Nokia N1 officially announced, an Android tablet priced at $249

Nokia has been teasing something inside a mysterious black box, hinting that they were up to something. Now the company has revealed their big secret, the Nokia N1 - a compact, stylish and inexpensive Android tablet.

Hardware

The Nokia N1 tablet is designed by Nokia but will be manufactured by Foxconn, an OEM known for building Apple's iPhone and iPad. Nokia will be receiving licensing fees for the use of its brand name. Nokia Technologies president, Ramzi Haidamus introduced the Nokia N1, to be as good as the iPad mini, but a lower price point. During the announcement, Nokia pointed out that the lack of sharp corners make the device comfortable to hold even for prolonged periods of time.

The Nokia N1 is a sleek, aluminum-made device which is just 6.9 millimeters thick and weighs just 318 grams. The device is both slimmer and lighter that the iPad mini 3.  The anodized, one-piece aluminum body of the N1 is treated to a Natural Aluminum or Lava Gray finish. On the tablet's bottom you'll find a reversible USB 2.0 connector (type C).

The front of the device is graced by a 7.9 inch IPS LCD display with a 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution and a 4:3 aspect ratio. The specs in case you are wondering are nearly identical to the iPad mini 3. The fully laminated, zero air-gap screen is protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass 3.

On the rear you will find an 8 megapixel autofocus camera capable of 1080p video capture, and a 5 megapixel front-facing camera for video calls.You also get 32GB of internal storage, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac at 2.4 and 5GHz and MIMO antennas for better reception.The device also comes with a pair of 0.5W stereo speakers with a Wolfson WM8958E codec. The Nokia N1 has a 5300mAh (18.5 Wh) Lithium Polymer battery which should perform quite well. The tablet is powered by a 2.3GHz 64-bit Atom Z3580 processor, with PowerVR G6430 graphics and 2GB of RAM.

Unfortunately there are no cellular connectivity options, nor is their GPS connectivity, which is a shame given Nokia's association with HERE navigation.

Software

The Nokia N1 will ship with Android 5.0 Lollipop, which has been modified with the Nokia Z Launcher. The software experience on the N1 simplifies the process of finding your apps by letting you scribble its name onto the screen. 

On top of that, the Nokia Z launcher takes the time of the day and the user's location into account to bring relevant applications at the user's fingertips. For example, entertainment apps are suggested in the evening, when the user is at home, while productivity apps are prioritized at the office.

You download the beta version of Nokia Z Launcher for Android right now from the Google Play Store and try it out.

Pricing and Availability

Nokia is planning on launching the slate in China, early next year for a price around $249 before taxes. Nokia has the "anticipation of expanding sales" to other parts of the world, but further availability details remain unclear for now.

source - Nokia