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Microsoft to release Android-powered Nokia X2 handset

bbc.com

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Re: Microsoft to release Android-powered Nokia X2 handset

#91

Post by deepGem »

DCKing wrote: post #15

Microsoft releases a phone running Android, Microsoft releases hardware running Linux, pigs are flying and hell is freezing over etc etc. The real news is that this is not just an Android phone, it's a really good Android phone. It has a front facing camera, a decent SoC, enough RAM, what appears to be an IPS display (according to some sources), likely very decent build quality, and a price that is likely to dip belo…

"Android phones in that price range are generally extremely bad quality, but this seems to be a very decent package." - Not the Moto E

Re: Microsoft to release Android-powered Nokia X2 handset

#92

Post by Nux »

higherpurpose wrote: post #44
DCKing wrote: post #15

Microsoft releases a phone running Android, Microsoft releases hardware running Linux, pigs are flying and hell is freezing over etc etc. The real news is that this is not just an Android phone, it's a really good Android phone. It has a front facing camera, a decent SoC, enough RAM, what appears to be an IPS display (according to some sources), likely very decent build quality, and a price that is likely to dip belo…

Moto E has roughly the same specs (some better, some worse): http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_e_dual_sim-6323.php Just because you're not looking, doesn't mean they don't exist.

Comparison http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=6323&idPhone2=...

Re: Microsoft to release Android-powered Nokia X2 handset

#93

Post by _broody »

morganvachon wrote: post #18
DCKing wrote: post #15

Microsoft releases a phone running Android, Microsoft releases hardware running Linux, pigs are flying and hell is freezing over etc etc. The real news is that this is not just an Android phone, it's a really good Android phone. It has a front facing camera, a decent SoC, enough RAM, what appears to be an IPS display (according to some sources), likely very decent build quality, and a price that is likely to dip belo…

Except it doesn't have the Google Play store or Play Services, so it's not going to appeal to the usual Android user. As someone who uses Windows Phone, I keep scratching my head wondering why Microsoft even bothers.

Microsoft has a competitive advantage in the Android market because they're the only manufacturer that doesn't have to pay Microsoft $15 in Android licencing costs for each device released. (Actually, does that still hold true...?)

Re: Microsoft to release Android-powered Nokia X2 handset

#94

Post by yourad_io »

> "The whole idea of bringing more people into Microsoft Cloud through these services is the very core of the strategy," Jussi Nevanlinna, vice-president of mobile phones product marketing at Microsoft, told the BBC.

That blade cuts both ways: By providing full/native MS cloud support on Android, you are allowing people who would otherwise be "locked in" to WP, to escape into Android.

Couldn't this potentially end up hurting their cloud services more than it helps?

Re: Microsoft to release Android-powered Nokia X2 handset

#95

Post by nnnnni »

spinchange wrote: post #58

It seems like Microsoft and Amazon are not getting the real benefit of this platform by excluding the Google Play store from their versions of the Android experience. I guess it's understandable why they're doing that, it's just bad for users. Are there some kind of licensing terms that prevent them from shipping forks like this with the Google Play store as one of two app stores available? Would they have to make th…

My Kindle Fire HD was intolerable until I rooted it and installed the Google Play store!

Re: Microsoft to release Android-powered Nokia X2 handset

#96

Post by Sanddancer »

johansch wrote: post #63

http://gigaom.com/2014/06/24/microsofts-android-line-evolves... "Here’s a fun game. Mentally rewind 5 years and see how likely the following sentence would have been: Microsoft has decided to make Opera the default browser on its new, Linux-based Android handsets."

Well, five years ago, Microsoft-owned subsidiary Danger released the Sidekick LX 2009, which used NetBSD as its operating system, used a JVM derivative, and a browser not based on IE. Everything old is new again.

Re: Microsoft to release Android-powered Nokia X2 handset

#97

Post by jbigelow76 »

HenryMc wrote: post #70
morganvachon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except it doesn't have the Google Play store or Play Services, so it's not going to appeal to the usual Android user. As someone who uses Windows Phone, I keep scratching my head wondering why Microsoft even bothers.

"the Nokia X smartphone achieving top-selling status in Pakistan , Russia , Kenya and Nigeria,3 while earning the third-best-selling smartphone spot in India ," said Timo Toikkanen , head of Mobile Phones, Microsoft Devices Group. This phone is not aimed at people who a power users. This phone is aimed at emerging economies where people are buying their first smartphones. Nokia X has all the basics (music, free messa…

    >This phone is not aimed at people who a power users.
I think we have started confusing "power user" with "power app purchaser". A Pakistani cab driver that runs his business off multiple cell phones or a dual simmed phone is probably more of a "power user" in the context of a mobile communication device than your average 1st world iPhone wielding instagram-aholic that happens to have extra disposable income that can be trifled away on an IAP in Angry Birds.

Re: Microsoft to release Android-powered Nokia X2 handset

#98

Post by hga »

Sanddancer wrote: post #96
johansch wrote: post #63

http://gigaom.com/2014/06/24/microsofts-android-line-evolves... "Here’s a fun game. Mentally rewind 5 years and see how likely the following sentence would have been: Microsoft has decided to make Opera the default browser on its new, Linux-based Android handsets."

Well, five years ago, Microsoft-owned subsidiary Danger released the Sidekick LX 2009, which used NetBSD as its operating system, used a JVM derivative, and a browser not based on IE. Everything old is new again.

But 5 years ago it was axiomatic that Microsoft would throw such a system away, and replace it with something underwhelming. In this case, the Kin, a total disaster.

We're now seeing that Microsoft may be starting to rid itself of the platform tax that's crippled so many of their efforts. In the case of the Kin, that even included Exchange support, which wasn't a desiderata for its market (and to make things worse, the code/libraries the Kin team was supplied were extremely buggy).

Re: Microsoft to release Android-powered Nokia X2 handset

#99

Post by johnchristopher »

johansch wrote: post #63

http://gigaom.com/2014/06/24/microsofts-android-line-evolves... "Here’s a fun game. Mentally rewind 5 years and see how likely the following sentence would have been: Microsoft has decided to make Opera the default browser on its new, Linux-based Android handsets."

For what it's worth it still feels weird to me.

Re: Microsoft to release Android-powered Nokia X2 handset

#100

Post by random28345 »

hga wrote: post #98
Sanddancer wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, five years ago, Microsoft-owned subsidiary Danger released the Sidekick LX 2009, which used NetBSD as its operating system, used a JVM derivative, and a browser not based on IE. Everything old is new again.

But 5 years ago it was axiomatic that Microsoft would throw such a system away, and replace it with something underwhelming. In this case, the Kin, a total disaster. We're now seeing that Microsoft may be starting to rid itself of the platform tax that's crippled so many of their efforts. In the case of the Kin, that even included Exchange support, which wasn't a desiderata for its market (and to make things worse, t…

> But 5 years ago it was axiomatic that Microsoft would throw such a system away, and replace it with something underwhelming.

Is not not axiomatic that the Nokia Android phone is a temporary thing? They aren't trying to build a line of Android phones, they are trying to retain market share as a phone manufacturer until Windows Phone is more successful.

Either Windows Phone becomes a solid 3rd place Smartphone OS, and they kill their Android line, or Windows Phone becomes an obvious failure, and they sell the remnants of Nokia. Either way, 6 years from now MS will no longer be selling Android phones.

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