Nokia may have relinquished control of the Lumia brand, but it’s far from giving up on hardware. It’s just announced the new N1: $US250 Android tablet.
The 7.9-inch tablet has a frame, milled from a single lump of aluminium. Measuring 6.9mm thick it weighs 318g. If you think it looks rather a lot like an iPad Mini, you… you wouldn’t be alone. Elsewhere on the outside are 8-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front cameras, a twin set of speakers, and a reversible USB Type C port. Yup, no micro-USB here — instead, the latest USB connection that doesn’t care which way round your cable gets plugged in. In fact, it’s one of the first devices we’ve seen to sport the connection.
Inside, there’s a 64-bit 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3580 paired with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The screen offers up a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. It runs Android 5.0, but Nokia has decided to add its Z Launcher over the top. In beta development for a while, the software keeps check on your app use and other beahvior, and creates a list of common actions and software on your home screen so you can find them easily. It also lets you scrawl letters on-screen with your finger, to find things that haven’t made the list. Not for everyone, perhaps, but it does at least differentiate the tablet from the slew of other Android slates you can buy.
The tablet will initially go on sale in China in time for Chinese New Year — that’s February 19 of next year — costing $US250. Subsequently it will roll out in Russia and Europe, and then hopefully Australia and US later on. [Nokia]
