After selling their mobile devices division to Microsoft earlier this year, Nokia has been hard at work building out their other revenue streams such as their established LTE radios division, Here Maps service and dabbling in Android with their Z Launcher. But tonight, Nokia has stepped further into the Android eco-system, by neatly skirting the ban on producing smartphones and launching the Nokia N1, an Android based tablet.
The N1 signals the return for the Finnish company to consumer devices, announcing the N1 during the Slush 2014 conference in Finland. While the sale of the mobile devices division to Microsoft prevents them from releasing any new smartphones for around 3-5 years, tablets are apparently a different story entirely – hence, the N1.
The N1 tablet shows some of the design flair that Nokia has shown in the past, although there’s already many comparisons to the iPad Mini floating around based on the design and the size. Nokia has the distinction of being one of the first companies to announce an Android tablet running Android 5.0 (Lollipop) straight out of the box. But it won’t be all stock Android, with Nokia planning to pre-install their home-brew Z Launcher on the tablet.
Hardware wise, the N1 is premium all the way, featuring an anodized aluminium housing with a 7.9″ IPS display and a 64-bit quad-core Intel Atom Z3580 processor clocked at 2.4GHz. It also features 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Power wise, Nokia has announced that the N1 contains a 5,300 mAh battery, which will provide up to 9 hours of usage on a single charge.
The N1 will also be one of the first tablets to feature the universal insertion 2.0 USB C-type port. Announced earlier this year, the USB C-type port will accept a USB cable no matter which way it’s inserted. No more attempting to plug that microUSB cable in three times before it goes in anymore.
The Nokia N1 will run stock Android 5.0 (Lollipop) but will ship with a special tablet version of the Z Launcher app that is exclusive to the N1. The company has advised that Z Launcher won’t be locked, with user able to install other launchers if they choose to do so.
Nokia will release the N1 this coming February after the Chinese New Year, launching first in China, where it’s expected to cost about US$249. It will then launch the tablet in Russia and several European markets in the following months. Retail availability is expected to be limited, with Nokia not announcing any plans to launch the tablet anywhere else at this time. We will be reaching out to Nokia for comment to find out if and when the Nokia N1 will be available here.
Update:
According to GigaOm, the Nokia N1 will actually ship with Google Apps – so there’s great news there if you were looking forward to this tablet. You’ll get all the usual Google Apps most likely bundled in the new configuration which includes ‘Google’, ‘Create’ and ‘Play’ folders on the home screen, including the Google Play Store.
Update 2:
Want to try out Z Launcher and found it’s US-only? Try downloading the APK, we simply downloaded it straight from the Play Store as we outlined in our How-To guide. You can download it directly from here.:
4 batches sold out. next batch is feb 28.
selling for 1600 RMB. which equates to about AUD350.
I always wished that Nokia had made Android phones, I used to love Nokia phones and would have stuck with them if they had created mildly skinned (or near “vanilla”) Android phones (with access to the Google Play Store). The X and XL don’t really count in my opinion, they are too heavily skinned, and have made Android barely recognisable… It’s such a shame the Nokia phone division was absorbed by Microsoft… Anyway, this N1 tablet device looks amazing! Depending on the AUD price, If it truly runs “vanilla” Android 5.0 Lollipop, and includes the Google Play Store, I will… Read more »
This tablet looks perfect for my needs.
The N9 is too large and heavy for my usage – but this Nokia product is smaller and much lighter, whilst being a step up in everything from my 2013 Nexus 7 – which is beginning to have problems playing graphically intense games on its underclocked Snapdragon 600.
Whack the Google Now Launcher on this and bingo – a pseudo Nexus 8.
How do I get the z launcher on my Samsung note?
Try this link to the APK https://www.dropbox.com/s/hzf3n7dkdytckgl/com.nokia.z.apk?dl=0
Sorry no google apps as it’s not certified by google (like the kindles) so u would to root it and flash google apps
Does a device need to be rooted to install the Google apps suite?
yes you need root access to flash
Righto. I was thinking you could just sideload but then again, stuff like Play Services needs to hook itself pretty deep into the OS.
Nice looking tablet. I’m not seeing any Google apps or the Play Store, which is a concern. There should be a bunch of Google apps in a folder on the home screen if Nokia are doing it properly. Anyway, early days, we’ll see more soon I suspect.
looks like ipad and the speaker grill is at the bottom just like ipad lets hope it sells well if it ever reaches australia shore
Good luck to Nokia, very sad regarding their mobile division.
If only they did this sooner.
Great that Nokia are making tablets now. I’m sure the quality will be great. Do these have micro SD?
The battery life seems sub par for this size of screen and battery, don’t you think?
The battery size/capacity seems about standard for this type of device. Do you have info about the battery life or did you just mean size/capacity?
The only info regarding the battery is what they have released and is within the post. Will have to wait and see if we can find out more closer to launch day
No info regarding if the N1 will carry a MicroSD card slot. Will have to wait and see what more info comes before and after launch day next year sadly