Nokia X Android Smartphones Won’t Launch in US, Canada, Japan or Korea – Huh?

Company executive confirms rollout of Nokia’s first Android-powered Smartphone range, which for some reason excludes some of the world’s most important markets

The Nokia X has been one of the longest-rumored devices to crawl out of the woodwork for some time. Seriously – there was once a time when the idea of an Android-powered Nokia seemed about as likely as the iPhone 6 running Tizen, but as we’ve learned time and time again it’s impossible to know what a tech firm will try out when facing turbulent times.So now we’ve had the official announcement of the Nokia X, the Nokia X+ and the Nokia XL, confirming that there is indeed a place for Android in the Finnish firm’s future. All very exciting stuff of course, but the whole affair has been tinged by the slightly sour matter of availability…or distinct lack thereof, as the case may be.If you’re looking to take home a piece of Nokia and Android history – and an affordable one at that – you better hope you don’t live in one of the regions that aren’t invited to the party. It’s not unusual for certain markets to be overlooked for one reason or another, but in the case of the Nokia X…well.

According Nokia’s Mobile Phone marketing VP, Jussi Nevanlinna, you’re wholly out of look if you’re waiting for the X to launch in Canada, South Koreas, Japan and….yep, the US.Technically you’ll still be able to pick one up internationally or from a reseller here in the US, but that will of course mean paying well over the standard price of about $150 or so…which sort of defeats the purpose.Is there a method behind Nokia’s madness? Perhaps a second wave of Android-based handsets in the running for a US launch later this year?

We’re having a bit of trouble figuring out the logic in this one…

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Nokia: Imaging SDK set for Android Nokia X Platform

NOKIA HAS REVEALED to The E-Information that its Imaging software development kit (SDK) likely will come to its Nokia X platform, enabling developers to build high-end photography apps for its low-end, Android-based smartphones.Nokia's Imaging SDK allows developers to create imaging apps for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8.1, such as Nokia's own Creative Studio app that it boasts was built using the developer kit.However, Windows Phones didn't feature heavily at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC), as Nokia instead focused on showcasing its Android-based Nokia X smartphone line, comprising the Nokia X, Nokia X+ and Nokia XL.While you'll find some of Nokia's usual apps onboard, such as Music and Here maps, there are none of the high-end camera applications found on the Nokia Lumia 1520 and Lumia 1020 handsets, due to the Nokia X devices' low prices. However, Nokia said that its Imaging SDK might appear on the Nokia X range "when the time is right".During an interview with The INQUIRER, Amit Patel, VP of developer relations at Nokia, said that the firm hopes to open the Imaging SDK to developers working on Nokia X apps, with imaging still a "key differentiator" for the firm. Patel said, "On the hardware side, it's bill of materials, so you may not get a Nokia X handset with a 41MP camera. However, the important thing will be the software manipulation and imaging features, which is going to be something that we can bring down to the low end when the time is right.

"A lot of those software techniques are actually portable from the high end to the low end. If you've got a reasonable processor in the device, you can run a lot of those capabilities. Imaging is of course one of the key differentiators, not just on the Lumia side, but in the affordable smartphone space as well."

During our interview, Patel also spoke about what developers can expect when submitting apps to the Nokia X Store, promising that the firm will carefully vet apps before they are approved. Thanks to this thorough apps validation process, he added that out of 100,000 Android apps tested for the Nokia X, nine percent were found to contain malware.

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Nokia X budget Android smartphone teased in images ahead of MWC 2014

Nokia seems to be leaving no stone unturned in an attempt to promote the expected launch of its first Android phone. The Finnish giant has now released teaser images ahead of the much-anticipated Nokia X (aka Normandy) launch.Notably, the Nokia X teaser images do not reveal much about the upcoming device, but it explicitly shows an 'X' mark in a couple of the images. The images have been posted on Nokia's Weibo site, which is the equivalent of Twitter in China. The first teaser image shows two monkeys: one standing below a tree and another on the tree.We expect that the Finnish giant is indicating that there might be two devices unveiled at the MWC event scheduled for 24 February. At this point of time, we only know about the long-rumoured Nokia X, earlier known as Nokia Normandy which has been in news since last year, though there are more than a few Windows Phone offerings also supposedly due at the event.The second Nokia X teaser image shows a tree with its DNA-shaped helix roots visible, clearly depicting an 'X' mark. The third teaser image shows a pirate treasure map with green-coloured 'X' mark is formed by negative spaces between the arrows pointing inwards.Nokia also started a countdown page for the MWC event on its official Conversations blog, with a clear 'X' marked, similar to that seen on the teaser map image.On Monday, Nokia X's alleged press image was leaked, which further cemented the authenticity of the name. The purported press images were leaked via the phone tipster, @evleaks. The post, with an image of a green-colour variant of the handset, seemingly confirmed the name as Nokia X amidst a number of rumours crowding around the device for weeks.The Nokia X, besides being said to fall between the Asha and Lumia line-up, is said to feature a 4-inch TFT display with a resolution of 480x854 (FWVGA) pixels; a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor; 5-megapixel rear camera; microSD card support and Android 4.4 KitKat. The device was recently spotted under a listing page on a Vietnamese online retailer website.The Nokia X handset was previously said to sport a 5-megapixel rear camera, however the CamSpeed benchmark hinted that the handset would arrive with a lower 3-megapixel camera.

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