Nokia X : My first impressions

So after the Auto expo it was my turn to go to another event which was a launch in itself – The Android phone from Nokia. With my same friends as the last time in the autoexpo, this time I headed to the Taj Mansingh. Technology rarely excites me until its gaming, but a launch is a launch and that too at the Taj. Braving the rain and the traffic jams of delhi, we reached the venue just a few minutes after the scheduled time communicated to us of 12.30 . After a quick cup of coffee and the usual hi hellos , we headed to the hall having the launch. This launch was happening simultaneously in the other cities too and I saw 2 people whom I had seen earlier in the Indiblogger Nokia meet.

Screen

So Balaji, started his presentation with the usual history about the presentation and the history of the company whereas the other person Pranav was handling the phone. What all I am about to write now is based on the things told by those 3 executives from Nokia and also my trial usage of the phone at the meet for a few minutes- its not been used and reviewed extensively. These are my first impressions -

By the time you read this, the sales have already started of Nokia X – yep thats the name that has been given to it. The retail sales had started from that day onwards. Its priced at a best buy price of 8600 /- . 

1. The phone bears a striking resemblance to I Phone from the sides and the shape is also somewhat like that.

2. The phone is the first in the X series – the other two which would be launched within a period of 2 months would be Nokia X + and Nokia XL.

The range

3. Its not exactly a android phone. Its a normal phone which can run android apps too. Its main software is the Nokia X software platform.

4. Dual core processor with dual sim. The Micro sim slots are placed side by side unlike other phones which are one top of the other. The Micro sd card space is in between these 2.

5. Its available in a range of colours- white, blue, red, yellow, black and green. The standalone colour is green but its a tag too lighter. Yuck !

Few colours

6. The ram and battery both disappoint. RAM is only 512 mb, battery only at 1500 mah and although it states that there is 4 gb memory, only 2.5 gb is available to the user.

7. The phone handed to us didn’t have a sim so couldn’t check how the battery performs when the whole phone is used- network, calls, apps, streaming. This all would have put the battery to the real test. It was simple device loaded with the minimal of apps.

96% remaining in just 4 hours uasage..mind you there is no sim so dont know
how it would last in calls and everything

8. Nokia mix radio- the streaming music service. It analyses your music preference and suggests music accordingly.

9. HERE maps- google`s maps equivalent with a 3 d and a revolving view. Need to download the maps.

10. Skype and One drive integrated in the phone. Only god knows how it would be useful with just 512 mb ram and no front facing camera on the phone. One drive offers 7 gb of space and another 3 gb with mix radio. Total 10 gb.

The features. Its all Microsoft with Nokia

11. The camera is 3 MP. No front camera in the phone. The front and back cameras would be launched in the higher end Nokia XL. The picture quality is just ok with an absolute still hand needed to take a descent picture. Otherwise the quality is a bit grainy. Not that good.

12. The apps can be downloaded from Nokia store and the best part is this- you can download the apps not there in the nokia store from other places. If you are searching for say Subway surfer and its not there in the nokia store, it would automatically show you which app market has that app and you can click on that to be redirected to that place and can download the app from there. So you dont miss out on any app you love which is not there in the store.

13. Another feature which is revolutionary. The paid apps. Normally till now the payment is by Google wallet which is based on credit card system. Here Nokia “Indianises” this system. Whether you are a prepaid customer or a postpaid one , you can purchase an app. Just click on the purchase icon of any app, conidering that you are using 2 sims, the phone will ask that which sim you want to use to purchase the app, you select it and the app purchase is done. 

For postpaid users- The payment would reflect in your operator bill

For prepaid users- The amount would be instantly deducted from your main balance.

So now you can go ahead and purchase all the apps without being apprehensive about using your cards for making the purchase.

The payment options

14. Youtube is not an inbuilt app. You`ll have to download that app. Nearly all downloaded apps can be moved to sd card ( not the ones preloaded by Nokia).

15. Fastlane- A log showing the list of all the recent used features used. Just swipe the screen to see the log for quick access and use it.

16. It uses the single button effectively. In the phone there is a single button (similar to the home button on other android devices). Suppose you are surfing the net and need to make a call. Normally, you would press the back button, exit the app and make the call and then relaunch the app from start.

Here`s where the single button comes into play. You press the button while sufing the net, the net goes into the background ( still running) and you are shown the home screen from where you make the call and after the call can swipe the screen to access the fastlane from where you can launch the net ( its still at that point from where you had left it). Just like maximising and resuming a window on a computer.

17. You can control the number of notifications you can see in the Fastlane. The phone lags a bit in swiping to the fastlane.

                                 

18. The company provided screen guard is 3rd grade. You can easily see Fingerprints on the screen. Rest dont know how it would handle the scratches.

     

    

Focus on the fingerprints visible in the light..thats too much

19. Its a sturdy build, throw it and it wont break.. ( I have seen with my own eyes)

With only 512 Mb of ram in the Nokia X I seriously doubt its ability to handle a fully loaded phone with apps, streaming videos, a much small capacity battery (even though nokia standard) but apps can suck the life of any phone in virtually no time. Although people might say that what do you expect in 8600 bucks but consider the fact the Nokia XL which would be launched with front and rear cameras and might be priced somewhere around 11000/- would be having only 768 mb RAM.

9000 bucks for a phone that has a Nokia name but doesnt have the hardware powerful enough..think before you decide to buy it. Even though the Nokia guys were there to launch the X, they kept talking about the Lumia, lumia. I was thinking that if all you have to talk is just lumia then whats the use of this launch? They had clearly said that all future innovations would be done for the lumia, this X series was just a gap filler in this price segment. 

So here is my first impression of the X , keeping in the mind that I haven`t got the device yet to test it but looking after the specs and things, I have no hopes from this phone as there are much powerful phones from Indian companies in this price segment. Lets see whether I get the X to use and review or not? 

As for the Taj Mansingh, it was fabulous and the food tasty, hospitality world class.