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June 24, 2014

Improving a platform: Nokia X2



The latest member of the Nokia X family, the Nokia X2, not only delivers improvements to the hardware design, but also the OS.

“Straight off the bat you’ll notice that the home screen has been enhanced. Instead of just three tiles side by side, there’s now room for four,” explains Timo Saari, Delivery Manager at Microsoft.

He continues: “In addition to the home screen and the popular Fastlane, we’ve now included an apps list.”

Nokia-X2_apps-list

Much like what’s already available on Lumia, the apps list contains all of the apps or games that you have installed. Simply scroll through the apps, or use the search option to find the one you’re looking for.

This helps to keep the home screen clean and clutter free, where only your most important or most used apps can be found.

“We’ve made lots of changes. Some that are obvious and some that are subtle, but they all lead to a richer, faster and easier experience,” explains Yannis Paniaras, Head of the Mobile Phones UX Design Studio at Microsoft in Beijing.

“We’ve made some improvements to the way the tiles move around on the home screen when you’re resizing or relocating them. It’s a more playful way to personalise.”

Nokia-X2_homescreen

Even beneath the screen there’s a tell-tale sign that things have evolved somewhat from the first version of the Nokia X platform.

“Right alongside the Back key we’ve introduced the Home key for simpler navigation. We’ve also made it easier for people to multitask and have more control over their apps. By holding down the Back key, you’ve got access to the task manager, which shows you what’s running and allows you to close them quickly, if you wish.”

Nokia-X2_multitasking

Homescreens, Fastlane, notifications manager and task manager all work together to provide a richer, faster and easier to use experience

Other improvements in the Nokia X software platform 2.0 can be found in the control panel, the new camera UI, Fastlane, and throughout the rest of the OS.

“Another area we improved upon is the virtual keyboard,” says Yannis. “We’ve rebuilt it from scratch so it’s completely different to the previous version. It works much better and looks nicer, too.”

“Because of the necessary hardware upgrades, the Nokia X software platform 2.0 won’t be available on Nokia X, Nokia X+ or Nokia XL. However, more updates will be coming to further improve the experience of those devices in the coming months.”

Check out the latest images and videos of the Nokia X2.

Are you looking forward to Nokia X2 and the new and improved platform? Let us know, in the comments section below.

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