Nokia X and X+: Nokia's take on Android, at a low cost
Mobile
We've waited years for this, but here it is at last, a Nokia phone powered by Android.
It's the Nokia X. But is it a smartphone revolution or too little too late?
So it's powered by Android, but you really wouldn't know it, and that's because Nokia has heavily customized this phone's interface.
It looks a lot like the Windows phone interface that you find on Lumia phones.
It's made up of these big colorful tiles.
Now those tiles can be moved around and resized.
Again, that's something borrowed from Windows phone, and if you swipe to the right here, you've got what Nokia calls your Fast Lane.
This shows you your recently used apps as well as notifications.
Unlike Android, there's no dedicated app tray where you can see all your apps.
So, if you want to find something specific, you have to sort of scroll up and down, and that might get a little annoying.
The other big question hanging over this phone is apps.
Now, the biggest advantage of Android is access to the Google Play store, which has so many apps in it.
But this doesn't have that Google Play access; instead, you'll have to find your apps using Nokia's app store or third-party app stores.
Nokia tells us that if you want, you can sideload apps, but that's a little adventurous, and we don't think most people will want to bother with something like that.
Android developers will have to tweak their apps if they want them to be available on the Nokia X, and Nokia also has final say over what appears in the app store.
It remains to be seen then whether this thing has enough apps and whether it will get them quickly enough to really tempt us away from other Android phones,
but Nokia is aware that apps are important.
It's loaded this thing with some of its own apps and sort of Microsoft's as well.
So you got Nokia's HERE Maps, Microsoft's OneDrive.
So that's the software, but what about the hardware?
This is a 4-inch display.
It has an 800 x 480 pixel resolution.
If I spin it around, on the back, that's a 3-megapixel camera.
There's no front-facing camera though, which might make video chats a little more awkward.
It's powered by a dual-core, 1 gigahertz processor.
Now on paper, that's not a very fast chip, but actually,
this thing feels pretty smooth to use.
The design is classic Nokia Lumia.
It's got this chunky frame and it comes in lots of different colors.
Now as well as the X, you also have the option of buying the X+, which is almost identical except it has slightly more memory and it comes with a microSD card in the box.
So, the software leads us with some questions, but one thing we can't really argue with is the price.
This thing goes on sale immediately and it's only gonna cost 89 Euros with the X+ going on sale in a few months'
time and costing 99 Euros.
What do you think of Nokia's take on Android?
Do you like this new interface or do you think it should have stuck with something a bit more familiar?
Let me know.
I'm Luke Westaway for CNET here at Mobile World Congress 2014.
Check out CNET.com for much more.
