Nokia X series of Android smartphones unveiled

Nokia has unveiled its first three Android smartphones after several turbulent years that saw the Finnish manufacturer lose its top spot in the mobile market as Google's free OS became the biggest mobile software in the world.

All three Android phones by Nokia - X, X+ and XL - run on a 'customized' version of Android operating system and will not have access to Play Store.

This means that those looking for a number of popular Android apps will still not have access to those. The company has also not innovated much by way of design for the new range and carried over the monobody design of its Lumia series in the new Android smartphones.

Nokia XL, the biggest of the three new smartphones, has a 5-inch screen, 5MP auto-focus camera with LED flash on the back, 2MP front camera and 1,500mAh battery.

On the other hand, Nokia X and X+ have 4-inch screens and 3MP fixed-focus cameras, said former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop while unveiling the devices.

All three devices will run on a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor with just 512MB RAM, have access to 3G networks and have display resolution of 800x480p. Nokia will offer a 4GB microSD card free with X+ and XL smartphones, but not with the entry-level Nokia X.

As expected, Nokia has preloaded the X, X+ and XL smartphones with Microsoft's cloud services like SkyDrive and One Drive, instead of Google's software, which may prove a dampener for some. The company is offering 10GB of One Drive storage for free.

Some of the apps pre-installed on the devices are Here Maps, Nokia Mix Radio, Facebook, Skype, BBM etc. Users can download apps from the Nokia store, or choose to sideload apps directly from the web.

Interestingly, the home screen of Nokia's three Android smartphones is heavily influence by that of Windows Phone operating system and features Live Tiles. The company has also included FastLane multitasking solution, which it debuted with the revamped Asha series, and Glance Screen in the new smartphones.

Nokia announced that Nokia X will be available immediately in Europe for 89 euros, whereas X+ and XL will hit the stores in early Q2 2014 for 99 and 109 euros respectively. However, it added that the three models will hit markets like India, Africa, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe first, without indicating the price range for these markets.

Elop said that Nokia, set to be acquired by Microsoft soon, will encourage app ecosystem for the Nokia X platform.

Samsung to unveil bendable tablet

South Korean media is abuzz that Samsung, the biggest maker of smartphones in the world, is set to unveil the first-ever bendable tablet. The device will be showcased behind closed doors to a select group at a private exhibition, according to a report by ET News. 

The report says that the tablet, to be showcased at Mobile World Congress  next week, will bend at 90-degree angle in the middle. The lower half of the bendable Samsung tablet will feature as a keyboard, while the upper half will be used as the screen and show the apps, quite similar to the setup in a laptop. 

While the technology will be demonstrated at the MWC, it is not to hit the mainstream market until next year at least. At the Samsung Analyst Day conference last year, the company revealed its roadmap, showing that it plans to bring bendable displays to the market in 2015. It also said that foldable smartphone displays will be launched in 2016-17. 

Samsung unveiled its first set of professional-grade tablets at Consumer Electronics Show last month. These tablets have bigger screens than other similar products in the market and can run four apps simultaneously, making operating them similar to multitasking on laptops. 

The highlight of Samsung's MWC event will be the unveiling of the Galaxy S5 smartphone. The device is said to have a 5.25-inch screen with 2K resolution, 16MP rear camera, eight-core processor option, 3GB RAM and Android 4.4 (operating system). It is widely expected that Samsung will debut the next version of its TouchWiz user interface with this smartphone. 

The company is also expected to launch the Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch at the same event.