As if Nokia does not have a zillion budget phones already, they have gone ahead and launched another one. This time it is the music oriented Nokia X2 that packs in quite a few features, including a 2.2-inch QVGA display, 5 megapixel camera with flash, FM radio, stereo speakers and dedicated music keys. Let's see if it is good enough to stand out in the crowded budget phone market.
Bundle
The Nokia X2 has a simple candy bar form factor. The design uses a two-tone color scheme. Most of the handset is decked out in one color, while the other color spices things up on the sides. The X2 is available in black/red and silver/blue options; with black and silver being the dominant colors and red and blue being the lesser used colors. The phone looks good in both color options.
On the front of the phone, you will notice the upper half of the phone being occupied by the display. Above the display is the earpiece. The display seems to have some sort of protective film over it, but as we found out, it wasn't really a separate film but part of the screen cover. Also, it doesn't really seem to protect the screen at all, as our review sample had ample scratches on it.
Below the display is the traditional keypad. It has been some time since we at Techtree got a phone with a traditional keypad, and it feels good to see and use one after all this time. The keypad on the X2 is also one of the better ones that we have used, with nice large keys and good tactility that makes typing very easy. The keypad is backlit evenly in a soft white light. The keypad on the Indian version of the X2 also comes with Devanagiri characters printed on it.
Along the side of the X2 you will see rubber strips on the alternate color. On the left side you will find the music player controls within the strip and on the right side are the volume control buttons, microSD card slot and the camera shutter button. Although it's nice that the X2 comes with dedicated music player buttons we found some usability issues with them. The music playback keys were a bit too easy to press and you will often find yourself accidentally pressing one of the keys and starting the playback.
On the other hand, the volume keys on the opposite side were too high up and small to press comfortably. Also, due to their position right on the opposite side of the music keys, whenever you were to press the volume buttons, your fingers instinctively press the phone from the other side to grip the phone, thereby making you press the music keys unintentionally. The volume keys would also lock when you lock the phone keypad, thus making you unlock the phone every time you wanted to change the volume.
On top of the phone is the 3.5 mm headphone jack, the charger port and a micro USB port under a plastic flap, which when closed, becomes completely level with the top surface. On the backside, you will find the 5.0 megapixel camera lens near the top along with the LED flash. The LED can also be used as a flashlight, which comes in very handy.
You will also see four speaker grilles on the back of the phone but in reality there are only two speakers. The left channel speaker is in the lower section of the phone and the right speaker is next to the camera flash. The upper left and bottom right grilles are dummies. In between the speakers is a nice aluminum battery cover that has a brushed metal finish on the outside.
The overall build quality of the phone was less than ideal. At first it feels nice and solid in your hand but only when you squeeze it a bit do you realize that it tends to creak a little. The phone is extremely light though and also pretty slim. You will barely feel the phone in your pocket.
Display
The Nokia X2 comes with a 2.2-inch QVGA display. The display is capable of displaying 262k colors. Although the resolution of the display is pretty good for its size and the colors also look vibrant, the viewing angles are pretty bad. In fact, they are so bad that there is a considerable difference in what your left and right eye see. This is typical behavior for Nokia phones in this price range. Thankfully, the display remains legible under sunlight.
UI & Applications
The Nokia X2 runs on Series 40 operating system. Over the years the OS has received many updates, but to be honest, it is still not as good as its rivals. The A200 platform that the Sony Ericsson phones run on is much better. Series 40 lacks basic multitasking abilities, which severely limit its functionality. The only applications that you can run in the background are the music player and FM radio.
Nokia has made some improvements to the homescreen, which have made it easier to access stuff easy and quickly. You have four slots on the screen that you can customize with apps. You can either have one app display its information in one slot or have several app icons in one slot. You can also have a simple homescreen if you don't like this new one or you can use wallpaper instead.
The basic interface design hasn't changed much in the S40. It is still simple and logically laid out. And unlike the S60 there is consistency here and you won't find app icon positions interchanged in every S40 phone that you pick up. The X2 also felt snappy and did not show the lethargy that the cheaper Nokia S40 phones demonstrate.
The phone comes with several applications and games pre-installed. We particularly liked the Facebook app, which for once is a proper app and not just a bookmark for m.facebook.com. The phone also comes with multiple games; eight to be exact. While we liked the fact that the games folder is prominently displayed in the main menu, the Applications folder is buried in the Extras folder and is difficult to access.
The X2 comes with the Ovi Store app that you can use to download additional applications on to your device. Of course, the phone still supports only Java applications, but it is nice to have most of the good ones in one place that can be conveniently accessed through the phone instead of having to hunt around on the Web.
Connectivity
The Nokia X2 is a quad band GSM handset. Unfortunately the phone is not 3G compatible. All you get is EDGE and Bluetooth v2.0 connectivity. We experienced some issues with connectivity on the X2. The mass storage mode failed to work correctly several times. We had to remove the memory card and reinsert it for mass storage to work. We also had issues with EDGE connectivity, where the phone would connect but there would be no data transfer. We then had to restart the phone for it to work properly. These issues may be rectified with the future firmware upgrade but they are annoying nonetheless.
Call quality and network reception was flawless in the X2. We could hear our callers clearly and so could they. The loudspeakers on the phone are also very loud, which come in handy when you are talking on the speakerphone or when your phone rings in a crowded place.
The Nokia X2 comes with Opera Mini browser pre-installed and in fact it is the default browser. The phone still comes with the older v4 even though v5 has been out for quite some time now. Although Opera Mini is a good browser, it tends to run out of memory very fast. Try browsing a heavy website and after a few pages the browser will quit suddenly and even if you have something like the music player running in the background then even those apps are closed by the phone.
Camera
The Nokia X2 has a 5 megapixel camera with an LED flash. The camera lacks two important things though. One is autofocus and the second is image quality. While 5 megapixels might seem great on paper, in reality the image quality left a lot to be desired. The details were poor, the noise levels were high despite the noise reduction system, and to make up for the low details the camera would over sharpen the edges.
Low light images are worse with noise levels going too high. The flash does improve things a bit though if the subject is not too far away. The video recording quality is average too and only good for viewing on the phone.
Music
This is where the X2 puts up a good show. The audio quality on the X2 with headphones was excellent. The phone can also go very loud. The loudspeakers too are insanely loud but the audio quality isn't really great. Thankfully the speakers don't get blocked when the phone is kept on a table as the center portion of the phone is slightly raised. The music player isn't great though and lacks basic things such as gapless playback and multi disc support in album view. Then again, very few devices apart from those by Apple support these features.
Battery Life
The Nokia X2 has an 860 mAh Li-Ion battery. In our usage, the battery life of the phone was bit a disappointing. With heavy use the phone only lasted a day. This included several phone calls, messages, music playback and Internet usage. When the calls and data usage was dropped, the phone did last for a couple of days. But still, for such a basic phone with so few things running on it the battery life should have been much better.
Verdict
The Nokia X2 is priced at Rs. 5,489. For that price, you are getting a very decent phone with good features and performance. Considering the price we must say the X2 is good value for money. However, it is not the best that you can get for this price. The Sony Ericsson Cedar, for example, has a much better interface that supports multitasking and it even has 3G support while being equal to the X2 on every other front. Sure, it may just have a 2 megapixel camera but then the one on X2 isn't great either despite its resolution advantage. So although the X2 is still a decent buy we would suggest you consider other options before going for it.
Bundle
- Nokia X2
- Battery
- Charger
- Headset
- User Guide
The Nokia X2 has a simple candy bar form factor. The design uses a two-tone color scheme. Most of the handset is decked out in one color, while the other color spices things up on the sides. The X2 is available in black/red and silver/blue options; with black and silver being the dominant colors and red and blue being the lesser used colors. The phone looks good in both color options.
On the front of the phone, you will notice the upper half of the phone being occupied by the display. Above the display is the earpiece. The display seems to have some sort of protective film over it, but as we found out, it wasn't really a separate film but part of the screen cover. Also, it doesn't really seem to protect the screen at all, as our review sample had ample scratches on it.
Below the display is the traditional keypad. It has been some time since we at Techtree got a phone with a traditional keypad, and it feels good to see and use one after all this time. The keypad on the X2 is also one of the better ones that we have used, with nice large keys and good tactility that makes typing very easy. The keypad is backlit evenly in a soft white light. The keypad on the Indian version of the X2 also comes with Devanagiri characters printed on it.
Along the side of the X2 you will see rubber strips on the alternate color. On the left side you will find the music player controls within the strip and on the right side are the volume control buttons, microSD card slot and the camera shutter button. Although it's nice that the X2 comes with dedicated music player buttons we found some usability issues with them. The music playback keys were a bit too easy to press and you will often find yourself accidentally pressing one of the keys and starting the playback.
On the other hand, the volume keys on the opposite side were too high up and small to press comfortably. Also, due to their position right on the opposite side of the music keys, whenever you were to press the volume buttons, your fingers instinctively press the phone from the other side to grip the phone, thereby making you press the music keys unintentionally. The volume keys would also lock when you lock the phone keypad, thus making you unlock the phone every time you wanted to change the volume.
On top of the phone is the 3.5 mm headphone jack, the charger port and a micro USB port under a plastic flap, which when closed, becomes completely level with the top surface. On the backside, you will find the 5.0 megapixel camera lens near the top along with the LED flash. The LED can also be used as a flashlight, which comes in very handy.
You will also see four speaker grilles on the back of the phone but in reality there are only two speakers. The left channel speaker is in the lower section of the phone and the right speaker is next to the camera flash. The upper left and bottom right grilles are dummies. In between the speakers is a nice aluminum battery cover that has a brushed metal finish on the outside.
The overall build quality of the phone was less than ideal. At first it feels nice and solid in your hand but only when you squeeze it a bit do you realize that it tends to creak a little. The phone is extremely light though and also pretty slim. You will barely feel the phone in your pocket.
Display
The Nokia X2 comes with a 2.2-inch QVGA display. The display is capable of displaying 262k colors. Although the resolution of the display is pretty good for its size and the colors also look vibrant, the viewing angles are pretty bad. In fact, they are so bad that there is a considerable difference in what your left and right eye see. This is typical behavior for Nokia phones in this price range. Thankfully, the display remains legible under sunlight.
UI & Applications
The Nokia X2 runs on Series 40 operating system. Over the years the OS has received many updates, but to be honest, it is still not as good as its rivals. The A200 platform that the Sony Ericsson phones run on is much better. Series 40 lacks basic multitasking abilities, which severely limit its functionality. The only applications that you can run in the background are the music player and FM radio.
Nokia has made some improvements to the homescreen, which have made it easier to access stuff easy and quickly. You have four slots on the screen that you can customize with apps. You can either have one app display its information in one slot or have several app icons in one slot. You can also have a simple homescreen if you don't like this new one or you can use wallpaper instead.
The basic interface design hasn't changed much in the S40. It is still simple and logically laid out. And unlike the S60 there is consistency here and you won't find app icon positions interchanged in every S40 phone that you pick up. The X2 also felt snappy and did not show the lethargy that the cheaper Nokia S40 phones demonstrate.
The phone comes with several applications and games pre-installed. We particularly liked the Facebook app, which for once is a proper app and not just a bookmark for m.facebook.com. The phone also comes with multiple games; eight to be exact. While we liked the fact that the games folder is prominently displayed in the main menu, the Applications folder is buried in the Extras folder and is difficult to access.
The X2 comes with the Ovi Store app that you can use to download additional applications on to your device. Of course, the phone still supports only Java applications, but it is nice to have most of the good ones in one place that can be conveniently accessed through the phone instead of having to hunt around on the Web.
Connectivity
The Nokia X2 is a quad band GSM handset. Unfortunately the phone is not 3G compatible. All you get is EDGE and Bluetooth v2.0 connectivity. We experienced some issues with connectivity on the X2. The mass storage mode failed to work correctly several times. We had to remove the memory card and reinsert it for mass storage to work. We also had issues with EDGE connectivity, where the phone would connect but there would be no data transfer. We then had to restart the phone for it to work properly. These issues may be rectified with the future firmware upgrade but they are annoying nonetheless.
Call quality and network reception was flawless in the X2. We could hear our callers clearly and so could they. The loudspeakers on the phone are also very loud, which come in handy when you are talking on the speakerphone or when your phone rings in a crowded place.
The Nokia X2 comes with Opera Mini browser pre-installed and in fact it is the default browser. The phone still comes with the older v4 even though v5 has been out for quite some time now. Although Opera Mini is a good browser, it tends to run out of memory very fast. Try browsing a heavy website and after a few pages the browser will quit suddenly and even if you have something like the music player running in the background then even those apps are closed by the phone.
Camera
The Nokia X2 has a 5 megapixel camera with an LED flash. The camera lacks two important things though. One is autofocus and the second is image quality. While 5 megapixels might seem great on paper, in reality the image quality left a lot to be desired. The details were poor, the noise levels were high despite the noise reduction system, and to make up for the low details the camera would over sharpen the edges.
Low light images are worse with noise levels going too high. The flash does improve things a bit though if the subject is not too far away. The video recording quality is average too and only good for viewing on the phone.
Music
This is where the X2 puts up a good show. The audio quality on the X2 with headphones was excellent. The phone can also go very loud. The loudspeakers too are insanely loud but the audio quality isn't really great. Thankfully the speakers don't get blocked when the phone is kept on a table as the center portion of the phone is slightly raised. The music player isn't great though and lacks basic things such as gapless playback and multi disc support in album view. Then again, very few devices apart from those by Apple support these features.
Battery Life
The Nokia X2 has an 860 mAh Li-Ion battery. In our usage, the battery life of the phone was bit a disappointing. With heavy use the phone only lasted a day. This included several phone calls, messages, music playback and Internet usage. When the calls and data usage was dropped, the phone did last for a couple of days. But still, for such a basic phone with so few things running on it the battery life should have been much better.
Verdict
The Nokia X2 is priced at Rs. 5,489. For that price, you are getting a very decent phone with good features and performance. Considering the price we must say the X2 is good value for money. However, it is not the best that you can get for this price. The Sony Ericsson Cedar, for example, has a much better interface that supports multitasking and it even has 3G support while being equal to the X2 on every other front. Sure, it may just have a 2 megapixel camera but then the one on X2 isn't great either despite its resolution advantage. So although the X2 is still a decent buy we would suggest you consider other options before going for it.
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