Nokia X review: Hands-on

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An Android phone that looks like a Windows phone but isn't? Nokia's latest looks a little confusing. Check out our Nokia X hands-on review

The Nokia X makes up one third of the brand's new X family of Android-powered smartphones. Although they run Google's OS, Nokia has added on its own tile-based interface which looks remarkabley like the the Windows Phone 8 UI found on the likes of the Nokia Lumia 1020 and Nokia Lumia 1520.

The Nokia X+ has added memory and expandable storage while the Nokia XL is a larger handset with a 5-inch display.

Nokia X : Size and build

The design screams Nokia - with the familar choice of bright green, bright red, cyan, yellow, black and white fascias. We liked the palm-sized dimensions (115.5 x 63 x 10.4mm) while the the matt finish of the chassis feels pleasent and comfy to hold.

Nokia X: Features

Interesting, the phone's storage leads to Microsoft's cloud, rather than Google's and you won't have access to the Google Play store, instead you'll be guided towards Nokia's ring-fenced selection of content.

The phone is fairly light on features but we know it has a fairly pedestrian 3MP fixed focus camera on board.

Nokia X: Screen

The 4-inch screen looks relatively small compared to may of its comepetitors, but at least that keeps the size of the handset down. IPS means that viewing angles are pretty decent, although the 800 x 480-pixel resolution is sloightly dull and uninspiring.

Nokia X: Performance

The Nokia X runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8225 dual core chipset, with a maximum of 1Ghz on the clock and 512MB of memory. The phone we saw lagged slightly when trying to connect to the app store, possibly due to the heavily used Wi-Fi connection at MWC.

Nokia X: Verdict

The Nokia X is a neat little phone with the brand's colourful design taking centre stage. The idea of a Windows-influenced Android skin that uses Microsoft's storage and Nokia's content store is a strange one, with Nokia seemingly trying to distance itself from Google and Android has much as possible. Stay tuned for a full review.

Nokia X release date: Rolling out now (X+ and XL - Q2)

Nokia X price: 89 Euros