The only things missing here to complete the iPad mini look are a home button, chamfered edges, and an Apple logo. There’s even "Natural Aluminum" and "Lava Grey" color schemes, and a cover that looks suspiciously similar to Apple’s Smart Case. Nokia's own N1 website also looks like it's straight from Apple.com. Other specifications include a 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3580 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. Nokia’s N1 also has an 8-megapixel camera at the rear, and a 5-megapixel version at the front.
"We started looking around, we just didn’t find any good Android tablets out there," says Brook Eaton, director for Nokia’s Z Launcher. "We have such a beautiful, simple, and elegant Z Launcher. Why not build a device that is also built on the same principles as being super simple and easy to use and elegant?" That’s essentially what Nokia has done to showcase its app. While Z Launcher is available on Android phones and launches in the Google Play Store today, the tablet version is exclusive to the Nokia N1.
Nokia is partnering with Foxconn to build the N1, licensing the industrial design, Nokia brand, and Z Launcher software to the device maker. That’s not a surprise move given the company’s clear intentions to enable third parties to build products with the Nokia brand, but it does mean Nokia doesn’t own all the manufacturing or sales of the device. The company is now planning to launch the Nokia N1 in China for $249 (before taxes) around the time of Chinese New Year (February 19th), and it will roll out to Russia and select European countries after the Chinese release. That's an impressive and aggressive price point against Apple's $399 for the latest iPad mini 3 or even the $299 price of the iPad mini 2. Nokia's pricing will be key to how well the device is received when it launches next year.