<a href="http://gigaom.com/2014/06/24/microsofts-android-line-evolves-new-nokia-x2-handset-has-opera-as-default-browser/" rel="nofollow">http://gigaom.com/2014/06/24/microsofts-android-line-evolves...</a><p>"Here’s a fun game. Mentally rewind 5 years and see how likely the following sentence would have been: Microsoft has decided to make Opera the default browser on its new, Linux-based Android handsets."
I'm a C# developer (and strong supporter of .NET and Xamarin) and this signals to me that I have that <i>many more</i> options now - its great and very exciting for me to hear all this great news coming out of Microsoft almost every other week.<p>DevDiv's tools and frameworks is where it's at when it comes to building big multi-platform codebases - backend, front-end, desktop, mobile, cloud, whatever. Add to that the immense infrastructure and operations support I get from the MS business ecosystem and it's just icing on my Productivity Cake. I don't mind paying them because I get great stuff for the price.<p>I never understood how tech-intelligent people would hold so much hate towards a company that pretty much provides some of the broadest selection of tools and solutions geekdom has ever known.<p>Side Anecdote: A little bird recently told me that while working at Box, the attitude from management was so hateful against Microsoft that they were willing to blow through huge amounts of money just to roll their own HR system. What?! As an investor I want my investments to make me more money any way possible - and NOT be wasted trying to recreate wheels just to satisfy some sort of nonsensical personal grudge. This opinion people have with the brand loyalties (and grudges) they hold are non-sense through and through and bad for business.
What this says to me as a developer in the Microsoft ecosystem (admittedly, enterprise side and not mobile):<p>"Four years ago we had you writing all your apps using Silverlight. Two years ago we chucked that out the window (ahahahaha) and told you to switch over to WinRT. Now we're going Android. We hope you've got the message by now. But in case you haven't, let us restate it in plain English: Dear developers, GO THE @$#!% AWAY."
To me, this looks like Microsoft opening a new front against Google and one which has the potential to change the landscape - note that I said 'potential', I'm not claiming unequivocally the strategy will be successful and Google will be sent to the dustbin of history.<p>What I am claiming is that Microsoft:<p>+ May have the killer smartphone app - carrier independent voice calls (aka "Skype").<p>+ Clearly has a more thoughtfully designed user interface in the form of Metro versus Android's WIMP on a phone mashups.<p>+ Could offer a more thoughtfully integrated suite of development tools should they get Android tooling into Visual Studio.<p>+ Already has a set of platform agnostic cloud services that are at least as good as Google's and since they include Office more attractive to general users.<p>+ Because of their B2B orientation, access to revenue streams other than advertising and therefore more latitude in providing a more appealing user experience in the consumer market.<p>Finally it is possible that Microsoft will play the
'bundling' card against Google's policy in regard to its platform, and by producing an Android phone, they get legal standing.
Microsoft releases a phone running Android, Microsoft releases hardware running Linux, pigs are flying and hell is freezing over etc etc.<p>The real news is that this is not just an Android phone, it's a really good Android phone. It has a front facing camera, a decent SoC, enough RAM, what appears to be an IPS display (according to some sources), likely very decent build quality, and a price that is likely to dip below €100 or even $100 soon enough. Android phones in that price range are generally extremely bad quality, but this seems to be a very decent package.
Look at the pseudo-win-phone interface on that X2. It looks what it is: an imitation of another phone.. also it's blatantly confusing for users who will now see what appears to be a windows phone interface but be unable to use windows phone apps. Odd strategy.
It seems like Microsoft and Amazon are not getting the real benefit of this platform by excluding the Google Play store from their versions of the Android experience. I guess it's understandable <i>why</i> they're doing that, it's just bad for users.<p>Are there some kind of licensing terms that prevent them from shipping forks like this with the Google Play store as one of two app stores available? Would they have to make the all the Google apps 'first class' citizens just to allow users the ability to install any of them ala carte?
I don't have an issue with Microsoft releasing an android phone.<p>My issue is that this phone has 1gb ram and front facing camera for the price of Lumia 520. I'll need to fork out at least twice that amount to get the equivalent hardware spec in windows phone.
Hell has officially frozen over.<p>Seriously though. This is great news, good to see that Microsoft is opening themselves up. Whether or not this is because of the new leadership, it's definitely the step in the right direction for Microsoft.
> "The whole idea of bringing more people into Microsoft Cloud through these services is the very core of the strategy," Jussi Nevanlinna, vice-president of mobile phones product marketing at Microsoft, told the BBC.<p>That blade cuts both ways: By providing full/native MS cloud support on Android, you are allowing people who would otherwise be "locked in" to WP, to escape into Android.<p>Couldn't this potentially end up hurting their cloud services more than it helps?
For $115 you can have a Dogee Valencia DG800, which runs circles around this crippled MSNokiAndroid phone:<p><a href="http://www.doogeemobile.com/doogee-dg800-smartphone-android-4-4-mtk6582-4-5-inch-1gb-8gb-13mp-camera.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.doogeemobile.com/doogee-dg800-smartphone-android-...</a><p>I'm still wondering where Microsoft is going with this. I really don't see this working very well without the benefit of the Play Store
Embrace, extend, ...<p>But seriously: I'm very curious to see where this goes. Perhaps a way of running Android apps on Win phones? That would be a tremendous boost.
What browser does this use? Is there now an IE for Android?<p>EDIT: It's Opera Mini: <a href="http://gigaom.com/2014/06/24/microsofts-android-line-evolves-new-nokia-x2-handset-has-opera-as-default-browser/" rel="nofollow">http://gigaom.com/2014/06/24/microsofts-android-line-evolves...</a>
It's the cheap Android phone everyone expected Amazon to make. I didn't know Nokia had an Android store. Is it better or worse than Amazon's?
"It will cost 99 euro ($135; £80) when released in July."<p>Is that the price with a 2-year contract or is this going to be a great value phone?<p>Will I be able to wipe this phone and install stock Android? Skype, Outlook, Bing, and all that other MS crap is unwanted. I'm actually a MS supporter and understand the need for them to create all of those services but I personally don't/won't use them.<p>Also, why are UK citizens against adopting the euro?
Microsoft really needs to get back on that path of completely changing the game in the mobile realm. I don't know if this is the start, but its sure as hell better than releasing the same thing slightly updated over and over again (Don't mimic Apple with this strategy, it won't work for you MSFT)
Oh, Jesus, this looks like the unfortunate result of a Windows Phone and an Android phone in a teleporter accident.<p>Many here are cheering as if this is good somehow, because Microsoft is open and what not. But look at it. It looks like Windows Phone, but is an Android phone. It exists to confuse customers.<p>What is the supposed end game here? "Hey, buy this and if you like it, we'll make you abandon all your Android apps, and switch to <i>real</i> Windows phone - because the home screen tiles look similar"?<p>I don't think so.<p>This project is more the result of a slow-moving corporate behemoth that started this project way before Microsoft announced it's buying Nokia. It was too late to turn that giant ship in time, I guess, so enjoy your mutant monster.<p>By the way, the startup sound is Ripley whispering "Kill me" in your ear.