Trying Out Nokia's Three Surprising New Android Smartphones
BARCELONA — For longtime cellphone maker Nokia, Monday represents a day many thought would never come. After years of devotion to Windows Phone, Nokia has just unveiled a trio of smartphones running Google’s Android operating system: the Nokia X, Nokia X+ and Nokia XL.
The move, which was announced by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop at a Mobile World Congress event here in Barcelona, has been rumored for some time but still comes as something of a surprise. Nokia pledged its allegiance to Microsoft’s Windows Phone in 2011; it was later acquired by Microsoft, for $7.2 billion, in late 2013. These new smartphones running Google’s Android mean that Nokia now builds smartphones that run software created by its owner’s arch-rival.
Of course, Nokia isn’t abandoning Windows Phone, Microsoft’s struggling smartphone operating system, which powers Nokia’s Lumia smartphone line. Those Lumia devices, notable for their bright colors and emphasis on photography, aren’t going away.
The addition of the X line simply marks a newfound embrace of budget devices for Nokia. The company has long succeeded in selling cheap phones in developing markets. In recent years, however, low-cost phones running Android have taken a considerable chunk out of that market for Nokia. The new Android X phones represent Nokia’s bid to regain some market share.
I tried out the phones briefly here at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, following Nokia’s announcement. Indeed, the devices don’t have the premium feel of Lumia phones. The phones are made of thick and chunky plastic. In fact, while demoing the product today, I watched as someone across from me set off a security alarm by clicking the back of the phone right off.
So don’t expect any of the super-premium hardware offerings you get from Lumia. Crazy camera hardware like 41-megapixel sensors, and lens technology from premium optical maker Carl Zeiss, found on Lumia phones are not included on any of the Nokia X phones. The X line starts at $122; this phone line is meant for low prices, not premium smartphone experiences.
As for the headline-grabbing Android operating system: While Nokia has embraced Android, this isn’t just a simple example of another company jumping on the Google bandwagon. Nokia is using the Google operating system, but it’s doing so in its own way.
For starters, the Android has been heavily skinned — meaning that Nokia has done a lot of work to redesign the interface, making it look, of all things, a lot more like Windows Phone. The apps are laid out into squares that are reminiscent of Windows Phone and Windows 8’s tile scheme.
And, as you can on Windows Phone, you are able to hold down a tile to expand into a live tile feed from, for example, your camera. So, on your home screen, you could see a dynamic square with rotating images of the photos you’ve taken with the phone’s camera app.
Nokia has also dropped Google’s Play app store and does not come with Google default apps like Gmail, Google Maps or Google Drive storage. You can still run most Android apps here, but when you first fire up the phone, everything is tied to Microsoft services like Outlook and Skype, with storage duties being handled by OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive).
When Nokia first embraced Windows Phone several years ago, the company cited the move as a way to differentiate itself from the competition. The company’s Lumia devices haven’t been as successful as company executives had hoped. Both Nokia and Microsoft have seen steady growth over the past year, but Windows Phone still sits in a distant third place behind Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
These X phones aren’t meant to battle the premium iPhone 5s or the Galaxy S4. They are inexpensive smartphones that can access the Internet and run apps, and that can be bought cheaply for shoppers on a budget. We’ll see if X marks that spot for Nokia in the coming months.
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