What looks like Apple’s iPad Mini, but has better specs, is considerably cheaper, and runs a stock version of Android 5.0 Lollipop? The new Nokia N1 tablet, apparently. At just $250 with 32GB of storage — as opposed to the iPad Mini 3’s base price of $400 for the 16GB model — the Nokia N1 is definitely priced to sell.
Just yesterday, Nokia — as in the networking equipment company that wasn’t acquired by Microsoft — announced that it would be licensing the Nokia name to device makers. Today, it seems Chinese electronics giant Foxconn is the first company to take up that offer with the Nokia N1 Android tablet.
The Nokia N1 bears a striking resemblance to the iPad Mini. It has the same 7.9-inch 2048×1536 screen, the same bezels, the same anodized aluminium unibody chassis, and very similar camera, button, and headphone jack placement. Even the bottom of the N1 looks like an iPad Mini, with two speaker grilles flanking a small, central port. (Incidentally, that port on the bottom of the N1 is one of the first reversible USB Type-C connectors, not Apple’s Lightning connector.)
There’s also no home button, nor any chamfered edges — but curiously, the N1 is slightly lighter (318 grams vs. 331 grams) and thinner (6.9 mm vs. 7.5 mm) than the iPad Mini 3. In terms of raw hardware specs, the Nokia N1 and Apple’s iPad Mini 3 are fairly similar. The N1 is powered by a quad-core Intel Atom Z3580 SoC (Bay Trail/Moorefield) which should compare favorably with the iPad Mini’s A7 SoC, or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 805. The N1 has an 8-megapixel camera on the back, vs. 5MP for the iPad Mini 3 — and its WiFi goes up to 802.11ac, rather than the Mini’s rather ghetto 802.11n. The iPad Mini 3 does have a larger battery than the N1, however. We have no idea how these spec differences will play out in practice, of course, but on paper at least the Nokia N1 is pretty hot — especially priced at $250, some $150 cheaper than the iPad Mini 3.
Other than price, the main difference is that the Nokia/Foxconn N1 runs a stock version ofAndroid 5.0 Lollipop — stock, that is, except for the inclusion of Nokia’s newfangled Z Launcher app. Z Launcher, according to Nokia, is a very simple app launcher that “adapts to you.” It shows the apps that you’re likely to open — and for other apps, you can “scribble” the app’s first letter on the screen (“u” would bring up Uber, “i” would bring up Instagram, etc.) The launcher is available on Google Play today for Android smartphones, but for tablets it’s exclusive to the Nokia N1 (it’s meant to be a sweetener).
The Android tablet space is an interesting one. On the one hand, the Galaxy Note line of tablets and phablets has been well received — and of course, Amazon’s cheap-and-cheerful Kindle Fire tablets appear to sell quite well. On the other hand, though, Android tablets clearly aren’t a hit in the same way as the iPad and iPad Mini. The Android tablet market has always given off a slight air of immaturity, probably because there has never been a stand-out device that has inspired users and developers to take the segment seriously. Maybe the N1, with stock Android 5.0, is that tablet?
The Nokia N1 vs. iPad Mini 3. I removed the branding, just so you can see how similar they are.
Nokia N1 tablet: Even the product photography is a homage to Apple
The Nokia N1 will go on sale in China in or around February 2015, priced at around $250 (before taxes). It will then roll out to some countries in Europe and Russia. No word on whether it’s coming to the US — but given now the Nokia brand is much more recognizable/valuable on that side of the Atlantic, I wouldn’t be surprised if the US has to wait a long time.
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