MWC 2014: Nokia X, X+ and XL hands-on

Nokia officially announced its first ever family of Android smartphones. Meet the X family of smartphones consisting of the Nokia X, Nokia X+ and Nokia XL.

Don't make any mistake about it, this is not a Google-certified project and thus the X phones don't run the Google Play Services such as the Play Store, Gmail and Chrome. Nokia and Microsoft have worked hard though to integrate their core services and apps.

As a result, all phones have the excellent Nokia HERE Maps, as well as the Microsoft One Drive (former SkyDrive) and Skype. Users will be free to sideload any Android app they want and can download new apps easily from the dedicated Nokia store and Yandex Store, which is quite popular in Russia.

The Nokia X+ and XL share the same chipset - a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 with 768MB of RAM. The Nokia X is the only one with just 512MB of RAM.

Nokia X hands-on

The Nokia X features a 4" IPS LCD display of WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) resolution. Colors are okay, brightness and contrast are reasonable, but nothing spectacular out of a sub-100 euro device.

Under the hood, the entire Nokia X range shares the same 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 chipset, with only the X somewhat limited at 512MB of RAM. Internal storage is just 4GB, but is expandable up to 32GB.

Nokia X live photos

At the back of the Nokia X there's a 3MP fixed focus camera, but no front-facer. The phone weighs 129 grams and packs a 1500mAh battery. It's good for 10.5 hours of 3G talk time and a maximum standby time of 17 days. It is also capable of up to 26 hours of music playback, while video playback time is quoted at 8.4 hours.

Nokia X live photos

The build quality of the X is superb. The plastic feels nice as with most recent Nokia smartphones and isn't a ferocious fingerprint magnet. It's quite sturdy too.

Overall, Android runs well on the X, despite the lower RAM than the other two X members. It's also very easy to navigate around as the tiles offer a comfortable view of what you have on the phone.

Nokia X live photos

Nokia X+ hands-on

The Nokia X+ is a bumped up version of the Nokia X, but not by much, as only the RAM has been affected. It's up from 512MB to 768MB, and while it doesn't sound a lot, it makes a difference in terms of actual experience.

Switching between apps is a bit faster as is navigating around the operating system. You'll also be able to play a bit more demanding games too, which will otherwise be unplayable on the lower RAM on the X

The build quality and feel of the X+ is identical to the X and both have the same color options.

The bump in RAM increases the price of the X+ to &euro99. The Nokia X costs €10 less, so you'll have to decide if reaching deeper into your pockets for the X+ is worth it.

Nokia X+ hands-on video

Nokia XL hands-on

The Nokia showroom floor at the MWC 2014 is drawing crowds eager to see Android running on Nokia hardware. We've managed to get cozy with the Nokia XL for a minute and we're now going to tell you all about it.

The Nokia XL features a 5" IPS LCD display of WVGA resolution and it's not all that bad. Yes, the phone is cheap at €109, so we are not expecting much to begin with. That said, colors are nice, but contrast isn't great. As you'll see from the live Nokia XL photos below, it gets covered in smudges in no time.

This tells us that Nokia has cut corners by not placing a protective coating on top of the display to prevent it.

Tthe Android experience on the Nokia XL is reasonably smooth. The phone runs a version of Jelly Bean as far as we could tell, but the exact version is not specified. The 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 chipset does a good job of running and switching between multiple.

Nokia has also included a bunch of its Lumia apps on the XL including its Store, Camera, Mix Radio and HERE Maps. Microsoft's presence is also felt with the addition of Skype and OneDrive apps. Speaking of which, XL users will get 10GB of free OneDrive storage as well as 1 month free of Skype Premium. Speaking of goodies, Nokia also includes a 4GB microSD card in the XL's package

The Nokia XL is made of plastic with an exclusive paint job that the X and X+ don't get - bright orange. The finish feels very nice to the touch, similar to the Nokia Asha 501 and Lumia 1320.

At the back of the phone, there's a 5MP camera with LED flash. As you can see from the photos, there's a large physical key below the display, which acts like a Home/back button. The user interface is overly simple too, with two main screens - the app list screen and fastlane.

The list of apps is reminiscent of the WP8 home screen with resizable app tiles. The larger the tile, the more information it displays. For example expanding the People's tile will display your favorite contacts, while the Gallery will show the latest photos you've snapped.

The XL measures 141.4 mm x 77.7 mm x 10.9mm with a weight of 190g. The back covers are replaceable.

tech bullet

Sunday, 2 March 2014