Microsoft may have taken over Nokia’s smartphone division, but these days Microsoft isn’t using the Nokia name on its phones anymore… and the Finnish company is branching out in new directions.

Nokia doesn’t make smartphone phones anymore, but the company just introduced an Android tablet.

The Nokia N1 is an iPad mini-sized tablet with a 2048 x 1536 pixel display, an Intel Atom processor, and a $249 price tag.

nokia n1_03

The tablet is powered by a 2.3 GHz Intel Atom Z3580 quad-core, 64-bit Moorefield processor with PowerVR G6430 graphics, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of eMMC 5.0 storage. It has an 18.5 Wh, 5300mAh battery, an 8MP rear camera and a 5MP front-facing camera.

Nokia’s tablet will be one of the first to ship with a reversible micro USB connector — although it’ll be a USB 2.9 connector rather than USB 3.1. The tablet supports 802.11ac dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0.

The tablet has stereo speakers, a 3.5mm audio jack, an IPS display with a 4:3 aspect ratio, and the Nokia N1 has an aluminum unibody case that measures 7.9″ x 5.5″ x 0.27″ and weighs 11.2 ounces.

Nokia’s new tablet runs Google Android 5.0 Lollipop software, but it features Nokia’s Z Launcher app which supports gesture-based navigation such as writing letters on the screen with your fingers.

In fact, a big part of the reason Nokia launched its own tablet is to highlight the Z Launcher app, which launched in beta earlier this year and which Nokia is making available through the Google Play Store. That means you don’t need a Nokia tablet to use the Z Launcher, but the Nokia N1 certainly has pretty great specs for the price… assuming you want a tablet designed to showcase Nokia software.

nokia n1_08

Nokia hasn’t said whether its first Android tablet is a Google certified device… but in the pictures Nokia has released, you can see the tablet can run popular apps including Facebook, Spotify, Firefox and WhatsApp… but I don’t see any mention of the Google Play Store, Chrome, or Gmail.

The tablet will launch in China early next year before rolling out to additional countries. It’s not unusual for devices to lack Google services in China, while international versions of those devices do feature the Play Store and other Google apps. Hopefully that’s what’s happening here, but we might not know for certain for a while.

Update: Nokia and Intel tell GigaOm and Android Police that the tablet will come with the Google Play Store… in markets where Google Play is available. In other words, there’s a good chance the Chinese version of the tablet won’t have Google Mobile Services, and since the Nokia N1 is launching first in China, that helps explain why there’s no Play Store in the promo images at this point. But if and when the tablet makes it to the US, Europe, and other regions it should have Google’s apps and services.

If the Nokia N1 proves successful it’s possible we could see more consumer devices from Nokia in the future… the company’s agreement with Microsoft only prohibits Nokia from launching phones through the end of 2015.

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22 replies on “Nokia N1 is a 7.9 inch, 64-bit, Android 5.0 tablet for $249”

  2. Samsung Galaxy phone looks nothing like the iPhone. Yet Apple goes after them. This thing looks like the iPad Mini 3 without the chamfered (or more like a mix of iPad Mini and iPhone 6) edge… and my guess is Apple is not going to move a butt hair.

  3. Mipad (7,9”, 2k display, Tegra K1 /w sdcard) seems more than evenly matched for the N1. Especially if starting first in china. Especially with the strong Mi brand it will be a tough sell. Here in Europe however things are different. Xiaomi has little brand value here and although inferior Nokia can archieve a good host of success especially typical options are XperiaZ’s, Samsung ProTab’s and the newly released Nexus9 of whom i think Nokia’s has a good card put onto table. Why however did the omit the sdcard slot? Is that to be a selling factor? As a struggling company one should go the save route.

  4. But what asian company is interested in licensing Nokia tablet concept?!
    I believe this will also be a dead-end for Nokia!

  6. I was instantly interested – but see two shortcomings for my uses. No micro SD port – which I could live without. But no HDMI either. That makes the more expensive Nvidia Shield Tablet and Nexus 9 better values for me.

    1. The Nexus9 has no sdcard slot eighter. HDMI is a non must nowadays. Miracast can bridge the gap especially if ac wifi is given (as the N1 seemingly has). So it competes well versus the Nexus which is far more expensive but just can offer a better processor.

  7. I’m new to Tablets & am considering one soon, how does the chip in this compare to the Tegra K1 64-bit?

    2. Slightly inferior like 80% cpu-performance wise. And about 50% of the gpu-performance.

  8. I really like the mini-c connector. This one is only USB 2.0. I am presently working on the high-speed part of the USB 3.1 c-type connector. It has 2 USB 2.0 lanes, and has high speed lanes that can be configured as two USB 3.1 (10gig), two 3.0 (5gig), one 3.1 and one 3.0, or 1/2/4 display port lanes. I believe this c-type just has the high speed pins omitted, and a MUX to allow only one USB 2.0 connection.
    https://www.usb.org/developers/docs/

    1. Oh that’s too bad. When I read it the first thing I wondered was whether it was an actual hardware difference or if it might be upgraded in spec via software later on.
      Though honestly I suppose on a device like this it wouldn’t really make all that much practical difference to me. It’d be extremely rare that I’d be moving a lot of data on/off the device via the port. Meanwhile I would be able to plug it in to charge any which way. Probably add a year to my life. 😉

  9. Okay so was this designed and produced BY Nokia or is it just another re-badge intended to keep the name out there?

    1. I was wondering the same. I thought recently an Interview with a Nokia muckety-muck said they might license the name but wouldn’t be building their own hardware in the near term.
      Also, the part Redmond purchased included the manufacturing which did all their previous phones/tablets, of course.
      In any event from other articles this thing sounds very well built. Apparently the case it honed from a single block of aluminum. Will be very interested to see reviews when it hits.
      I’ll take a look at it when it comes. Especially if the Nokia software can be easily swapped for a more standard launcher if I prefer. Of course that assumes it will be Google certified when it hits the US. Otherwise, not interested.
      I bet if the new Nexus tablet had similar specs/pricing the Android crowd would be jumping up and down about it right now – as opposed to the lukewarm reception the N9 has received.

      1. Those specs look pretty good, especially for the price, but I personally am a bit wary of any Android device not running on ARM. I’d hate to wind up missing important apps or games.

        1. hdmi would be great. And SD card would be nice too.
          The one thing after looking at this and the release date is the hardware might be on the aged side. I bet Intel with have Cherry Trail out or about to be out when this thing hits. Definitely so by the time it ever gets to the US from the roadmap stated.

    2. I’m afraid the latter is the case. Sebastian Nystrom, Nokias Head of Products told Reuters that the Tablet was 100% designed by Foxconn in house and the Nokia name was only licensed for brand recognition. Foxconn is obviously also producing the Tablet and intended it primarily for sale on the Chinese Market. Ultimatly Nokia had only very limited input on wether they deemed the specs not too low to damage the brand with low end crap, but beyond that it was an entirely “hands off, gimme money for the name” type of partnership.

      1. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take “briefly glanced at by Nokia QC” over “fresh off the line from factory #26489753 in Shenzhen” any day.

        1. yeah, see…the problem lies in the “i’ll take” part. It’s a chinese made tablet, for the chinese market, even though the article talks about “when it comes to the US/EU”, it’s still nowhere to be found at least in the EU 6 months later.

          If i have to import this thing from china and basically waive the waranty anyway, it doesn’t matter if there is a nokia logo on it or not, the only thing that does is make it more expensive, not higher quality than any other whitebox china tablet.

          1. You make a very good point about the warranty, but in my experience products “vetted” by brand names are, on the whole, significantly more reliable than your average whitebox devices.

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