Nokia X Android smartphone launched at Rs 8599

New Delhi: Nokia India has finally launched its Android powered smartphone, Nokia X, in India, for Rs 8,599. The phone is now available at the company's official store. With this pricing, the new Nokia device falls between its Asha range and Lumia line. The new device launched by the company is the first handset in the Nokia X series. The company also plans to launch the X+ and the XL versions in India in the coming months. The X and X+ are more or less similar in almost all departments, and the XL being the biggest of them all.Originally announced at Mobile World Congress last month, Nokia X features a 4-inch IPS LCD touchscreen display with 480x800 pixel resolution and a forked version of Android 4.1.2. Nokia has powered this handset with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 mobile processor and 512 MB RAM. For graphics, the mobile chipset integrates the Adreno 203 GPU. It is a dual-SIM handset. The device also has 4GB of internal storage offering the ability to take in microSD cards up to 32GB in capacity. As an introductory offer, Microsoft is also offering buyers 1GB of free OneDrive storage.One of the major differences that sets the Nokia X apart from other Android-run devices is that the login and app data is tied to Microsoft's cloud services, and not to Google like in many devices. With this service you get access to slideloading of apps, third-party app stores and Nokia's own store. Nokia claims that almost 75 percent of Android apps on Play Store should work on it.The company also says that developers can easily port their apps to Nokia's OS by ensuring that these apps don't use any of Google's APIs — location, authentication and in-app payments. Instead they will need to replace them with Nokia's APIs. The Finnish company has also included support for third-party apps stores like Yandex from where one can download most Android apps.The user interface of the Nokia X device looks just like the Windows Phone, complete with Live Tiles on the homepage. But now the company offers Fastlane, which we have earlier seen on Asha phones, instead of multi-tasking.For imaging, the X offers a 3-megapixel camera at the back with fixed focus, f/2.8 aperture and 4X digital zoom. The device gets its juice from a 1,500mAh battery, which the company claims is good enough for 10.5 hours of talktime and 17 days on standby mode. Other features include FM Radio and connectivity options like dual-SIM card slots, 3G support, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.The company is promoting the device as an entry-level smartphone, but looking at the hardware quality and the software, it is right to say that does feel premium.Nokia X competes against the likes of Sony Xperia E1 Dual, Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2 and the HTC Desire X.