<p>Relations between Microsoft and Google are as icy as Nokia's hometown of Espoo, Finland, which made it a bit of a shocker when Nokia by far Microsoft's largest mobile partner dropped an Android-shaped bomb on Windows Phone this week with the introduction of its X handsets. Just weeks away from being swallowed by Microsoft, Nokia is releasing three cheap, Android-powered devices that are designed to appeal to the mass market. All three are low-end models that won't compete with an iPhone 5S or Samsung's Galaxy S5. Instead, they're positioned as smartphones targeted at the millions of people globally who are currently switching away from feature phones. Windows Phone has seen a bit of success in this end of the market and Nokia dominates sales of handsets running it so why the switch to Android? And why now?</p><p>It's a question that Nokia has largely avoided answering clearly this week. Instead, Nokia explains its use of Android on the X series as a method to create devices that slot in between Asha, Nokia's low-end smartphone platform, and Windows Phone. The end goal, Nokia says, is to produce feeder handsets for its Lumia line of Windows Phones: get people into smartphones, feed them Microsoft services, and hopefully convince them to buy Windows Phone handsets down the line. It sounds like a reasonable approach until you take a closer look at the specifics.</p><p>Nokia's X handsets include almost identical specifications to the popular Lumia 520 Windows Phone, with differences to the camera, storage, and navigation buttons. It's reasonable to guess that X may be designed to replace Asha in the long term, but these first devices shadows of the 520 running a different operating system don't really address why they're not just running Windows Phone. Nokia's head of devices, Stephen Elop, is keen to downplay the idea that the X series is simply a stop-gap solution until Microsoft can push Windows Phone further into the low end of the market. In an interview with The Verge this week, Elop welcomed Microsoft's hardware changes to Windows Phone 8.1, but admitted Nokia needed devices in an area where Windows Phone can not yet fully compete in.</p><p>Nokia needed Windows Phone to push faster to the low-end</p><p><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/25/5445150/why-is-nokia-making-android-phones">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/hello-ms-android-good-bye-windows-phone-7000026774/">Hello, MS-Android. Good-bye, Windows Phone</a> (ZDNet)</p><p><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/24/technology/mobile/nokia-x-android/">Nokia unveils first Android phones</a> (CNN)</p><p><a href="http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/02/24/nokia-unveils-three-new-android-powered-smartphones">Nokia Unveils Three New Android-Powered Smartphones</a> (IGN)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=duLAfugpC7OZBLMhGP1A1qf60nANM&authuser=0&ned=us">1,346 additional articles.</a></p>