Nokia XL : First Impression, Hands On

As well as the 4-inch X phones, Nokia's testing the android waters with an entry-level phablet, the Nokia XL. is that this the primary truly-affordable big-screen phone for emerging markets?

Set to be priced at roughly $150 once it launches in Q2, it actually looks that way. measuring 141.3 x 77.7 x 10.8mm and weighing 190g, it's equipped with a 5-inch IPS LCD, 800 x 480. At a screen this size, it is not terribly sharp, however its bright and with boldness coloured. 4GB of storage space is built in, with microSD cards up to 32GB supported

Nokia XL Hands-On: A Lumia-Flavoured android Phablet on a BudgetFrom the outside, it's sort of a Lumia phone, thanks to multiple polycarbonate case choices. tho' large, it is not very heavy, and sits quite comfortably in the hand. On the rear may be a 5MP camera, a small improvement on the Nokia X's 3MP detector, tho' it too suffers from washed-out images and a lack of filter and result choices.

Running Nokia's own war android courtesy of the android Open source Project, this is often a Lumia all told however name. A heavily-modified version of android is onboard here, with Windows Phone-like app tiles and live change information on the homescreen. Notifications and recent app history sits in an exceedingly "Fastlane" pane, accessed from a right-to-left swipe on homescreens, while a down swipe accesses connectivity choices, and the ability to switch on the fly between dual SIM cards.

The 8225 Qualcomm snapdragon 1GHz dual Core processor is onboard, and belies the budget nature of the phone. Even straightforward tasks like re-arranging homescreen tiles felt sluggish, and it's telling that Nokia hadn't preloaded any intensive 3D gaming apps onto the demo handset i was allowed to play with.

The Nokia Store is onboard for app purchases as Google Play isn't supported here. it has reportedly many thousands of apps already, tho' will not have quite the breadth of content offered by Google's own store. standard android APKs are often sideloaded tho', similarly as third-party app stores being supported, so a minimum of there is many choices on offer to get the content you wish, if you're able to do somewhat little bit of further work in obtaining it.

The phablet market typically commands a premium, so at the very least Nokia is creating a bold statement for its intentions with android in emerging markets: they may not be highly spec'd, however all bases, together with outsized handsets, are covered.

Source : Gizmodo.com, FirstPost.com