Nokia enters the Android game with X Smartphone in India for Rs 8,599

Nokia X smartphone made its much anticipated bow in the Indian market and is already available on stores priced at Rs 8,599. As you might be familiar, the Nokia X smartphone is the company's first real shot at trying out its devices running on the Android platform. But hang on; even though Nokia X runs on Android, there is a lot of difference in what the Android platform on Nokia X offers and the services that will be made available to its users.

Firstly, Nokia X may run on Android but it's not the one that you see on run-of-mill Android devices. Instead, Nokia has forked the Android version it is using just like what Amazon did with its Android version for Kindle tablets. Nokia has made use of Android Open Source Project (AOSP) to create its own Nokia X platform that has been customized to support varied Microsoft and Nokia services like; Skype, OneDrive (previously known as Skydrive), Here Maps and Mix Radio among others.

It's Android, so do we get all latest app titles that feature on Google Play Store? Okay, to answer that question, we would like to highlight that Nokia X may be Android but it does not offer any Google-centric products like Chrome, Google Play and Google Maps. However, you have the freedom to opt for other options like Amazon store, One Mobile store and other third party app stores that have been pre-loaded on the Nokia X that offer latest gaming titles like Temple Run 2, Subway Surfer and offer them on a less-powered device.

Now, heading over to what constitutes inside the Nokia X is a 4 inch 800x480 pixels mediocre display that is equipped with Nokia's fastlane feature that was first seen on Nokia Asha 501 series. Under the hood, it packs a 1 GHz dual-core Qualcomm CPU along with a measly 512 MB RAM. It comes fitted with 5 MP fixed-focus rear camera and no sign of front camera on this one. In terms battery, there is not much to write here and the phone should offer decent life of atleast a day. All said and done, but it will be interesting if Nokia manages to steal thunder of numerous brands selling in the budget market.