Nokia X Analyser is a free offering from Nokia that analyses Android app and lets you know if Android app will work properly with Nokia X platform. If the app is not compatible, it tells you exactly what do you need to fix to make Android app compatible with Nokia X platform. The best part is that Nokia X Analyser is completely free. It is web based and doesn’t even require you to have Nokia Developer account. You just need to upload apk file of your Android app and it will immediately show compatibility report.
Nokia X is a new platform from Nokia, that is highly customized version of Android. This platform supports most of Android apps out of the box (around 75% apps), but introduces some significant changes that will make many apps incompatible. The biggest changes are non-availability of some core Google services like Google Maps, Google Cloud Messaging, and Google in-app billing. In addition, same Amazon services (Amazon maps, Amazon device messaging, and Amazon in-app purchasing) are not supported too. So, if there is a Android app that uses these services, it will not perform properly on Nokia X (you might still be able to install it, depending on how heavily the app uses these services).
So, if you an App developer eager to make your app available for Nokia X platform, it makes sense to test the app using Nokia X Analyser.
How to Test Android App For Compatibility With Nokia X:
First you need to ensure you have apk file of the Android app that you are trying to test. If you are the developer, it won’t be a problem. If you are trying to test some other app, there are various websites to download Android apk files.
Now, go to Nokia X Analyser homepage, and just upload your apk file. As I mentioned earlier, you do not need to register or anything. It will immediately start uploading apk file.
The upload time will of course depend on your internet speed. Once uploaded, it will almost immediately show compatibility report that shows what parts of your app are incompatible with Nokia X platform.
As you can see above, it shows exactly which APIs have issues. The best part is that you can click on “+” sign to see the exact piece of code that has conflict. It also shows what can you replace that code with, to remove that incompatibility.
Finally, it shows options to email the report, or to just go ahead and submit the app to Nokia X store (you need to have Nokia Developer account for that).
My Opinion About Nokia X Analyser:
I am pretty excited with Nokia X platform, and hoping to get my hands on one of the devices soon. The fact that Nokia has combined best of Google, Microsoft, and Nokia to come up with this platform is pretty cool. I wish all the Android apps were compatible with Nokia X out of the box; but I do understand why this incompatibility was difficult to avoid. The fact that Nokia has launched this Nokia X Analyser so quickly, and have made it darn easy to use, shows they want to get as many apps compatible with Nokia X platform as possible.
If you are an app developer, I strongly recommend testing your app with this.