The Nokia X range has certainly set tongues wagging, boasting an Android OS in place of that now-familiar Windows Phone we've become accustomed to.

The Nokia X, Nokia X+ and and Nokia XL all arrived at Mobile World Congress 2014, with the former coming in at just €89 (around £73/$100) and the latter boosting screen size to 5 inches for €20 euros more.

Which, of course, leaves the awkward middle child - priced smack bang in the middle of its two brothers and offering a little more RAM and the smaller screen size.

The assumption is that this range is aimed at developing nations - you won't see both the X and the X+ because, frankly, the difference is so minor it took Nokia a good five minutes to identify a Plus for us to get our hands on.

So let's start with centrepiece of this hunk of colourful plastic: the modified Android operating system and its bright and breezy tiles.

This is, as you will no doubt have noticed, quite reminiscent of Nokia's Windows Phone offering - but that's no bad thing, bringing the patina of Android respectability and an air of Nokia's owner Microsoft to boot.

There are issues with the approach, of course, with the Nokia Android Store hugely limited and the option for local apps stores - of which Nokia has sealed plenty of partnerships across the globe - are not quite as polished as the typical Google-fied Play experience.

But the experience is largely a pleasurable one - more solid feeling than the interesting Firefox OS and certainly bright and cheerful in the way you would expect a Nokia phone to feel.

That cheeriness is helped by a surprisingly nice 4-inch WVGA screen - deep blacks, vibrant color and multi-touch which felt responsive and immediate.

It's more of a babushka than a supermodel in looks and size - chunky and solid looking with the curved corners not really diminishing the feeling that you are holding a big Lego brick.

But that very solidity brings a sense of robustness, and the plastic finish is pleasing in the hand - as long as you're prepared for the ungainly size.

The phone also boasts a dual-sim feature that is certainly a big bonus for a phone that is looking to conquer the developing nations.

The dual-core processor is, well, okay. It stuttered a little when we really pushed it - but for everyday usage it coped admirably with only the occasional delay in proceedings.

When put up against some of its low cost peers, the X+ is a shining example that bargain should not necessarily mean a horrible experience.

Ten extra Euros on the price buys you 768MB of RAM - an extra third on the X's 512MB and we'd suggest that in developing nations there might well be the feeling that the added cost is not worth the performance difference.

Early verdict

In isolation, the X+ is a perfectly palatable hunk of plastic boasting a surprisingly nice screen a perfectly acceptable performance level for the price point - and an interesting Android experience.

It's not perfect, performance is not the speediest and the non-Google app experience is not an ideal solution, but despite its bulk it's not an unpleasant device to hold or use, especially at its low price.

And that means that the X-range has the potential to be a very big deal for Nokia in the markets it is targeting.

On Monday, Nokia unveiled three new phones at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The phones - the X, X+ and XL - run a "forked" version of Google's Android OS, similar to Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet which leverages the groundwork of Android, overlaying their own custom services on top.

The phones are priced conservatively, starting at €70 for the Nokia X and topping out at €109 for the 5-inch Nokia XL, the most high-end phone in the lineup. They are clearly aimed at emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, Asia and South America where Android, and Windows Phone to a lesser extent, are starting to find some commercial success.

Praise of Nokia's use of Android may be short lived, however, due to the $7.2 billion acquisition by Microsoft of Nokia's devices business, which will be finalised in the coming weeks. Google and Microsoft are not on the best terms, with Microsoft launching their 'Scroogled' adverts attacking Google services for alleged invasion of privacy, amongst other contentions.

Embarrassment of riches

Nokia launching a new range of Android phones that are aimed at the potentially profitable emerging markets is unlikely to fill Microsoft executives with joy. Joe Belifore, VP of the Windows Phone division at Microsoft, claimed the relationship between Nokia and Microsoft was "terrific" but added that Nokia will "[do] some things that we may be less excited about." A source who spoke to Business Insider called the phones "embarrassing".

At an event also held at MWC, Microsoft unveiled new features present in Windows Phone 8.1 specifically designed for low-end phones in order to make the OS more appealing to emerging markets, as well as dropping the price of Windows to OEMs who wish to incorporate the OS.

At first glance it would seem that Microsoft's most logical course of action is to simply kill off the 'X' line once the acquisition finalises. Nokia's engineers and designers can focus wholly on Windows Phone, adding services and features that are not currently available, creating a better experience for users, and by extension making the OS more attractive.

However, the 'X' line could potentially catch: Nokia's hardware is attractive and Android offers services and apps that are not available on Windows Phone currently. Nokia's Android "fork" even looks like Windows Phone, with a tile-based design as well as other nods to Microsoft's design vision. Those who have seen the Nokia X have said it is similar in almost every way to the Nokia Lumia 520, and it's unlikely the average consumer will look too closely when purchasing.

Android experimentation

Indeed, Microsoft could actually benefit from Nokia's experimentation with Android, especially as all profits from device sales of the 'X' range go to Microsoft without having to spend money on building the features Android has and Windows Phone lacks.

And there is the little fact that Microsoft actually makes money from Android due to patents, so in some ways the link up is beneficial to both companies.

The nice hardware and funky colours of the 'X' range combined with a distinctive operating system and low price could create a market winner, all without Microsoft writing a single additional line of code for Windows Phone. Jumping into bed with Google is unlikely to please Microsoft executives, but the deal benefits them more than it benefits Google.

Nokia described the 'X' range as a phone of "Android platform, Nokia experience and Microsoft services" and in a world where Microsoft's services are it's future, having hardware that supports that is no bad thing.

There's clearly a lot to be liked about the new Samsung Galaxy S5 - a phone that the Korean company was quick to tell us has been built to answer some of the complaints about 'eye-popping' gimmicky innovation that beset its predecessor.

But, for those of you who were wondering just why Samsung chose to eschew a solo show for its Unpacked unveil, instead offering up a sister event to Mobile World Congress, the S5 provided the answer.

This is a solid device - better camera, bigger battery, waterproof - but if you were to use the brand new pulse monitor on those assembled in the audience I think you'd soon find the real issue.

It's just not all that inspirational.

Gimmick

Let's put this in context - I was quick to roll my eyes at some of the crazy innovations that were thrust at the Galaxy S4 last time around. And those that own an S4 know that rolling your eyes at the device gets you in all kinds of trouble,

But I did appreciate the effort; for every cynical guffaw coming from the assembled journalists there is a genuine nod of gratitude that the company is at least trying something .

Nobody wants a curved television, for instance, but when you see that curvy tech appearing in the far more interesting Gear Fit band it makes you appreciate the innovation that is going on.

A bigger battery and a better camera are nice - but they aren't especially interesting. Sony beat Samsung to the punch on waterproof a significant time ago, and Knox is the recycling of phone tech - we all know it's worthy and we should do it but the less we have to think about it the better.

You could argue that the real excitement was in the companion devices, but even though the fitness wearable is fast becoming a 'thing' in tech, it's clearly not something that is going to be propping up Samsung's profit margin for some time.

Greatest?

Even as I write this, a few hours after the big reveal some media is asking if this is the greatest smartphone of all time.

And maybe it is. Right now - ahead of the iPhone 6 and new HTC One. It's a long jumper adding an extra millimetre to their personal best, with the two biggest rivals looking gleefully on and strapping on their running spikes.

It's a skier putting in a perfectly competent safe run to take an early lead, fully in the knowledge that he can go harder next time but it's a good idea to get a safe marker down early on.

It's solid, not spectacular: I'm not underwhelmed, but I'm not overwhelmed - which I suppose makes me merely whelmed. And that's a shame from a company that is perfectly capable of blowing us all away.

If you're after an octa-core phone and you don't fancy shelling out Samsung or HTC money, new player Kazam might have the answer.

It's launching two octa-core Android handsets over at MWC 2014, the Kazam Tornado 2 5.5 and the Tornado 2 5.0.

The top-end Tornado 2 5.5 comes with a 1.7Ghz octa-core processor, a 5.5-inch IPS touchscreen and a 13MP camera on the back, 5MP on the front.

Twister

If the Tornado 2 5.5 is a Twinkie, then the 5.0 is a Twinkie with a bite taken out of it: its specs are much the same other than a smaller screen size (5-inches) and the cameras both take a dive to 8MP on the back and 2MP on the front.

Strangely, Kazam has decided to launch its highest-spec handsets with Android 4.2 - that's not even the latest version of Jelly Bean, let alone Kitkat.

It was a while since we heard anything from Kazam, the mobile-phone making upstart that promised to shake up the phone market in November 2013 before disappearing completely.

But earlier this month it confirmed that its range of Android handsets would be hitting the UK in Q2 - that's sometime between April and June.

There's no detailed release information for the two Tornadoes just yet, other than that they will go on sale across Europe.

If you do decide to invest in a Kazam phone, it leaves you only one question to consider: who you gonna call?

• We ain't afraid of no MWC 2014 - find out what's going down in Barcelona here

Canadian smartphone manufacturer Blackberry isn't quitting the handset game just yet with the introduction of not one, but two new devices at MWC 2014 in Barcelona.

The headlining handset in the Blackberry Q20, a phone which CEO John Chen likes to call "the classic", as it harks back to the design of the firm's popular Bold range.

It brings back the "belt" (including a small trackpad and hard nav keys) above the QWERTY keyboard, a feature Chen revealed users were disappointed not to see on the Q10.

The Blackberry Q20 has a 3.5-inch display, a strong business focus (there may be some consumer appeal too) and will arrive alongside the new BES 12 enterprise system towards the end of the 2014.

BES 12 expands device integration across various platforms; Blackberry 10, BB OS7, iOS, Android and now Windows Phone.

Jakarta = Z3

The much rumoured Jakarta handset has also been confirmed as the 5-inch Blackberry Z3, with a release date set for April in Indonesia and then a further rollout in the rest of South East Asia after that.

Initially the fully touchscreen Z3 will arrive as a 3G device and sport a price tag of under $200, however Blackberry plans to move a 4G variant into wider markets later this year.

Developing...