On 17 July 2014, after the acquisition of Nokia's devices unit, Microsoft announced that no more Nokia X smartphones would be introduced, marking the end of the Nokia X platform within only a few months after its introduction.[8] The phones were succeeded by low-cost Lumia devices under the Microsoft Mobile brand name.[9] Microsoft did not release an Android-based device under their own brand until 2020, in the form of the foldableSurface Duo.[10]
The OS has been compared to Amazon.com's Fire OS, which is also based on AOSP.
Applications
Google's applications were replaced by Nokia's and Microsoft's. When first released, the Google Play store was not included, with Nokia offering apps from their own Nokia Store. After the v2.1 update in September 2014 users were allowed to install Google Play and various other Google services through third party tools, but if users attempt to install Google services on their Nokia X devices it would usually be "bricked" and would require the Nokia Software Recovery Tool to restore the data.[13]
As of February 2014, 75% of Android apps were compatible with the platform. Nokia noted that developers could port the remaining missing apps in a matter of hours, and in an attempt to encourage developers to contribute to the platform, added compatible Android apps without developer approval.[14]
Developers
An SDK was available for the platform, and included an emulator based on the Android emulator. Nokia discouraged developers from using Windows Phone design patterns and encouraged the use of Android design guidelines on the Nokia X.[15] Nokia's VP of developer relations commented that the Nokia imaging SDK would likely be ported to the platform from Windows Phone.[16]
Version history
Version
Release date
Based on AOSP (Android) version
Notes
1.0
24 February 2013
API Level 16 (4.1.2 Jelly Bean)
Launch version
1.1.1
25 March 2013
API Level 16 (4.1.2 Jelly Bean)
Performance improvements
Option to change the tile colour of 3rd party apps[17]
^"Licenses". Android Open Source Project. Open Handset Alliance. Retrieved 9 September 2012. The preferred license for the Android Open Source Project is the Apache Software License, 2.0. ... Why Apache Software License? ... For userspace (that is, non-kernel) software, we do in fact prefer ASL2.0 (and similar licenses like BSD, MIT, etc.) over other licenses such as LGPL. Android is about freedom and choice. The purpose of Android is promote openness in the mobile world, but we don't believe it's possible to predict or dictate all the uses to which people will want to put our software. So, while we encourage everyone to make devices that are open and modifiable, we don't believe it is our place to force them to do so. Using LGPL libraries would often force them to do so.