The Nokia X2 came out quite fast after the first version, the Nokia X, Nokia X+ and Nokia XL at just four months down the line. Those in the know are aware that the move is justified after the devices got quite popular, but missed some quite important features that were within Nokia’s reach. It’s a new platform and Microsoft Devices wants to be their own man even though running Android.
So things like design and software bundling will remain independent of other platform resources even if it means a compromise here and there. Some of the things that were quite missed, especially by the users who had already touched Android phones before include:
- Full multi-tasking where you could leave open apps and scroll through them via a separate menu, you know, even Lumia which is the inspiration behind the tiles UI of Nokia X has that already implemented and in my opinion this was a huge oversight.
- Separate home-screens enabling you set up what you want on the homepage irrespective of all the apps installed.
- Flexible contacts app that worked well with the dial kit
- Better email setup
- Actionable notifications centre, this is especially messy where you have to go back to lock screen to open the notifications.
These are addressed in the new Nokia X Platform 2 and the device hits the market quite soon. Jussi Nevelinna who is Vice President at Product Marketing, Mobile Phones at Microsoft at a previous interview commented that they get a lot of feedback especially from the Asha segment among them the beautiful way Fastlane is integrated. Nokia X users also give their own feedback hence assisting Nokia develop the new devices better. Jussi cites Kenya among the countries where the Nokia X devices are doing well, others are Russia, Nigeria, Pakistan and India where Nokia X is the third best selling smartphone.
“Through and through, this is the best example of the Nokia X family. The platform is maturing perfectly and this is a true 2nd generation device. We’ve continued to evolve the Nokia X platform and user experience, too. The home screen experience has really evolved with extra room for additional tiles. There’s also the new home button; you can long-press the back button for easier multitasking; the new apps list view; and Fastlane has gotten richer too, with more app detail exposed.”
Nokia East Africa Product Manager Kingori Gitahi tells me that current Nokia X and Nokia XL users need not to worry about being left behind. “They will get updates that will get them the updates that are not hardware restricted and really, we added an extra home key which makes the device software function differently. Anything else that is not touched by that will come to the Nokia X, and that includes the actionable notifications,” adds Kingori.
Jussi does not forget to plug in the fact that Lumia comes first irrespective of how well Nokia X is doing and that this is the funnel for something bigger and long term for Microsoft. “Lumia is our primary smartphone strategy. At the same time we believe that everybody should have easy and direct access to the most popular Microsoft services, such as Outlook, OneDrive, Skype, and now also OneNote through Nokia Store. More people are now connected to the Microsoft cloud through Nokia X.”
Nokia X presents both an avenue to have the device users hooked up to Microsoft services, but also makes a better case to develop apps for the wider Android ecosystem and drive in more Microsoft services users. I hope you remember milestones with billions tags in them, they moved from Series 40 to Nokia X.
