Nokia Returns to Devices With N1 Tablet

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The Nokia Devices & Services division might belong to Microsoft, but that doesn't mean the Finnish company can no longer make hardware-- such as the just announced N1, a Nokia-branded Android tablet reminiscent of the iPod mini.

Nokia N1How reminiscent? It is a 7.9-inch device featuring a rounded chassis crafted out of a single block of aluminium. In other words, very much.

Inside are a 64-bit 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3580 CPU, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage and 8MP rear-/5MP front-facing cameras. Connectivity comes through wifi and a reversible USB Type-C port.

The OS is Android 5.0 as reskinned with Z Launcher, a Nokia Technologies pet project turned actual product. In fact Android device owners can also download and check it out from the Google Play app store.

Tellingly the N1 surfaced mere weeks after Microsoft dumped the Nokia brand in favour of, well, the Microsoft name. Following that announcement, at its capital markets day, Nokia outlined plans to leverage on the brand, licensing it in areas other than smartphones (the name technically still belongs to Microsoft, at least until 2016).

Thus the N1 is actually the result of a first brand licensing deal with Taiwan's Foxconn.

"We have a very valuable brand," Nokia president Ramzi Haidamus says. "Yes it is diminishing in value, and that’s why it is important that we reverse that trend very quickly, imminently."

Will the N1 manage to reignite consumer awareness on the Nokia name? We will know once it launches in China on Q1 2015, before eventual release in Russia and select European markets.

Go Nokia N1

Go Nokia Capital Markets Day 2014