Nokia’s first Android smartphone, Nokia X, was launched in India today at a price of Rs. 8500. Nokia X is the first smartphone to run on the new Nokia X software platform which is based on Google’s AOSP (Android Operating System Project).
Despite running an Android OS, the smartphone features a very customized OS from Nokia, which does not resemble Android at all. Nokia X features the ‘Noka X software platform’ is a customized mobile operating system made by the Finnish manufacturer. Users will not be able to access the Google Play Store. However, Nokia has made it clear that it will feature Android apps from Play Store on its own Nokia Store. Users will also be able to sideload .apk files even though compatibility issues may arise as the smartphone does not support Google services. Nokia has put more emphasis on Microsoft services such as Bing Search, Skype and OneDrive file storage.
The customized Android on the Nokia X resembles Windows Phone OS with its tile-based UI. Nokia is also expected to launch Nokia X and Nokia XL smartphones, which are the higher-end Android based phones. All the smartphones run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor with dual-SIM capacity.
Nokia X and Nokia XL have also been announced for India and will be launched with the next two months.
Nokia X was spotted earlier on the e-retailer site, The Mobile Store, with a price tag of Rs. 8500.
Nokia X features a 4-inch IPS LCD touchscreen, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal storage (expandable via memory card slot), 3.15MP camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and comes with an Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean based OS.
The smartphone will be available in black, green, cyan, red, yellow and white colors.