Nokia Lives!! – The Nokia N1 Tablet

Nokia N1

Former mobile phone giants, Nokia, have risen from the ashes of their demise in the mobile phone industry with their latest product, and surprise to everyone, the Nokia N1 Tablet.

Running a Nokia branded version of Android, the Nokia N1 looks to ship in China at the beginning of the year with the rest of the world to follow soon after.

Surprise announcement

This announcement caught many by surprise, mainly because it was assumed that Nokia were leaving the consumer products market all together. Least expected of them was to a launch a device that puts them in competition with the company who are responsible for there being no more new Nokia phones, Microsoft.

Nokia are not manufacturing the device themselves, instead opting to license out their name and design to a third party and having the controversial Foxconn plant taking over manufacture.

“This is a great product for Nokia fans and everyone who has not found the right Android tablet yet,”

-Sebastian Nystrom, Head of products at Nokia Technologies

Unusual Competition

A unique issue for the Finnish company is that it’s device will be competing with the Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet. Yes that’s correct, they are competing with another Nokia tablet. One, however, that they have nothing to do with. This is due to Microsoft having the rights to use it’s name on Lumia products for the next 10 years.

Controversy

It is possible that this announcement will speed up the defocus that Microsoft were planning with their own Nokia products. Where they wanted the brand to go quietly into the night, this announcement will make that much more difficult and perhaps quicken their steps to pull the plug completely on their Nokia branded products.

Specs

The Nokia N1 is a 7.9in aluminium-framed tablet, and takes its design cues from the iPad mini.

Powered by Google’s latest stock Android 5.0 operating system with Nokia’s Z launcher skin over it (which allows you to perform functions by drawing on the screen), the Nokia N1 features an Intel Atom processor and has a Micro-USB slot. Expected to retail at £159 when it launches in 2015