If you are a company that has already set in motion an acquisition by Microsoft, chances are you wouldn’t want to do anything to upset your future parent company. But that’s not the case at Nokia, as they have used the Mobile World Congress this week to announce not one, but three Android smartphones.
What Nokia has done is similar to Amazon’s approach to using Android. They’ve taken the Android open source project and produced their own flavor of the mobile operating system called the Nokia X software platform. But importantly, they have retained compatibility with Android meaning all apps will work from the ecosystem.
The three smartphones on offer are called the Nokia X, Nokia X+, and Nokia XL. There’s actually little difference between the trio. The processor inside is a Snapdragon S4 dual-core running at 1GHz, the display resolution is 800 x 480, and internal storage is set at 4GB. The X is the lowest-end device and has 512MB RAM, 4-inch display, and a 3MP camera. The X+ increases the RAM to 768MB, but keeps everything else the same. The XL just bumps the screen size up to 5-inches and adds a 5MP rear and 2MP front-facing cameras.
Clearly these aren’t high-end smartphones, but they were never meant to be. Nokia describes them as handsets meant to “capture the fast-growing affordable smartphone market” and offer a path to higher end Lumia devices. They are also using these cheap phones to showcase Microsoft services, including Skype, OneDrive, and Outlook.com.
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With that in mind, the price of all three smartphones is very low. The X is around $122, the X+ $136, and XL $149. Both the X and X+ will be available in bright green, bright red, cyan, yellow, black and white. The XL in bright green, orange, cyan, yellow, black and white. Don’t expect to pick one up in the US, though. Sales are limited to Asia-Pacific, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. The Nokia X is available immediately, where as the X+ and XL will arrive in the second quarter.
Although limited in release, you have to wonder just how long the X range of phones will be available to buy. As soon as Microsoft has full control over Nokia, any resources dedicated to Android phone development will surely be refocused on to Windows Phone. And it’s even more unlikely we’ll ever see another Nokia X model released. So, if you want one, don’t hang about picking one up.
What Nokia has done is similar to Amazon’s approach to using Android. They’ve taken the Android open source project and produced their own flavor of the mobile operating system called the Nokia X software platform. But importantly, they have retained compatibility with Android meaning all apps will work from the ecosystem.
The three smartphones on offer are called the Nokia X, Nokia X+, and Nokia XL. There’s actually little difference between the trio. The processor inside is a Snapdragon S4 dual-core running at 1GHz, the display resolution is 800 x 480, and internal storage is set at 4GB. The X is the lowest-end device and has 512MB RAM, 4-inch display, and a 3MP camera. The X+ increases the RAM to 768MB, but keeps everything else the same. The XL just bumps the screen size up to 5-inches and adds a 5MP rear and 2MP front-facing cameras.
Clearly these aren’t high-end smartphones, but they were never meant to be. Nokia describes them as handsets meant to “capture the fast-growing affordable smartphone market” and offer a path to higher end Lumia devices. They are also using these cheap phones to showcase Microsoft services, including Skype, OneDrive, and Outlook.com.
Qualcomm unveils 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 600 series chipset
Chromebooks push Microsoft to cut Windows 8.1 license fee by 70 percent
Nokia launches three Nokia X Android smartphones
GEEK
NEWSLETTER
More Geek
Screen Shot 2014-02-25 at 3.20.10 PM
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stephen_elop_laughing
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miix-2-lenovo
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rime_reveal
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Microsoft By Matthew Humphries Feb. 24, 2014 8:15 am
Nokia_X_range
nokia_xl
With that in mind, the price of all three smartphones is very low. The X is around $122, the X+ $136, and XL $149. Both the X and X+ will be available in bright green, bright red, cyan, yellow, black and white. The XL in bright green, orange, cyan, yellow, black and white. Don’t expect to pick one up in the US, though. Sales are limited to Asia-Pacific, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. The Nokia X is available immediately, where as the X+ and XL will arrive in the second quarter.
Although limited in release, you have to wonder just how long the X range of phones will be available to buy. As soon as Microsoft has full control over Nokia, any resources dedicated to Android phone development will surely be refocused on to Windows Phone. And it’s even more unlikely we’ll ever see another Nokia X model released. So, if you want one, don’t hang about picking one up.
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If you are a company that has already set in motion an acquisition by Microsoft, chances are you wouldn’t want to do anything to upset your ...
