https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwJmthxJV5Q
Welcome to the new Nokia. Just moments ago, the Finnish company, which finalised the sale of its Devices and Services division to Microsoft recently, has unveiled its first product as the new Nokia: the N1 Android tablet.
Technically, the N1 tablet isn’t even a Nokia product. Under the terms of its devices division sale to Microsoft, the Finnish company is not allowed to produce a competing handset until 2016. With the N1, Nokia went one step further: OEM giants Foxconn is licensing the Nokia brand, its industrial design as well as the Nokia Z launcher software to develop the N1.
Now on to the device itself. At first glance, you could be forgiven to call it an iPad mini, because the N1 really does look like Apple’s little tablet. The N1 tablet sports a similar metallic chassis that has the same button, speaker grille, headphone jack and even camera sensor layout as the iPad mini. The similarities don’t end there, however. The N1 tablet packs a 7.9-inch 2048 x 1536 resolution IPS display with Gorilla Glass 3, and is made from a single piece of anodised aluminium.
But, this being a proud Nokia product, the N1 tablet injects some of Nokia’s flair for industrial design. Take for instance, the use of the USB Type C connector. The next-generation reversible USB standard has been in development for some time now, and now it appears Nokia’s new tablet will be the first device to sport it. The N1 tablet is also thinner (6.9mm) and lighter (318g) than the iPad mini, while the screen is also fully laminated, eliminating unnecessary reflectivity. On the software side, the company’s Z Launcher for Android runs on top of stock Android 5.0 Lollipop, Google’s latest iteration of the Android operating system.
Inside, the N1 tablet runs on a 64-bit Intel Z3580 Moorefield 2.3GHz quad-core processor, PowerVR G6430 GPU, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Taking care of imaging is a 8MP rear camera and a 5MP fixed-focus front-facing camera. All told, this is actually a pretty decent Android tablet considering the retail price.
The Nokia N1 tablet is set to debut in China first – in time for the 2015 Chinese New Year, no less – for $249 (about RM840). That’s about the same as the other iPad mini-lookalike, the Xiaomi Mi Pad. After China, the N1 tablet will then enter the Russian and other European markets. At this point, it is far too early to tell if this device is set for a large-scale release.
For more information on the N1 tablet, head on to Nokia’s minisite here.
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