Nokia X Android Smartphone Hands on and First Look: The Best of Both Worlds

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Nokia X - Software

The Nokia X runs on Google's Android operating system (v4.1). Its hardware may not necessarily be the talking point of the town; though, the software is. Nokia has slapped a custom user interface on the top of Nokia X.

Nokia X Android Smartphone Hands on and First Look

It simply means that users are not allowed to access Google Play Store or services provided by Google Inc. Instead, Nokia wants you to use Windows-powered services: OneDrive, Skype and many others. Does it really matter to you?

There are no traditional Android home screens; you will be greeted with a home screen on tiles. The UI looks a lot similar to Windows Live Tiles interface. Each tile is customizable, and moreover, you can make folders too. There's another side of the interface too. Nokia likes to call it as FastLane. Basically, it shows your latest used apps and activity-image gallery, for instance.

Nokia X- Apps

There's no access to Google Play Store. Are you worried already? Instead, Nokia, as usual, would like to promote Microsoft's own services, such as OneDrive and Skype, amongst others. You also get some of the third-party apps, for instance, BBM. Nokia says 75% of Android apps are compatible with the Nokia X.

Nokia X- Performance and Camera

Nokia X isn't likely to perform blazingly fast, although, the phone comes with a dual-core processor coupled with 512MB of RAM. Let's not forget that it's an entry level phone made for masses.

Well, we were hoping to see a better rear-facing camera and a slightly better camera UI. The 3MP fixed camera is not convincing at all.

Nokia X - One last word

Nokia X is an honest attempt to win over low-end handset market, currently dominated by Samsung and Micromax. The phone's most interesting part is that it runs Google's Android OS. On the other hand, Nokia wants you to adopt Microsoft powered services too.