internal storage (expandable to 32 GB via MicroSD), a 5-megapixel camera in the back, a 2-megapixel camera in the front, dual-SIM support, Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi and a 2,000 mAh battery that’s good for 13 hours of 3G talk time or 30 days of dual-SIM stand by.

Given the specs, you don’t need us to tell you that these aren’t high-end phones. Indeed, despite the Android-based OS, Nokia is pitching the X family as a way to offer consumers affordable access to Microsoft services. The Nokia X will cost €89 and is available immediately in Asia-Pacific, Europe, India, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. The Nokia X+ and Nokia XL are coming in Q2 and will cost €99 and €109 respectively.

Stay tuned for hands on from the show floor. We can’t wait to sink our teeth into this new Nokia-flavored Android.

Check out all our Mobile World Congress 2014 coverage here!

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Jane McEntegart
14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • houldendub
    Shame, the mainstream high end could of done with something other than the iPhone and Galaxy S range. I guess Microsoft's contempt with not being the best.
    Reply
  • rwinches
    I get that this is the MWC, but what is the point of bringing out old tech phones at a already overcrowded low-end price point?

    Oh Yeah, and did I mention the crappy tile Android interface, that's already been done and better by Sammy, Chameleon and even Polaroid?
    Reply
  • I Hate Nvidia
    I think this is a pretty smart move by MS/Nokia ,they will get rid of the aging and money consuming Symbian all together ,and replace it at the low end with android to cut down cost of developing the software so they can sell thier phones cheaper and/or gain a higher prophit margin , and easy porting of android apps fortify this move by not demanding develoers to develop apps for a low end phone with tight margins.Still they don't make such move in the high end where the cash really is ,so will not alienate hardcore WIN Phone /Nokia fans.
    Reply
  • Nolonar
    After I've seen what my Windows Phone 8 Lumia can do, I don't want to go back to Android (not any time soon, at least).

    Microsoft has come a long way since crappy Windows Mobile and it's all thanks to Google and Apple.
    Now, if only Windows Phone gains a somewhat significant market share (let's say 20%), then we can expect Apple and Google to do some really impressive work.

    Oh, I just LOVE competition. Fanboys can go to hell.
    Reply
  • MTWSD
    So if it can't access the Play Store, what exactly does that mean? Can you still run regular android apps, and if so how would you get them on the phone?I'm not very knowledgeable about the android platform, I'm a WP user.
    Reply
  • Bloob
    So if it can't access the Play Store, what exactly does that mean? Can you still run regular android apps, and if so how would you get them on the phone?I'm not very knowledgeable about the android platform, I'm a WP user.
    It has third party app stores pre-installed, and you can install more of them. You can also install apks from the file manager. Shouldn't be difficult to get Play there too.
    Reply
  • teh_chem
    Shame, the mainstream high end could of done with something other than the iPhone and Galaxy S range. I guess Microsoft's contempt with not being the best.
    The last thing people need is another high-end expensive device. Phones are already so overpowered on the hardware-end, new devices are coming out with no real advantage over older devices because the software and services haven't advanced. My LG Optimus G is still overkill on the hardware performance end, nothing that has come out since (or is rumored to come out).I'm not saying I'd like to go backwards in terms of performance spec's--but the low-mid end can benefit from a great phone maker like Nokia--assuming they did it right (not being full-fledged android makes me wary, given how I did not like how Amazon's FireOS works out).
    Reply
  • edwd2
    really, why the ugly tiles again? it's visually displeasing and inconvenient to browse through.
    Reply
  • belardo
    Just like the first Nokia lumias... outdated hardware. I get the low end target... but there are other low end phones with same or Bette specs. Also, its not like Nokia has to BUY wp8. This is not how you grow your platform and I think this tells developers to not brother with WP8/9... and since RT is dead... that leaves a full blown windows OS from MS. What a mess. BTW, those with android can experience WP8 by downloading Launcher 8. Its actually a bit better than wp8 as it has more customize features and function. Like individual tile color, tile landscape rotation which is slick.
    Reply
  • JD88
    I find this to be humorous and ironic considering Elop and Ballmer have been saying for nearly two years that Android is much worse than Windows Phone on low end devices, and now they turn around and release this. To reinforce the matter, they aren't going to heavily market it as an "Android" device so clearly it's not a marketing issue. Is Nokia admitting sticking with Windows Phone exclusively was a fail? Did it turn out that Windows Phone wasn't so great on the low end after all? What's going on here?
    Reply