Nokia launches new Android tablet N1

Microsoft may have taken Nokia's name off the Lumia series smartphone, but that doesn't mean the company is quite ready to kick the bucket yet. 

Nokia realeased a new device yesterday, after teasing a mysterious black box on Twitter, with #thinkingahead. Enter the N1, Nokia's new Android-based tablet. At just 6.9 mm thick, and weighing 318 grams, the N1 is the sleekest tablet yet. A 7.9 inch screen with Gorilla glass 3 and what it calls a "zero air gap"display just improve those aesthetics even more. Powered by an Intel 64-bit Atom processor, clocking in at 2.3 Ghz, with 2 GB of DDR3 RAM, a 533Mhz PowerVR G6430 GPU, and 32 GB of storage, N1 puts itself squarely in the Ipad Mini's computing territory. Couple that with an 8 megapixel rear camera and a 5 megapixel in front and you have quite an offering. 

But the best part about the new N1 seems to be its operating system. Running the latest Android 5.0 lollipop, the tablet is also pushing forward nokia's new Z Launcher. The Z Launcher is meant to be Nokia's intuitive, constantly-learning mod. It allows you to scribble a letter on the home page, in order to look for a particular app or contact or search the web. the launcher also learns patterns in your app usage, based on time or location, and dynamically changes your home screen to match your usage. 

Z Launcher is available for Android phones in the Play Store but the tablet version is exclusive to the N1. The N1 is expected to launch in China first, for about US $250.