GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
Filtered by: Scitech
SciTech
Nokia completes 'Google-less' Android phone
Finnish phone maker Nokia may have finally completed a seemingly improbable task: creating a new smartphone running on the Android operating system, minus the fingerprints of Google.
advertisement
The Nokia X phone features a custom UI and replaced Google software with its own or that of Microsoft, tech site TheUnlockr.com's David Cogen reported.
"Nokia finally did it. They made an Android device (three in fact). But, they did manage to change Android quite a bit with their custom UI and even took out most (if not all) of Google’s presence in the device and replaced it with either their own software or a Microsoft equivalent," Cogen said.
Cogen said one of the most striking features of Nokia X is changing the Google Android homescreen, removing the sliding right and left for different homescreens.
In its place is a vertically scrolling screen with a tile look similar to Microsoft's Windows Phone.
"Swiping to the left or right on the homescreen brings you to your recent apps and things you’ve done with them (i.e. sent a tweet). You can also pull down on this to get to your alarm," Cogen said.
On the other hand, Cogen said there is little animation, with a simple Glance Screen for notifications and the time without having to unlock the device.
A user can double tap the screen while the device is in sleep mode to wake it up, but Cogen said "you have to do it pretty hard."
Other Nokia apps include an FM radio, Here maps, Nokia's store, and its own Internet browser that uses Microsoft's Bing instead of Google as its search engine.
Still, remnants of stock Android include the Power Control, Contact, Direct Call, Direct Message, and Calendar. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News
More Videos
