The King is dead, long live the King! Don’t call it a comback, I’ve been here for years! The more things change, the more they stay the same!
Yesterday, Nokia teased the entire Tech world with an image of a black box and the cryptic message “We’re up to something” and today’s date. Though Nokia sold their handset division to Microsoft for $7.2 Billion early this year, one thing is clear blatantly clear; Nokia was never out of the mobile device business. Insert your preferred Comeback Kid cliché here________.
Presenting the Nokia N1 Android Tablet
Nokia has revealed its Nokia N1 Android tablet today (barely after all the re branding of Nokia Lumia Devices occurred). Designed eerily like the Apple iPad Mini, the Nokia N1 Android tablet has all the hallmarks of the classic Nokia design. A 7.9 inch bonded Gorilla glass IPS screen that tapers into the solid aluminium frame. The resolution of the screen is 2048 x 1536 in the now popular 4:3 ratio. The frame of the tablet measures only 6.9 mm thick, 220.7 mm tall and 138.6 mm wide and weighs 318 g. The N1 has the same rounded edges as the iPad mini, as well as the dual speaker grill oalong its bottom edge. The N1 is the first device to have the reversible USB 2.0 Type C connector. The first Nokia android tablet sports a 8MP rear camera with auto focus and a 5MP front facing camera (fixed focus).
An Intel 64 Bit Atom Z3580 processor running at 2.3GhZ powers the Android Lollipop operating system on the N1. With 2GB RAM and internal storage at 32Gb as well as PowerVR 533mhz Graphics chip, the N1 has more than enough muscle to run Android smoothly. A large 5300 mAh battery , six axis gyroscope, dual speakers, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac dual channel Wifi and Blue Tooth 4.o finish up the specs of the N1.
Nokia gave the N1 tablet one exclusive trick. A custom designed version of its Z launcher app. This app uses gestures to launch apps, search for content and adapts to the user over time. As you scribble the first letters of the app you are looking for, the Z launcher filters all your apps to the one you want to open.
Availability and Price
As Nokia sold all its manufacturing assets to Microsoft, the N1 table will be manufactured by Foxconn. Nokia has also set the price of N1 at an aggressive $249 (before taxes and subsidizes). This is 37 % cheaper than the iPad 3 mini. The N1 will be available first to the Chinese market in late February 2015 with select European countries targeted next. This design, specs and Nokia brand name coupled with the Android Operating system could be a major thorn in Apple’s side.
What Happens To The Microsoft – Nokia Relationship Now?
The Nokia N1 has spawned so many more questions rather than answers. When did the work on the N1 start? Was it an answer to Microsoft canning the Nokia X project? Will Nokia build Android phones after the exclusive handset deal expires in 2016? Will Microsoft counter with a Surface mini ?
So while we sit back and let this mind blowing news marinate and percolate in our brains, we are glad to know that the Nokia brand invokes so many fond memories for many of us, will not fade into the sunset.
Source: Nokia N1 Website
