Meet Nokia’s New Android Family [MWC 2014]

Nokia-X-colors

We were all expecting Nokia to announce its first Android-powered smartphone here at MWC, but what we actually got was three new handsets all running the Finnish firm’s new take on Android. Called the Nokia X, the Nokia X+, and the Nokia XL, the trio offer “phones for all” — and promise to bridge the game between Nokia’s entry-level Asha lineup, and its flagship Lumia family.

Nokia X

Nokia-X

The Nokia X is the handset we’ve all been hearing about for several months — and it’s everything the leaks said it would be. It’ll cost just €89 in Europe, and it features a 4-inch WVGA display, a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 4GB of internal storage, and a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera.

There’s also two SIM card slots for managing two numbers simultaneously, a microSD card slot, and 512MB of RAM.

Nokia X+

The Nokia X+ is just €10 more than the Nokia X at €99, so as you might expect, it’s not that different. In fact, it looks exactly the same, and has almost exactly the same internals — but its 768MB of RAM means it should be snappier when running apps and games.

Nokia XL

Nokia-XL-camera

The Nokia XL is for those who like larger smartphones, but other than its larger display, it’s not too dissimilar to the Nokia X+. It has the same resolution, the same processor, and the same RAM — but it does have a slightly better 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash. It also costs more at €109.

All three of Nokia’s new handsets run a heavily modified version of Android, with its own Nokia app market. Apps from lots of big-name developers such as Facebook and Skype are already there, and Nokia says users will be able to side-load Android apps from third-party sources as well.

Unlike other Android devices, Nokia’s will use Microsoft services like SkyDrive instead of Google’s.

The Nokia X is available immediately, while the Nokia X+ and the Nokia XL will be available during the second quarter of 2014.