The new Nokia X, X+, and XL smartphones that Nokia unveiled here at Mobile World Congress 2014 technically do run on Android, just as the leaks and rumors promised -- and that means, you'll be able to load up Android apps with ease. However, this X and family don't turn in the full 'Droid experience that you think. In fact, the software doesn't look a thing like Android at all.
Instead, Nokia created a hybrid mobile platform that runs on Google's Android Open Source Project and put it on the first of a family of crossover smartphones. It's an intriguing move for sure, but are the Nokia X and X+ what Android fans had hoped for? Not even close.
Nokia X platform a three-way mashup
Nokia X doesn't just refer to the name of the phones; it's also the name by which Nokia calls its new Android-based OS.
Nokia X Software Platform uses Android's open source code as its base, which makes it possible to run the Android apps that a lot of phone-fiends crave. (However, there is a catch, which I'll address in a moment.)
On top of this Android 4.1 backbone, Nokia has painted an interface that pulls from both Asha and the Windows Phone OS. The home screen riffs off Windows Phone's live tiles with flat squares that you can reorder and resize. Not all tiles are dynamic, and the visual effect isn't as clean.
The second screen is essentially the Asha Fastlane, which gives you a stream of apps and activities, like status updates and notifications.
Nokia fleshes out the somewhat jumbled experience with a mixture of Microsoft services and its own apps. Nokia's Here maps takes care of directions, and its Mix Radio handles Pandora-like tunes. But as with Lumia phones, Microsoft's OneDrive, Outlook, and Skype join the party. To sweeten the deal, Microsoft is giving Nokia X customers one free month of Skype Out calls to land lines, for over 60 markets.
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