Microsoft has announced its first ever Android phone in the shape of the Nokia X2.
The first Nokia X was released just prior to Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's smartphone operation. It was an experimental smartphone aimed at the low end of the market, but the most notable thing about it was its OS.
While it didn't support the Google Play Store or feature any of Google's apps or services, the Nokia X's OS was based on Android.
The Nokia X2 follows suit, only this time it's even more interesting given that Microsoft is running the show.
That aside, the Nokia X2 is a pretty unremarkable handset. It looks very similar to the Nokia X, with the same bright plastic design, but with a new shiny translucent layer on the outside.
However, the display has been expanded to a 4.3-inch example, with the same lowly 800 x 480 resolution. It also runs on a fast 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 CPU, backed by 1GB of RAM (double that of the original).
The camera seems to have been improved, too. A new 5-megapixel unit replaces the original's 3-megapixel example.
Also new is the addition of a capacitive home button to sit aside the original's back button.
If it's surprising to see Microsoft supporting an OS that's built on the work of its biggest rival, it's perhaps less surprising to see that Nokia X Software Platform 2.0 looks even more like Windows Phone than before. Naturally, Microsoft's own services like Skype, Outlook, OneDrive, and Bing have been pushed to the fore.
Despite that, the X2 will have access to a wide range of Android apps, just like its predecessor. While there's no Google Play Store here, Nokia previously estimated that 75 percent of Android apps could be submitted with no tinkering at all. The rest just need "a little retouch" in order to be cleared for inclusion on the Nokia Store.
The Nokia X2 will be launched globally in July for €99, which works out to about £79.
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Via: Nokia Conversations
