The Finnish handset manufacturer Nokia has made an expected, but still somewhat surprising announcement at Mobile World Congress 2014. The company unveiled three smartphones running a highly modified version of Google’s Android OS. The Finns call it the Nokia X Software Platform. The devices will lack popular Google services such as Maps. Expect Hangouts to be replaced by Skype, Google Drive with OneDrive, Gmail with Outlook, and Google Maps with HERE. Users won’t have access to the Play Store, but side-loading apps is possible. In short, it would be pretty much in line with Amazon’s version of forked Android seen on the Kindle Fire.
These handsets will come loaded with Nokia App Store, which already hosts popular apps including BBM, Plants vs. Zombies 2, Viber, Vine, Skype, and Twitter. During the event, Stephen Elop stated that Nokia X benefits from the Android app ecosystem, and at the same time introducing new people to Nokia apps and services. It’s also said that the Android developers retool their apps for these devices in a matter of few hours.
All three of the devices sport a Lumia-esque design. They're powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon dual-core processors. Similar to most budget Android smartphones, these phones offer dual-SIM functionality. The Nokia X is the entry level member of the family, with 4-inch IPS LCD screen, 512 MB RAM, and 3 megapixel camera. It will be available in green, black, white, yellow, cyan and red. The Nokia X+, as its name suggests, offers a little more — that's 768 MB RAM.
The Nokia XL, flaunts a relatively big 5-inch screen. It boats of 768 MB RAM, the free MicroSD card and it has both a 2 megapixel front-facing camera for Skype calls, as well as a 5 megapixel rear camera with autofocus and flash. The same colours are available as for the Nokia X and X+, except bright orange replaces the red with this model.
Detailed specs has been given below:
Detailed specs has been given below:
