Nokia has officially launched Nokia X, one of the three Android-running smartphones that it announced last month at the Mobile World Congress (MWC). Priced a tad higher than we had expected, Nokia X will start selling at Rs 8,599 beginning today.
Last week, an online store listed the phone for Rs. 8,500, which made us think that the actual price would be a bit less. But today, at its event, Nokia took all of us by surprise. The Nokia X is in a weird position right now, on one hand it is filling the gap between its Asha phones and the Lumia line up, thereby helping it expand its smartphone portfolio, on the other it is trying to compete with entry level Android phones.
Nokia announced that users can download the apps from Nokia’s own app store, which has already scored most of the popular apps, as well as third-party app stores including Amazon and Yandex. Nokia X will have three different payment methods for app purchasing, namely, In-app payment, Try & Buy, and Operator billing payment.
The operator billing method for app downloads is impressive. It will be interesting to see how Nokia manages it. This feature will enable users to do more with their devices without worrying about credit card details.
To allure customers, Nokia has made MixRadio free for the lifetime on Nokia X. Also, Maps will run free too.
Nokia X runs a forked version of Android, which doesn’t possess Google Mobile Services, instead utilizing Microsoft and Nokia services. While the device looks pretty brilliant, its specs may leave you unsatisfied. With a 4-inch WVGA screen, a rather tame 3MP camera, and 1Ghz Snapdragon S4 processor coupled with 512MB of RAM, the specs leave a lot to be desired.
We’ve learned that the Nokia X will become available in metro cities in the next 2-3 days, and may offer you Rs 100-200 discount too. But at Rs 8,599, the device is surely going to face tough competition in a market which is jam-packed with better specced budget Android smartphones. Nokia X+ and Nokia XL will be arriving in India within the next two months.
