Nokia X to hit Indian shores on Mar 15; priced at Rs 8,500

Nokia's much-awaited Android-based 'Nokia X' will be available in India from March 15, as the Finnish firm takes head-on the likes of Samsung and Micromax to grab a share of the burgeoning affordable smartphone market.

Priced at Rs 8,500, Noxia X is a dual SIM handset featuring a four-inch touchscreen, dual core 1 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM and supports expandable memory up to 32GB.

The smartphone is already available for pre-booking on electronics retailer The Mobile Store and lists the availability date as March 15.

It has a 3MP rear camera and is powered by Android Jellybean OS.

Smartphone sales in India grew almost three-fold to over 41.1 million in 2013, buoyed by a strong uptake of affordable devices made by local firms such as Micromax and Karbonn, according to CyberMedia Research.

Availability of affordable smartphones drove smartphone sales, while feature phones sales fell 0.2 per cent in 2013.

Samsung led the smartphone market, followed by Micromax and Karbonn.

The Finnish firm, whose handset business was bought by Microsoft last year, had unveiled its Nokia X range of smartphones -- X, X+ and XL -- powered by Google's Android operating system at the Mobile World Congress on February 24.

It had said Nokia X will be rolled out (prices starting starting at 89 euros or about Rs 7,500) in Asia-Pacific, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

The Nokia X+ and Nokia XL are expected to roll out in these markets starting early second quarter, priced at 99 euros (Rs 8,300) and 109 euros (Rs 9,200), respectively.

The phones are not pure Android phones but run a variant of Android. Nokia has taken the open-source elements of Android and added elements of Asha and Microsoft's Windows Phone to offer its users a different experience.

Nokia X has been launched in Malaysia for 399 Malaysian Ringgit (about Rs 7,500).