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At the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Nokia has unveiled a family of Android handsets. Named the X, X+ and XL, these phones will... Nokia Unveils its First Android Phone

At the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Nokia has unveiled a family of Android handsets. Named the X, X+ and XL, these phones will range in price from 89 Euros to 109 Euros.

The more basic of the three models, the X, will have a 4-inch screen, 512MB of Ram and 3-megapixel camera. The X+ model will feature  768MB of Ram and a 4GB MicroSD card. Finally the high-end model, or XL, will have a 5-inch display, a 2-megapixel front facing camera and a 5-megapixel rear camera.

Nokia X

The X model will be available straight away in Europe and Asia Pacific, with the other models following in April.

A Perplexing Strategic Move

The move by Nokia to launch an Android phone has been called a  “perplexing strategic move” by analysts. At the end of last year Microsoft agreed to buy Nokia’s mobile phone business in a deal worth $7.2 billion, with the then CEO Steve Ballmer saying that the company was in the process of changing from one “known for software and PCs, to a company that focuses on devices and services”.

Analyst for CCS Insight Ben Wood, explains his thoughts on Nokia’s actions saying:

“Non-participation‎ in the low-cost smartphone market where Android is rampant leaves a lot of money on the table but turning to Android must have been a bitter pill to swallow.

“If you stand back, for a soon-to-be Microsoft-owned company to embrace Android is a perplexing strategic move. I believe it was a ‎decision where Nokia felt it had few other options given Android’s entry-level dominance in phones and apps, particularly in emerging markets,” he added.

However the deal between Nokia and Microsoft has not yet been finalised and Nokia is keen to reassure everyone that its priority still lies in Windows phones. Senior vice president for Nokia, Stephen Elop, said that the Lumia is still “our primary smartphone platform” and that the new X model family is only a  “feeder system”.

[Image via Arstechnica]

SOURCE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26320552