Nokia X Review: The 'So-Called' Android Offering That Will Make Some Noise

Nokia X: Camera

The Nokia X comes with a 3.15 megapixel fixed focus camera at the back that's not really that great and needed a bit more work on from Nokia before eventually pushing out the device. In other words, the camera for the Nokia X is a bit disappointing. You will notice that the images that you snap in full light conditions will come out to be quite good and will have no pixel issues when zooming into them. However, problems will arise as far as low-light photography is concerned. Not only the does the device not arrive with a flash, but it also lacks a BSI sensor that makes photography in darkness a painful ordeal.

However, all that being said, it has to be remembered that the Nokia X's camera is not the main concern of the device, and in no way is the device's greatest selling point. So if you are looking for regular photos to post to your official Facebook or Twitter page, keep away from this device as Nokia X is surely not meant for those kind of duties.

Nonetheless, there are a few tweaks that you can use to your advantage in this respect. You can alter the camera's white balance and exposure levels to start improvising on the brightness when darkness begins to set in.

Nokia X: Battery and Miscellaneous

Nokia says that the 1500 mAh Li-Ion battery fitted inside the device will offer a standby of up to 408h, 2G talktime up to 13h 20m and 3G talktime up to 10h 30m. In reality as well, although you may not be able to use the phone for that amount of time from the get go, but you will still get through a day by listening to music, surfing the web, calling up friends, and even stay connected to your official Facebook page or WhatsApp account.

But what concerns us is what the device will do on a heavier day when the device becomes your sole hope for making calls, keeping connected and still expecting to save enough battery to make that last call home to your worried parents. Although, as a secondary phone, the device will work like a charm.

There's also the presence of the HERE Maps that will act as your guidance - an answer to the Google Maps or Apple's own Maps offering. The Nokia-based Map offering supports offline turn-by-turn navigation, and this will work only if the user downloads the map data for the required location. It's actually better if you download those maps over Wi-Fi before final use, as the map sizes will differ with different places.

Final Verdict

The Nokia X can be quite the device to get used to initially, but if you can look past its somewhat new UI and OS offering with things that are so different from a regular Android device, you will eventually start to like it. And all that with superb usability in a budget price that's not really available anywhere in that price range.

However, Nokia has to understand that modern day shoppers judge a smartphone a lot by its overall storage capabilities and the kind of apps that are on offer. And unlike Android and iOS, the X platform has to go a long way before it can gain any real traction, which can only be achieved via offering a boatload of apps.

While there are a few popular apps on offer for the device, the company still has to make efforts to bring in more third part developers to create app for the platform.

The Nokia X is currently available in India and Malaysia and will soon launch in more markets ranging across Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South America over the coming month.