The Nokia X was a mid-tier smartphone announced as part of the Nokia X family in February 2014, running on the

Nokia X platform The Nokia X platform was a Linux-based mobile operating system and software platform originally developed by Nokia, and subsequently by Microsoft Mobile. Introduced on 24 February 2014, it was forked from Android and used on all the devices of ...

. 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 telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

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, 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 r ...

, 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

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Nokia X range of Android Devices
{{Android smartphones X Mobile phones introduced in 2014 Discontinued smartphones Mobile phones with user-replaceable battery