Nokia launched its first Android phone ' Nokia X in India to attract buyers with the prospect of Android app support . The smartphone maker believes will act as a " feeder " for its range of Lumia phones and make the first time smartphone users feel at home before they graduate with high-end alternatives .
But Nokia X up to the hype surrounding it, or is it a case of too little too late from the legendary Finnish firm ? We found in our review.
Build and Design
Nokia X has design features both Nokia Lumia 520/525 and Asha 503. It sports the same rectangular design and a polycarbonate shell color , which is a bit thick. As soon as you notice the capacitive button -like Asha marked arrow on the front, just below the screen, you realize that it's not a Windows Phone device. Furthermore , unlike the Lumia 525/520 , the sharp edges of the phone are unrounded . The edges of the front and feel rough lack refinement .
Software
Nokia X running a custom operating system based on AOSP (Android Open Source Project) . What this means is that Nokia has free bits, open-source Android ( which does not include Google applications and services ) and added his own (and Microsoft ) services and applications. Nokia has heavily customized the user interface, adding elements of Windows Phone , and MeeGo Harmattan OS Asha . The result is a blend that combines elements of all of these platforms and the user interface is not anywhere close to stock Android interface . The positive side is that the phone is compatible with a number of Android apps, even as it seems a.Windows phone device .
The Nokia X user interface is mainly divided into two home screens - Fastlane and application launcher. The application launcher takes its look of the home screen of Windows Phone and has tiles for launching applications. On the same screen Android also supports widgets , but adding widgets makes it messy and inconsistent. Unlike Windows Phone , the tiles are not live tiles , but select native apps such as the calendar and the Gallery app offer more than just static icons .
The tiles can be customized to a limited extent . You can select from two sizes for tiles native applications, and can also choose from six colors for the tiles of third party applications. You can also move and replace the tiles according to your preference .
As you install more applications, the number of tiles will also increase and you have to swipe down to navigate through them unless you choose to make folders and group them.
Swipe left or right and the screen is obtained Fastlane . We had first seen in the Nokia Asha Fastlane . This feature was borrowed from N9 Nokia Notifications interface , part of the MeeGo Harmattan OS .
The Fastlane shows not only alert notifications , messages, missed calls and events , also records the way you use the phone. The long vertical list records all the call logs, emails, web pages , app installs , take pictures and music played .
Thankfully , the screen is customizable and allows you to choose the phone if you want to register events of a particular type or a particular application. You can even choose not to display any notice or notices of certain applications.
However, the interface is also Fastlane multitasking phone . Unfortunately it is the only multitasking phone interface . This means that if you open multiple applications in the background and decides to switch between them , the only way is to Fastlane . Unlike conventional interfaces Android or even Windows Phone or iOS , no button or gesture that brings all the applications open on the front.
The UI Asha also follows the same philosophy, but then those Java applications do not support real-time multitasking unlike Android .
Since Nokia X has only one capacitive button - and navigation key is also problematic. Pressing backspace to step back and go to the home screen , you must press time. This is unintuitive and confusing to people who have used Android or Windows Phone interfaces before.
The phone also allows you to activate a "blow to the right ' gesture to go directly to the home screen , but is only available for a selection of native applications , such as phone, messaging and apps Peoples. Transition is uneven and there is a considerable delay.
The lock screen also shows app notifications . Swiping to the right opens the corresponding application , while swiping left discards .
A slight tug on the application launcher screen brings up the universal search like iOS 7. Swiping down from the top on the same screen tray featuring alternate configuration for Wi -Fi , Bluetooth, mobile data silent mode and a button to go directly to the configuration appears . The same tray is generally used for notifications on Android and iOS . We would have preferred it in Nokia X , as it facilitates easier access to notifications.
Nokia has included double tap the screen to wake up and view the features of your phone in Nokia Lumia Windows X. While the display shows the time out when the phone is locked without drawing more power, double tap to unlock does not work well in phone. In fact, 9 out of 10 times the phone will not register a normal faucet . Must play hard , or rather hit the screen , to work properly .
Come applications , Nokia offers some more preloaded and others through their own app store , Nokia Store . You can also download third party app stores third and 1Mobile Market , Amazon Appstore for Yandex or install paid applications.
It is worth noting that applications that use some kind of Google services , for example Google Wallet for payments in the application or maps for the location, the phone will not work unless it is ported to Nokia Store by the developer.
You also have the option to search for APK files to the web and load side after allowing the installation of applications from unknown phone settings from sources. However, we do not recommend this as this could lead to malware -infested applications .
That said , Nokia X does not come with Google Play Store , and even if you get hold of the installation files or APK files Play Store and other Google applications (like YouTube, Maps, Gmail ), your phone you might not be able to support these .
Nokia preload apps like Twitter , Facebook, WeChat , BBM , Astro File Manager , Opera and a number of demo games , in addition to Nokia Maps and then MixRadio . You can download offline maps and use them to turn by turn voice guided navigation.
MixRadio in Nokia X lets you stream and download free music to 4 mixtures offline ( a mixture is a playlist based on songs by other artists ) . Unlike the version of Windows Phone application , you can not search for individual tracks and download them (which requires a subscription Nokia Music embargo) .
If used heavily Google services , you'll be disappointed with this phone. Email client phone allows you to access Gmail , but it will not sync your Google contacts and calendars . Provides this functionality to Microsoft Outlook , though.
Minimalist phone browser is based on Chromium and is better functioning . Can not install Chrome and as there is no integration with a Google account , browsing history and bookmarks are not synchronized .
The default keyboard on the phone does not offer a good experience and is not very useful , even if you have small fingers .
Of course , there are a number of third-party launchers and keyboards available that will bring the user interface of the phone closer than most Android phones on the market offer . There are also ways to install the Google applications , but you can lose the warranty of your phone with them . We believe that most users, smartphone users , especially for the first time would not feel comfortable rooting their phones, or installing third party launchers .
Camera
Nokia X sports a 3-megapixel rear camera fixed focus, and does not include a LED flash. The camera is one of the weakest points of this phone. We expected a phone in price range of Nokia X to support autofocus. It's ironic how Nokia has added an application that includes granular controls for settings like ISO , anti - gangs , saturation , white balance , contrast and sharpness on a phone with an apology from a camera. It even offers a Panorama mode !
The camera is functional at best and takes pictures very average quality during the day and grainy images , infested in low light and inside noise. The lack of an LED flash makes it almost impossible to take pictures in low light conditions .
The video camera is capable of shooting 480p videos or even FWVGA resolution and record videos of medium quality .
In selfie was Nokia X loses a front-facing camera . This also means that you will not be able to use Skype for video calls .
Performance
Nokia X comes with a modest hardware under the hood. It is powered by a dual -core 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon and 512 MB of RAM. It comes with an internal memory of 4 GB which can be expanded up to 32GB via microSD card.
The phone offers a sub-par performance , and you will notice some lag while scrolling up and down the launcher screen phone applications. The phone works to multitask efficiently and you'll have a black screen with a message "Please wait " when you want to jump to the home screen of an application that consumes many resources .
Browse websites with heavy graphics also takes a toll on your performance and you will account stutters and lags .
In synthetic benchmarks , the phone scored 7422 on Antutu , 2844 in quadrant and 27.2 in Nenamark 2 tests .
Nokia X offers Bluetooth , WiFi connectivity options and A- GPS . A- GPS is based on the net for information related to the location .
Nokia X offers good call quality and signal reception and we did not encounter problems when making calls even in areas where cellular signal is relatively weaker . The phone features dual sim with support for 3G data in the first sim . You may only use one sim at a time for voice calls .
The external speaker on the phone gives an output of loud sound , but the sound was drowned when the phone is in your back, which is a problem .
We have been able to play the audio file formats restriction MOV video files from popular Full-HD video, although the use of a third-party video player can solve the problem .
Phone is backed by a 1500 mAh battery and will last only half a day ( 7-8 hours ) with moderate to heavy use if the screen brightness at the highest level and use 3G data sets all the time . You will be able to take about 1-2 hours of phone calls, play some casual games and surf the web at this time. The phone can play video continuously for 4-5 hours. We were quite disappointed with the backup battery that provides the phone.
Overall, Nokia X offers a disappointing performance.
Gaming
While Temple Run popular games like Metro 2 and surfers , we noticed a considerable lag and frame drop . Games require about 20 seconds to start up . Games like Tetris, Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds still play better than the other . But , the game is clearly one of the strengths of the phone either.
Verdict
At Rs 8499 , did not recommend the purchase of the phone. It is an entry level phone that offers no USP except for compatibility with Android apps (not all of them though). It should have been priced in the bracket of Rs 6000 to Rs 7000 to replace high-end Asha phones.
In the same price range , you can get phones like the Q800 Xolo Zen HD 701 or Micromax Ultrafone canvas 2 , all of which offer better performance. These phones come with quad-core processors , larger screen and 1 GB RAM . They offer a full-fledged Android experience and access Google Play Store .
Nokia Lumia 520 itself is a great Windows Phone at the same price range.The Lumia 520 is available at a cheaper price ranging between Rs 7500-8000 unofficially through e-commerce retailers .
It's also worth noting that Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire the business of Nokia devices and expects the deal to close in the coming weeks. It is difficult to predict whether the Redmond giant will continue to offer the phone after taking charge .
Do not understand why Nokia needs the X series, especially when the Lumia 520, the entry-level Windows Phone handset , is doing well , and Microsoft has managed to fill their application market applications developers with Indian and global .
Perhaps the Nokia X is only part of an experiment in laboratory R & D company , and we would therefore recommend staying away from it.
