Nokia X – What does it mean for the Indian Mobile Market?
Nokia’s secret project, the Nokia Normandy was finally unveiled to the world at the Mobile world congress this year in February. Like the rest of the world we were also excited about this particular initiative from Nokia. Nokia being recently acquired by Microsoft, the Nokia Normandy project was questioned by tech pundits and market analysts around the world. But Nokia took a bold move and shut them all with the launch of the Nokia X series of devices. For a starter, 3 Nokia X devices were launched. The Nokia X, X+ and XL. They run on Android Open Source platform. They are not officially endorsed by Google, instead they run on a forked version on Android based on the jelly bean version. Forked, essentially means that it is highly customized and does not rely on Google services. Infact, there is no official Google play store on the X devices. At its heart, the X series run on Android and the Android apps can be installed in them from any of the 3rd party app stores like Yandex. Nokia Store also has a list of compatible Android apps for these mobiles.
Earlier this week, we were at the India launch event for the Nokia X. Only the Nokia X was launched. X+ and XL mentioned as coming soon status. The Nokia X is the first among the Android based Nokia mobiles to be available in India. The official pricing on this device is Rs 8599. The design of Nokia X, resembles the Nokia Asha series. It has got the signature design and robustness of a Nokia device. It is available in 6 colors. The Nokia X is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon dual-core processor running at 1GHz. It has 4GB of internal memory with storage space expandable upto 32GB with the micro SD cards and 512 MB of RAM. It has capability to house Dual SIM cards. It has a 4 inch display and a 3 megapixel fixed focus primary camera. It lacks the front facing camera and it runs on 2000 mAh battery.
| Nokia X | Nokia X+ | Nokia XL | |
| SIM Card(s) | Dual SIM (Micro-SIM) | Dual SIM (Micro-SIM) | Dual SIM (Micro-SIM) |
| Dimensions | 115.5 x 63 x 10.4 mm | 115.5 x 63 x 10.4 mm | 141.4 x 77.7 x 10.9 mm |
| Weight | 128.7 gm | 128.7 gm | 190 gm |
| Display Type | IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
| Display Size | 480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches (~233 ppi pixel density) | 480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches (~233 ppi pixel density) | 480 x 800 pixels, 5.0 inches (~187 ppi pixel density) |
| External Memory Expansion | microSD, up to 32 GB | microSD, up to 32 GB, 4 GB included | microSD, up to 32 GB |
| Internal Memory | 4 GB, 512 MB RAM | 4 GB, 768 MB RAM | 4 GB, 768 MB RAM |
| Primary Camera | 3.15 MP, 2048 x 1536 pixels | 3.15 MP, 2048 x 1536 pixels | 5 MP, 2592 х 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash |
| Video Recording | 480p@30fps | 480p@30fps | 480p@30fps |
| Secondary Camera | No | No | Yes, 2 MP |
| Operating System | Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) | Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) | Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) |
| Chipset | Qualcomm MSM8225 Snapdragon S4 Play | Qualcomm MSM8225 Snapdragon S4 Play | Qualcomm MSM8225 Snapdragon S4 Play |
| Processor | Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A5 | Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A5 | Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A5 |
| Graphic Card | Adreno 203 | Adreno 203 | Adreno 203 |
| Radio | Stereo FM radio | Stereo FM radio | Stereo FM radio |
| Colors | Bright green, bright red, cyan, yellow, black, white | Bright green, bright red, cyan, yellow, black, white | Bright green, orange, cyan, yellow, black, white |
| Battery | Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery (BN-01) | Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery (BN-01) | Li-Ion 2000 mAh battery (BN-02) |
| Price | Rs 8599 | NA | NA |
The Indian market is predominantly ruled by Android devices. Samsung and Micromax, have a huge market share, particularly in this price range. Nokia has the Asha range of low end devices and Lumia for the high end devices. It lacked a bridge between these two ranges. The Nokia X offers this bridge of mid end device. But still it faces tough challenge in terms of market penetration. For less than 10k, one can buy mid range Android device with decent front and rear facing camera, The only differentiator that Nokia can bring in this range is the user experience. Nokia X comes with the famous fast lane feature, inherited from the Asha series. Also it has an army of premium applications like Skype, Outlook, One Drive, etc.
Better late than never. We have all been wishing for an Android solution from Nokia and the wish has now come true. Will the market embrace Nokia X series? We are positive about it. What is your opinion?