First and foremost, X is not the regular droid as you may expect. Nokia developed a whole new UI resembling bits from Asha series and also from Windows. Android's UI has been sulked. More of that in a bit.
Going towards the build. Nokia lives up to the expectations, maybe outdid itself. It feels nice and rugged, made to last. No creaking or such defects. We did go through a few accidental drops, only to see minimal/nil impacts. The hardware front, you get a Snapdragon S4 processor, clocked at 1 Ghz, dual core which Qualcomm claims to be energy efficient. 512 mb of ram, 4 gb of inbuilt memory out of which 1.2 is usable (sheee!). 4 inch IPS capacitive touch display, 800*480 resolution, which is strictly OK-ish. Sunlight visibility is a disappointment so are the viewing angles. A 3 megapixel fixed focus camera. No physical shutter button, no flash. The hardware specs above seemed enough, considering the price.
Now more of the UI. As we mentioned earlier, it's not regular Android. Frankly speaking, we worked hard to understand the controls, keeping in mind that it was an Android. Also the lone back key made it worse. Nokia teases a feature called Fastlane viz. switching between frequently used apps, which we didn't find very impressive. You don't get a Play store. Its the same old Nokia store, which has some popular apps, not all of them. As the core of the OS is still Android, you can still run apk files, which is not recommended though. The camera interface is tweaked as well, unlike what you see on android. Being fixed focus, you can expect decent results in outdoor shots. Close-ups and macros suck on this one. You get the same old pair of cheapo earphones as you see on the Lumia 520. No USB Cable. The loudspeaker was well, loud. Louder than most of the phones in price range. Music played well with our JBL-tempo in ear headsets, which we recommend as a must buy, if you're a music enthusiast. You have the double- tap to wake up feature, which the Lumia series was recently updated with. Call quality and network reception seemed fine, considering this one is a dual SIM. Nothing else on the phone was worth mentioning.
The Verdict:
For first time smartphone buyers, We'd definitely recommend Nokia X as you get the Nokia durablity ;) and a glitch free smartphone experience compared to that of Lavas, Micromax, etc. For people who've already used an Android before, a big no-no. If you're tied to the budget and need a nice phone, We'd rather recommend Lumia 520 or an Xperia E.
Post a Comment