“The Nokia X
will be a feeder system for Lumia. We're introducing the next billion people to
Microsoft.”
Head of the Nokia Devices Business, Stephen Elop
commenting during the Press Conference at MWC 2014 during the Nokia X Launch
On Tuesday
February 25th 2014 during MWC 2014 (Mobile World Congress), Nokia
introduced a new budget smartphone dubbed Nokia X as stated in “Nokia
reveals the Nokia X 'Android' phone family”, published February 24, 2014
12:03 AM PST, by Nic Healey, CNET News.
Nokia is clearly serious about this new line of smartphones, as it already has
siblings, namely the Nokia
X+ and the larger Nokia
XL Phablet.
Straight like
that, I already like this project!
Even better is
the fact that they are Dual-SIM Budget smartphones, which already fits with my
predicted trend towards Dual-SIM Smartphones being popular going forward as
stated in my blog
article entitled “LIME's
Postpaid Plus and JA$200 per week Blackberry Plans - Browse and Talk is proof
that Postpaid and Data Services are all the Rage as MNP and LNP approaches on
May 2014”.
Nokia X Strategy – Days of Future Past as Nokia uses
Android as a Trojan Horse
The Nokia X is already on sale
in India for US$141.655 (Rs8599) and Kenya for around the same price. Nokia X will arrive in
select Developed and Developing World markets, specifically at a price of US$120,
specifically:
1.
North America
2.
Latin America
3.
Europe
4.
United Kingdom
5.
Australia
The Nokia X has been released
since March 2014 with the Nokia
X+ and Nokia XL
arriving by the Second Quarter of 2014 and will cost as follows:
1.
US$120 for the Nokia X
2.
US$135 for the Nokia X+
3.
US$150 for the Nokia XL
The specs for
this trio of smartphones are as shown below, with each smartphone differing
from the other only by virtue of Internal Memory:
1.
CPU: Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A5 with Qualcomm MSM8225
Snapdragon S4 Play chipset
2.
GPU: Adreno 203
3.
OS: Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)
4.
Display: IPS LCD
capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
5.
Resolution: 480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches (~233 ppi pixel
density)
6.
Dimensions: 115.5 x 63 x 10.4 mm, 73.2 cc (4.55 x 2.48 x 0.41
in)
7.
Weight: 128.7 g (4.52 oz)
8.
SIM: Dual
9.
External: 32 GB SD Card Slot
10. Internal: 4 GB
11. RAM: 512 MB
12. SIM: Optional Dual SIM
(Micro-SIM)
13. Rear Facing camera: 3.15 MP,
2048 x 1536 pixels
14. Port: Bluetooth v3.0 with
A2DP, microUSB v2.0
15. 2G Network:
a)
2G GSM 850/900/1800/1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2
b)
GSM 850/900/1800/1900
16. 3G Network: HSDPA 900 / 2100
17. Internet Access: Data, GPRS,
EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
18. Battery: Li-Ion 1500 mAh
battery (BN-01)
a)
Stand-by Up to 408 h
b)
Talk time Up to 13 h 20 min (2G) / Up to 10 h 30 min (3G)
c)
Music play Up to 26 h
Features
1.
Vibration MP3, WAV ringtones
2.
Multitouch
3.
1/5'' sensor size, panorama, face detection
4.
Accelerometer, proximity
5.
Messaging SMS (threaded
view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
6.
HTML
7.
Stereo FM radio
8.
GPS
9.
Java MIDP emulator
10. SNS integration
11. MP3/WAV/eAAC+/Flac player
12. MP4/H.264/H.263 player
13. Document viewer
14. Photo editor
15. Voice memo/dial
16. Predictive text input
17. Loudspeaker
18. 3.5mm jack
1.
CPU: Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A5 with Qualcomm MSM8225
Snapdragon S4 Play chipset
2.
GPU: Adreno 203
3.
OS: Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)
4.
Display: IPS LCD
capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
5.
Resolution: 480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches (~233 ppi pixel
density)
6.
Dimensions: 115.5 x 63 x 10.4 mm, 73.2 cc (4.55 x 2.48 x 0.41
in)
7.
Weight: 128.7 g (4.52 oz)
8.
SIM: Dual
9.
External: 32 GB SD Card Slot
10. Internal: 4 GB
11. RAM: 768 MB
12. SIM: Optional Dual SIM
(Micro-SIM)
13. Rear Facing camera: 3.15 MP,
2048 x 1536 pixels
14. Port: Bluetooth v3.0 with
A2DP, microUSB v2.0
15. 2G Network:
- 2G GSM 850/900/1800/1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2
- GSM 850/900/1800/1900
16. 3G Network: HSDPA 900 / 2100
17. Internet Access: Data, GPRS,
EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
18. Battery: Li-Ion 1500 mAh
battery (BN-01)
- Stand-by Up to 408 h
- Talk time Up to 13 h 20 min (2G) / Up to 10 h 30
min (3G)
- Music play Up to 26 h
Features
1.
Vibration MP3, WAV ringtones
2.
Multitouch
3.
1/5'' sensor size, panorama, face detection
4.
Accelerometer, proximity
5.
Messaging SMS (threaded
view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
6.
HTML
7.
Stereo FM radio
8.
GPS
9.
Java MIDP emulator
10. SNS integration
11. MP3/WAV/eAAC+/Flac player
12. MP4/H.264/H.263 player
13. Document viewer
14. Photo editor
15. Voice memo/dial
16. Predictive text input
17. Loudspeaker
18. 3.5mm jack
1.
CPU: Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A5 with Qualcomm MSM8225
Snapdragon S4 Play chipset
2.
GPU: Adreno 203
3.
OS: Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)
4.
Display: IPS LCD
capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
5.
Resolution: 480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches (~233 ppi pixel density)
6.
Dimensions: 141.4 x 77.7 x 10.9 mm, 109 cc (5.57 x 3.06 x
0.43 in)
7.
Weight: 190 g (6.70 oz)
8.
SIM: Dual
9.
External: 32 GB SD Card Slot
10. Internal: 4 GB
11. RAM: 768 MB
12. SIM: Optional Dual SIM
(Micro-SIM)
13. Rear Facing Camera: 5 MP,
2592 х 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
14. Front Facing Camera: 2 MP
15. Port: Bluetooth v3.0 with
A2DP, microUSB v2.0
16. 2G Network:
- 2G GSM 850/900/1800/1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2
- GSM 850/900/1800/1900
17. 3G Network: HSDPA 900 / 2100
18. Internet Access: Data, GPRS,
EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
19. Li-Ion 2000 mAh battery
(BN-02)
- Stand-by Up
to 720 h
- Talk time Up
to 16 h (2G) / Up to 13 h (3G)
- Music play Up
to 37 h
Features
1.
Vibration MP3, WAV ringtones
2.
Multitouch
3.
1/5'' sensor size, panorama, face detection
4.
Accelerometer, proximity
5.
Messaging SMS (threaded
view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
6.
HTML
7.
Stereo FM radio
8.
GPS
9.
Java MIDP emulator
10. SNS integration
11. MP3/WAV/eAAC+/Flac player
12. MP4/H.264/H.263 player
13. Document viewer
14. Photo editor
15. Voice memo/dial
16. Predictive text input
17. Loudspeaker
18. 3.5mm jack
The Nokia X comes in the
following Colours:
1.
Bright green
2.
Bright red
3.
Cyan
4.
Yellow
5.
Black
6.
White
Please note
these are unlocked smartphones. At these prices, it makes the unlocked US$137
Xiaomi Redmi as reported in my blog article
entitled “Xiaomi
launches US$134.07 Xiaomi Redmi smartphone in Singapore - Perfect Storm for
Apple and Samsung as the Xiaomi Redmi is Katy Perry's Dark Horse” look slightly
overpriced!
Nokia X Strategy – Cannon Fodder to increase
engagement with Windows Phone OS
And that’s
exactly where it ends with Android. From here on out it’s clearly a Windows
Phone OS UI (User Interface) with a splash of Nokia Asha over an Android Skeleton.
There is no Google Android.
There is no
Google Play Store but it does lead to a Windows Android Store where you can
purchase Java Compatible Apps. A boon for Developers who can now focus on
porting Apps they’re written for the Google Play Store instead of having to
recode Apps All over again.
Clever Strategy
with the pricing too for this potpourri smartphone , as coupled with the
Windows Phone design, it’s gonna be very popular. This as it’ll introduce first
time smartphones users to Windows Phone via using Google Android as a low-cost
Demonstrator of the Windows Tiles Interface as stated in “Why
the Android-powered Nokia X is great for Microsoft”, published February 24,
2014 12:24 AM PST by Roger Cheng, CNET News.
This as via the Nokia X strategy, Stephen
Elop, now currently the Head of the Nokia Devices Business, maintains this very
stance, using Android clothes in Windows Phone as mere Cannon Fodder in their pitched
battled against all the other Smartphone makers that are using Google Android
in its pure form as their OS.
Microsoft’s Next move – Reduce the License on Windows
Phone OS or even go Open Source
Microsoft, their
partner and makers of Windows Phone OS, therefore shouldn’t mind too much.
Neither should
other smartphone partners committed to using Windows Phone OS such as HTC and
Lenovo, as this isn’t a case of Microsoft going soft on their Nokia
partnership. Still, with the possibility of hacking the Nokia X to access the
Google Play Store and accept Google apps thanks the XDA Developers Forum as
described in “Nokia
X Android phone already hacked to run Google Apps, Now and Play Store”,
published March 1st 2014 By Chris Smith, TechRadar
expect this smartphone to quickly start
outselling BOTH Windows Phone and Asha smartphone on offer by Nokia.
So how can Nokia
benefit in the long term from using Android in this manner?
By doing the
same thing for Windows Phone OS as they did with Windows 8.1; lower the costs
of licensing and make it more developer friendly and at least handset neutral
and easier to port apps as argued in my blog article
entitled “Microsoft
cuts cost of Windows 8 Licensing by 70% - Low cost Windows 8 Tablets coming as
Microsoft is now Walking with the Enemy, Google OS”.
An Open Source version
of Windows Phone OS may also be in the works, if this strategy combined with
the low cost yet quality hardware works as planned.
Nokia, by
forking Android with this their latest smartphone push, have created the
perfect Trojan Horse to introduce Windows Phone the minds of low-End mobile
phones users in the Developing World.
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