For the past several days, Nokia's been using Twitter to tease a big reveal, telling followers that it's "up to something" and that it loves the "feeling of a fresh start." The big reveal turned out to be the N1, the first Nokia-branded Android tablet. One of the things that makes the N1 tablet unique is the Nokia Z Launcher interface, which allows users to scribble a letter or two to find the content they're looking for.

References to Apple's iPad mini are already making the rounds, which is due to the 7.9-inch size of the N1 and the overall look of the device. Nokia calls it a "carefully crafted industrial design...with a focus on simplicity." Either way, the two products look similar at a glance, but they're quite different underneath the hood. The bigger story here is that Nokia's brand is back in the mobile space.


"We are pleased to bring the Nokia brand back into consumers' hands with the N1 Android tablet, and to help make sophisticated technologies simple," said Sebastian Nyström, Head of Products at Nokia Technologies, who announced the N1 at the Slush technology conference in Helsinki. "The N1 has a delightfully intuitive interface and an industrial design to match it. This is a great product for Nokia fans and everyone who has not found the right Android tablet yet."


The N1 is build from a single piece of aluminum with a soft finish in both "Lava Gray" and "Natural Aluminum" colors that are intended to make it stand out from other slates. More importantly from a usability standpoint is that it measures just 6.9mm thick and is light enough to wield with one-hand (318g).

Nokia outfitted the N1 with a 64-bit Intel Atom Z3580 quad-core processor (up to 2.3GHz, 2MB cache) based on Moorefield and 2GB of LPDDR3-800 RAM. They combine to power the 7.9-inch IPS display, which has a pixelicious resolution of 2048x1536 and sports a fully laminated zero air-gap panel.


Other features include 32GB of eMMC storage, 8-megapixel rear camera with autofocus, 5-megapixel front camera with fixed focus, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0,  two 0.5W stereo speakers with 90 dB and less than 10 percent total harmonic distortion, micro USB 2.0 with a Type-C reversible connector, 3.5mm audio jack, 6-axis Gyro+Accelerometer, 18.5 Wh battery, and Android 5.0 Lollipop.

It's a pretty snazzy looking tablet and it's not priced egregiously, either -- Nokia says it will be available in China in the first quarter of next year for around $249. There are plans to expand sales to other markets, which presumably includes the United States, though no specific timetables have been given.

We'll reserve judgement until if and when we get our hands on one, but based on the specs and asking price, this looks like a good way for Nokia to rebuild its brand in the mobile market.