Nokia N1 Tablet

Nokia on Tuesday announced the N1 Android tablet, the first offering under its own brand since Microsoft's acquisition of its mobile phone business.

The N1, slated for Q1 2015 release in China, will be made by Foxconn, which also will handle sales and distribution.

"There are two Nokias now, the cellphone unit, which Microsoft bought, and the networking unit, which this [N1] announcement seems to have come out of," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

Microsoft is migrating away from the Nokia name, having just brought out the Microsoft Lumia 535, the first Lumia associated with its own name, and "my understanding is that [it] won't be releasing any more Nokia-branded tablets," Enderle told the E-Commerce Times.

The Lumia 2520 may not have sold well in China, where prices are "far lower" on the average, Enderle pointed out, so "these are very different products at very different prices, and I wouldn't expect to see the 2520 in the market any more when the N1 is launched."

Under the N1's Hood

The N1 has a one-piece aluminum body with a sandblasted soft finish. It has a 2.4 GHz 64-bit Intel Atom quad-core processor and runs Android Lollipop.

The 7.9-inch Gorilla Glass 3 display has an IPS panel with LED backlighting and 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution. It is fully laminated.

The N1 has an 8-MP rear-facing camera with autofocus and a 5-MP front-facing fixed-focus camera. It can record 1080p HD video.

It has a micro-USB 2.0 port with a Type C reversible connector, two 0.5 W stereo speakers, and a 6-axis combination gyroscope and accelerometer. It supports WiFi and Bluetooth.

The N1 also has the Nokia Z Launcher, a home screen that lets users scribble a letter with their finger to find what they want. This adapts to the user's location and actions and appears to be self-learning.

Some media reports have likened the N1's design to that of the iPad mini, which is "not surprising ... since there are few available design parameters that consumers find acceptable, and the iPad mini has proven to be acceptable," said Wally Swain, a senior vice president at451 Research.