Nokia X: everything we know so far

Nokia X screen

The Nokia X was tipped to sport a middle of the road 4-inch display with a mediocre 480 x 854 resolution. And this is exactly what we got.

The official specs explain that the Nokia X screen is a PS LCD WVGA (800 x 480) touchscreen capacitive 4-inch display. It's not something that is going to set the world on fire but it is in keeping with the low-cost nature of the handset.

Nokia X screen

It's not the best screen around but it's responsive and has vibrant colours and deep blacks, making it surprisingly good for such a low end handset.

The Nokia X+ has exactly the same screen, but the Nokia XL as the name suggests sports a larger 5-inch 800 x 480 display.

Of course by upping the size without increasing the resolution the end result is far from the sharpest screen on the market.

Nokia X design

All the leaked screenshots that came out of the Nokia X, hinted that it was on course to be more of the same from the Finnish firm. And this is indeed the case.

A unibody design in a range of bright colours is status quo at Nokia at the moment and the Nokia X trio are almost identical to the firm's latest range of Asha smartphones.

Nokia X

The official colours for the Nokia X and Nokia X+ are: bright green, bright red, cyan, yellow, black and white, while the Nokia XL will be available in orange, blue, yellow, green, black and white.

When it comes to thickness and the like, the dimensions of the Nokia X and Nokia X+ are: 115.5 x 63 x 10.4mm and they weigh in at 128.66g.

Nokia XL thickness

The Nokia XL unsurprisingly comes in a little bigger and heavier, at 141.3 x 77.7 x 10.8mm and 190g, making it a fairly chunky beast.

Nokia X Rumors

Here's what the leakers tipped for the Nokia X before launch – they were pretty spot on.

Nokia Normandy - LEAK

Our first glimpse of the Nokia Normandy (credit: @evleaks)

The Nokia X was teased by Twitter leaker @Vizileaks, who posted the following snap online with the "and the waiting game begins..." - oh, you tease.

Nokia Normandy - LEAK

Is this an Android or just a Nokia? (credit: @Vizileaks)

Then there was @evleaks who showed off six color options (green, white, yellow, blue, red and black) as well as a single key below the screen - the same as the Nokia Asha 503.

Nokia Normandy - LEAK

All the colors (credit: @evleaks)

If that wasn't enough in terms of colours, a picture of an orange handset claiming to be the Nokia X has also appeared online - although even the site that picked it up said "authenticity [of the images] is far from proven."

It seems that this was indeed a fake, as while the Nokia XL is coming out in orange the closest we have to orange for the Nokia X is Red. Unless the red and yellow handset had a baby that we don't know about, the below picture is a piece of rubbish plastic and nothing more.

Nokia X - LEAK

Also coming in orange? (credit: nowhereelse)

There were also more leaks apparently showing the Nokia X on and working, revealing Here Maps will be included on the device, and potentially pointing towards a lack of Google's own suite of apps such as Maps and the Play Store.

Again, those leakers were exactly right: there is no Play store.

Nokia X specs

The Nokia X was tipped to sport a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, Adreno 302 GPU and 512MB of RAM - hardly worth writing home about, but once again it reinforces the "budget" angle.

And these specs hit the mark. It is indeed a 1GHz Snapdragon S4 processor with 512MB of RAM and 4GB eMMC.

The Nokia X+ and XL have almost identical core specs, but they have a slightly beefier 768MB of RAM. In our time with the phones so far we've found that they can all handle any task you throw at them, but there can be some stuttering.

Nokia X

Although there were rumours that the Nokia X would come with a 5MP snapper capable of 720p HD video capture, this wasn't the case. It comes with a 3MP fixed-focus camera, as does the Nokia X+, but those rumours weren't totally wrong as the Nokia XL actually does have a 5 megapixel camera. It also has a larger 1/4" sensor, compared to the 1/5" sensors on the Nokia X and X+.

Nokia XL camera

All three handsets can shoot 480p video at 30fps and while neither the Nokia X or Nokia X+ have a front facing snapper the Nokia XL one-ups them here too, with a 2 megapixel camera on the front.

Word of 4GB of internal storage was rather disappointing (especially as the operating system will take up a chunk of it), but the Nokia X will also rock a microSD card slot as was leaked in this spec list and the Nokia XL has the same storage potential.

There is also the Nokia X+. This is set to come with the same amount of built in storage as the X and XL, but there's also a 4GB microSD card included in the box.

Nokia XL battery

For any battery fans out there the Nokia X was rumoured to have a 1500mAh juice pack, which turned out to be completely true. This is more than enough to keep the average screen and processor chugging along. The Nokia X+ has exactly the same battery and the Nokia XL boosts the size to 2000 mAh, but it's likely to need that extra juice to drive its 5 inch screen.

John McCann
Global Managing Editor

John joined TechRadar over a decade ago as Staff Writer for Phones, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He's interviewed CEOs from some of the world's biggest tech firms, visited their HQs and has appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC and BBC Radio 4. Originally specializing in phones, tablets and wearables, John is now TechRadar's resident automotive expert, reviewing the latest and greatest EVs and PHEVs on the market. John also looks after the day-to-day running of the site. 

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