The Nokia X was a mid-tier smartphone announced as part of the
Nokia X family
The Nokia X family was a range of budget smartphones that was produced and marketed by Microsoft Mobile, originally introduced in February 2014 by Nokia. The smartphones run on the Nokia X platform, a Linux-based operating system which was a for ...
in February 2014, running on the
Nokia X platform. The device shipped on the same day as the unveiling, with
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
targeting the product for emerging markets, and was sold and maintained by
Microsoft Mobile
Microsoft Mobile was a subsidiary of Microsoft involved in the development and manufacturing of mobile phones. Based in Espoo, Finland, it was established in 2014 following the acquisition of Nokia's Devices and Services division by Microsoft i ...
. On 17 July 2014, Microsoft announced that it would discontinue the line.
The X was previously under development known as Normandy,
Project N,
the Asha on Linux project
and MView.
Unveiling
The phone was unveiled by
Stephen Elop
Stephen Elop (born 31 December 1963) is a Canadian businessman who most recently worked at Australian telecom company Telstra from April 2016. In the past he had worked for Nokia as its first non-Finnish CEO and later as Executive Vice President ...
at the 2014
Mobile World Congress, Barcelona on 24 February 2014. Contrary to previous leaks, two variants, Nokia X and Nokia X+ were released, with the Nokia X+ having 768 MB of RAM, as opposed to 512 MB of RAM, as well as with a microSD card included in the box.
A third phone, the
Nokia XL
The Nokia XL is a smartphone announced as part of the Nokia X family in February 2014, running on the Nokia X platform. It is currently sold and maintained by Microsoft Mobile.
Specification sheet
Background
The Nokia XL was announce ...
, was announced, with a larger screen, front-facing camera, rear flash, and longer battery runtime.
Very soon after release, a developer had
rooted the device, and enabled the installation of Google's apps and services.
Criticism
The Nokia X was heavily criticized for not having a home button; this was later addressed with the
Nokia X2.
Aftermath
In an interview with
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
, former
HMD Global
HMD Global Oy, branded as HMD and Nokia Mobile, is a Finnish mobile phone manufacturer. The company is made up of the mobile phone business that Nokia sold to Microsoft in 2014, then bought back in 2016. HMD began marketing Nokia-branded smar ...
CEO Arto Nummela stated that analysis showed that the Nokia X series became surprisingly popular with users of high end Samsung and Apple smartphone devices, despite the fact that it was a mid to low end device family.
References
External links
*
Nokia X range of Android Devices
{{Android smartphones
X
Mobile phones introduced in 2014
Discontinued smartphones
Mobile phones with user-replaceable battery