If you fancy getting to know the trio of handsets
at once, stick around and we'll reveal the specs,
the design, the release dates and the price of
each of these unusual handsets.
It started out as a pie-in-the-sky rumour: Nokia
is making an Android device. Surely not, given
the Finnish firm has only recently been acquired
by software giant (and the Windows Phone
peddling) Microsoft. So why would Nokia jump
into bed with the enemy?
Nokia X release date and OS
Nokia's Android ambitions have come to fruition
and if you want to see what we think so far you
can head straight on over to our hands on
reviews of the Nokia X , Nokia X+ and Nokia XL .
While many eyebrows were raised, and eyes
rolled, when news of the Nokia X first took to the
web (under the moniker Normandy), the sheer
deluge of leaks added more and more credibility
to the handset's existence.
And then it was made official. At MWC 2014 ,
Stephen Elop took to the stage to announce the
arrival of the Nokia X, X+ and Nokia XL .
The Nokia X and Nokia X+ are bedfellows – all
that separates them are the amount of RAM they
have.
The Nokia X has just 512MB, while the Nokia X+
has a slightly more generous 768MB and comes
with a 4GB microSD card in the box. As for the
Nokia XL, this is a low-cost phablet with a 5-
inch screen.
Cut to the chase
What is it? Nokia's first smartphone to run
Google's Android OS
When is it out? Now, the Nokia X+ and Nokia
XL arrive in Q2
What will it cost? It's cheap: €89, €99 (X+)
and €109 (XL)
Nokia X release date and price
Most Nokia X rumours highlighted MWC 2014 in
Barcelona as the platform for the Nokia Android
smartphone to make its international appearance,
and they weren't wrong.
Announced on February 24, the Nokia X was
revealed by Stephen Elop, who said that the new
device was indeed Android but with a difference.
"The Nokia X is built on Android open source
software. We have differentiated and added our
own experience," he said.
We did learn that the Nokia X would be launching
imminently and cost just €89 (around £75, $120,
AU$135), while Nokia X+ and Nokia XL will be
arriving in selected markets during the second
quarter of the year for €99 (around £80, $135, AU
$150) and €109 (around £90, $150, AU$170)
respectively.
We got hands on with the Nokia X+ at MWC
2014:
Nokia X operating system
The single biggest feature on the Nokia X (X+
and XL) is its operating system. Nokia is heavily
invested in the Windows Phone platform for its
Lumia range, while its Asha devices run its own,
in-house Asha OS.
The Nokia X range runs Android. But not the
Android you know (and perhaps love). This is a
heavily modified version that is built on Android
open source software.
This isn't an Android that comes with the Google
Play store. This is an Android that has been
moulded and contorted into an operating system
that runs and looks more like Windows Phone.
There are live tiles just like Windows Phone, but
you will be able modify the handset a little more
freely than on Windows Phone.
At the press conference, Elop showed off the OS
and it is definitely Android flavoured, but with a
distinctly Windows Phone feel. Essentially it
marries the design language of Windows Phone
to the more open nature of Android with a touch
of Asha thrown in for good measure.
For example its uses a version of the Asha "Fast
Lane" feature, which shows all your recent
activity, from new messages to the last apps you
used and it can be customised to hide specific
information so it only shows you what you want
to see.
Nokia has put its own Android store on to the
device (giving you a more limited selection than
Google Play) and there will be a number of apps
pre-installed on to the device.
Unsurprisingly these are mostly Microsoft
(OneDrive, Skype etc) and Nokia (HERE Maps,
HERE Drive and Mix Radio) offerings - with some
apps only available on the Finnish firm's version
of Android.
This is definitely a forked version of Android with
Elop noting that the Nokia X takes people to
Microsoft's cloud and not Google's.
The lack of Google Play could be a major
stumbling block for the Nokia X and its brethren
as Nokia's own store is likely to be
comparatively lacking for a long time to come.
But you can also use third party app stores and
Elop does say that Android devs can bring their
apps to Nokia X - it only takes a few extra hours
dev work - and people can sideload applications
using a microSD card.
The fact that porting apps is so easy also means
that the Nokia X range could quickly end up with
a greater selection of them than any Windows
Phone handset, even if it's not likely to deliver
the full library of Android apps.
Enterprising users needn't be limited at all as the
Nokia X has already been hacked to run Google
Play and Google apps.
Nokia X screen, design and specs
Nokia X screen
The Nokia X was tipped to sport a middle of the
road 4-inch display with a mediocre 480 x 854
resolution. And this is exactly what we got.
The official specs explain that the Nokia X screen
is a PS LCD WVGA (800 x 480) touchscreen
capacitive 4-inch display. It's not something
that is going to set the world on fire but it is in
keeping with the low-cost nature of the handset.
It's not the best screen around but it's
responsive and has vibrant colours and deep
blacks, making it surprisingly good for such a low
end handset.
The Nokia X+ has exactly the same screen, but
the Nokia XL as the name suggests sports a
larger 5-inch 800 x 480 display.
Of course by upping the size without increasing
the resolution the end result is far from the
sharpest screen on the market.
Nokia X design
All the leaked screenshots that came out of the
Nokia X, hinted that it was on course to be more
of the same from the Finnish firm. And this is
indeed the case.
A unibody design in a range of bright colours is
status quo at Nokia at the moment and the
Nokia X trio are almost identical to the firm's
latest range of Asha smartphones.
The official colours for the Nokia X and Nokia X+
are: bright green, bright red, cyan, yellow, black
and white, while the Nokia XL will be available in
orange, blue, yellow, green, black and white.
When it comes to thickness and the like, the
dimensions of the Nokia X and Nokia X+ are:
115.5 x 63 x 10.4mm and they weigh in at
128.66g.
The Nokia XL unsurprisingly comes in a little
bigger and heavier, at 141.3 x 77.7 x 10.8mm
and 190g, making it a fairly chunky beast.
Here's what the leakers tipped for the Nokia X
before launch – they were pretty spot on.
The Nokia X was teased by Twitter leaker
@Vizileaks , who posted the following snap online
with the "and the waiting game begins..." - oh,
you tease.
Then there was @evleaks who showed off six
color options (green, white, yellow, blue, red and
black) as well as a single key below the screen -
the same as the Nokia Asha 503 .
If that wasn't enough in terms of colours, a
picture of an orange handset claiming to be the
Nokia X has also appeared online - although
even the site that picked it up said "authenticity
[of the images] is far from proven."
It seems that this was indeed a fake, as while
the Nokia XL is coming out in orange the closest
we have to orange for the Nokia X is Red. Unless
the red and yellow handset had a baby that we
don't know about, the below picture is a piece of
rubbish plastic and nothing more.
There were also more leaks apparently showing
the Nokia X on and working, revealing Here Maps
will be included on the device, and potentially
pointing towards a lack of Google's own suite of
apps such as Maps and the Play Store.
Again, those leakers were exactly right: there is
no Play store.
Nokia X specs
The Nokia X was tipped to sport a 1GHz dual-
core Snapdragon processor, Adreno 302 GPU and
512MB of RAM - hardly worth writing home
about, but once again it reinforces the "budget"
angle.
And these specs hit the mark. It is indeed a
1GHz Snapdragon S4 processor with 512MB of
RAM and 4GB eMMC.
The Nokia X+ and XL have almost identical core
specs, but they have a slightly beefier 768MB of
RAM. In our time with the phones so far we've
found that they can all handle any task you throw
at them, but there can be some stuttering.
Although there were rumours that the Nokia X
would come with a 5MP snapper capable of 720p
HD video capture, this wasn't the case. It comes
with a 3MP fixed-focus camera, as does the
Nokia X+, but those rumours weren't totally
wrong as the Nokia XL actually does have a 5
megapixel camera. It also has a larger 1/4"
sensor, compared to the 1/5" sensors on the
Nokia X and X+.
All three handsets can shoot 480p video at 30fps
and while neither the Nokia X or Nokia X+ have a
front facing snapper the Nokia XL one-ups them
here too, with a 2 megapixel camera on the front.
Word of 4GB of internal storage was rather
disappointing (especially as the operating system
will take up a chunk of it), but the Nokia X will
also rock a microSD card slot as was leaked in
this spec list and the Nokia XL has the same
storage potential.
There is also the Nokia X+. This is set to come
with the same amount of built in storage as the
X and XL, but there's also a 4GB microSD card
included in the box.
For any battery fans out there the Nokia X was
rumoured to have a 1500mAh juice pack , which
turned out to be completely true. This is more
than enough to keep the average screen and
processor chugging along. The Nokia X+ has
exactly the same battery and the Nokia XL
boosts the size to 2000 mAh, but it's likely to
need that extra juice to drive its 5 inch screen.
