Nokia XL Review

Nokia, a leading mobile phone company about 10 years ago might not have guessed about its condition after launching smartphones by Samsung, Apple, etc.

Nevertheless, Nokia still boasts some Market name due to its history with the country. The rest, however, Nokia is looking to take care of with its new age Windows Phone-powered handsets that still needs some time before coming to terms with the popularity of Android and iOS-based devices.

But keeping aside the Windows Phone devices, Nokia has also invested a bit of its time on the new X range of handsets. And while the devices may not have that big a presence, in terms of features or specs, but still are the first set of Nokia devices running the Android operating system.

One thing I like that, this device is not like all other android devices we use. Actually Android running on this device is a part of Android Open Source Project and not official google based android.

The Nokia XL is the new and upcoming handset that will come in the same family as that of the previously released Nokia X and the yet-to-be-released Nokia X+. The XL is basically a biggest avatar of the X boasting more or less the same kind of specifications and features.

The Nokia XL is basically the biggest of Nokia's all three X branded Android devices. The XL features a popular 5-inch display and measures 141x78x10.9 mm. But although the device is quite big, it won't really feel overly big in your hand. Moreover, Nokia has designed the phone with a thin bezel so as to avoid any kind of problems related to weight. 

 

 The handset's build quality, itself, is quite impressive. The handset features unibody polycarbonate plastic design, and is quite comfortable in the hand, and even easier to operate with a single hand. However, in order to cut costs, Nokia will be offering the device with a low 480x800 resolution despite having a 5-inch display and due to this low resolution, texts and images on the phone, apart from the usual tiled interface, may seem to appear a bit faded. The sharpness quotient of the device's display is to be neglected here, since you might not get what you are looking for. 

 

 However, if you can keep the sharpness quotient out of your mind for the time being, you will eventually realize that the brightness levels and viewing angles of the XL almost match those of Nokia's higher-end Lumia devices.

Nokia XL Key Specs:

 

Display- 5.00 inch

Processor- 1 GHz

Resolution- 480x800 pixels

Rear camera - 5 MP

Front Camera- 2 MP

Memory - 4 GB

RAM - 768 MB

 

Nokia XL: Interface and OS

 As I mentioned above, android running on this device is a part of AOSP, it is heavily customized and having windows phone like appearance. It also has many Microsoft based apps and devices. So, one bad thing is user are not able to access google play store like other android devices. But, nokia has created its own app store. More and more apps will be added to this.

 

But will all that being said, once you fire up the device, you will know actually how easy it is to get used to this "forked" version of Android. The navigation will surely feel slick and intuitive, with apps firing up without any real lag.

The tiles that you will find gracing the home screen of the device can be moved around by holding and dragging. Users can also increase the size of their important apps from 1x1 to 4x4. Apart from that, some of the app will even pull and offer additional information. On swiping the device sideways from the homescreen, it takes you to the "Fast Lane." In case you haven't got an idea, the Fast Lane is an always live feed of all the latest activity on the Nokia XL, ranging from the recently used apps, notifications, and even interacting via a social media. The device's power/lock key resides on the right of the Nokia XL, below a volume rocker switch. However, unlike the Lumia range of devices, there's no dedicated shutter button here.

Processor:

There's a big reason why the Nokia XL is successful in running its apps without any real lag. The reason of course being the device being fitted with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. So that means users can expect as less lags as possible, although we did find a bit of lag time while while the device was booting up.

Camera:

Of all the three X devices from Nokia, it's quite safe to say at this point that the Nokia XL actually boasts the best camera specs. The device offers a 5MP rear-facing sensor and a 2MP camera on the front.

The images snapped with the device seem quite reasonable, and will also handle in-image lighting quite well. However, don't expect a Nokia 930-like Pureview imaging. But considering the fact that device is anyway not meant for the high-section of the market, it's only natural that the camera specs are so.

Nokia XL : Conlusion

While Nokia has successfully made its first enrtry into the Android domain, if seen closer, the release may seem like a gamble to many. Although the device is Nokia's bigger variant of the previuosly released X, it still needs to be seen if the device will be popular with fans.

However, nothing takes away the fact that Nokia actually tried something new and different with the XL, and by the looks of it, they have pulled it off pretty well. But if the device is really to take the market by storm, it will only be due to the fact that this one is one of Nokia's first Android powered devices.