Comments Locked

54 Comments

Back to Article

  • SirPerro - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Hopefully this will come with Google Play services. Happy to see Nokia alive (And a little bit dissapointed that their first new product is a blatant rip-off of the iPad mini)
  • Flunk - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    I think you might be missing the big picture. Nokia sold their entire devices devision to Microsoft, all they kept was HERE and licensing. This is a Foxconn product (even that custom launcher was likely outsourced) and they're just paying Nokia for the brand. Nokia is as alive as Frankenstein's monster or Atari.
  • metro-sf - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    >> even that custom launcher was likely outsourced

    It is developed by Nokia in Silicon Valley (at Nokia North American headquarters in Sunnyvale).
  • Penti - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    They kept some people doing general R&D around 500 or so. That was the former Nokia Research Center. They also has all the network business intact. So while they lost almost 60 000 people on the device business which is no more since Elop came into the picture (25 500 ended up transfered to Nokia when the deal went through, other left were Indian factory workers that is now booted) and some in NSN. They are still some 60 000 strong. The cutbacks in the network sector is done and they have even began to hire more staff again. But this isn't their core business and every facility Devices and Services had is closed or in Microsoft's hand. They have no competence building consumer devices left. Though they have plenty of competence in it's mapping business that's invested into delivering mapping data and navigation apps for a whole range of systems including consumer stuff like Android phones.

    Don't see this as much different to when they sold Nokia branded netbooks. They are also not allowed to sell phones until after 2016 if they want to.
  • TheLogicBringer - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Nokia is not, nor has ever been 60 000 strong. They lost 25 000 employees to Microsoft and another 12 000 employees they are employing on behalf of Microsoft because acquiring them was too difficult with the countries they were in. they had 53 000 employees, and lost 37 000, they now have 16 000 employees and likely have cut many of them already anyways. Since nokia was not exclusively a hardware company those remaining staff are largely to do with there networking and software/map endeavours. The nokia branded net books sucked, so I agree that there likely will not be much difference.

    Nokia as we knew it is in the hands of Microsoft now.
  • kpkp - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link

    You mean, Nokia as we knew it was ruined by Microsoft (or it's people).
  • Valantar - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link

    Oh, how I love reverse fanboyism. So Nokia was all fine and dandy after sticking to the outdated (and truly awful UX-wise) Symbian platform for years after the advent of iOS and Android? With the staggering success of such ground breaking consumer favourites as the 5800 Xpressmusic? I think not. When Elop arrived, they had been making conservative, piss-poor business decisions for years. Yep, Stephen Elop and his bet on WinPho wasn't a resounding success story, but all that happened was the continuation of a downward trend which had been going since the iPhone, if not earlier. As of now, it actually has been looking better for their smartphone market share for a few quarters, at least in Europe. However, they've been held back by bad hardware design (weight and thickness issues, mainly) just as much as software for the last couple of years. As well as the crushing dominance of the iOS and Android ecosystems, of course.

    Tl;dr: Nokia was 'ruined' long before Elop got there.
  • craighamilton - Saturday, December 6, 2014 - link

    Not my first choice as there are lot of better and high rated tablets in the market (see http://www.topreport.org/tablets/ for example...)
  • Penti - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link

    Nokia Devices & Services division including Nokia Research Center but not Corporate Common was employing 58 642 in 2010 on average, the whole company just under 130 000. Under several points during 2010 did Nokia Corp employ more than 60 000 people and at the same time more than 60 000 people at NSN or it's network subsidiary. Around 30 000 people was laid off the Devices & Services division before it was sold, about 25 500 went to Microsoft of which half has been laid off after the transfer. The India mobile phone plant has been slowing down and has been given the orders to close removing the remaining Nokia employees and contract workers working on phones. The point was nothing is left. There's nothing to salvage. Not when it comes to consumer devices. All that worked on constructing, testing and developing those types of devices is gone, all that worked on software on them is gone. Nokia still has manufacturing/assembly plants for Networking equipment, but they won't be building tablets in those. Nokia Technologies and Corporate common is at just under 900 people now, but Nokia has 59 000 people including all three divisions/subsidiaries.

    So I don't know how you come up with any figures here, it's a public company so it's in their reports, and you can't exactly count the contract workers. It's any way about 60 000 strong today. With only a few researches left from what was devices & services.
  • mmrezaie - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    I played a little with Z launcher. It was nice but still needs work to do since widgets weren't good for simply showing information that I want and I couldn't config them for my liking. Also it is slow right now. But mostly I would like to see how much they will support the core os. Do we get the upgrades or is it just another samsung!
  • close - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    I'd add the small(ish) battery and no WWAN to the disappointment list. Especially since there's quite a lot of empty space left.
  • close - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Also, the picture shows a 19.61Wh battery, not 18.5Wh.
  • MrCommunistGen - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    could be peak vs nominal or average rating.
  • rocketbuddha - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Flunk is correct to a large extent. Nokia sold its entire device division, manufacturing plants to MS.

    It retained its networking business Nokia Siemens Networks(NSN), mapping division(formerly NavTeq now HERE Maps) as well as its patent portfolio. It also gave MS license to its patent portfolio for 10 years, HERE Maps for 4 years and using Nokia brand on phones and devices till 31Dec2015.

    The only exception was a Nokia manufacturing plant in Chennai which is still a subsidiary of Nokia but making phones for MS due to Tax issues.

    What is not clear is if in this case Nokia has licensed its name to be used in a tablet by some chineese OEM/ODM
    OR
    Manufacturing it in a OEM and selling it through their website, reseller network & support network.

    How much of a sweet irony is it that it was MS that basically drove a wedge between Nokia and Intel killing Meego in the process, only to find that by purchasing Nokia mobile devices division, it has basically paved way for Nokia to use Intel products again....
  • BMNify - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link

    This tablet is engineered, built, sold, marketed, supported and serviced by Foxconn, Foxconn has just licensed the Nokia name and slapped on the tablet which most probably is a intel reference platform with copycat foxconn design over it.
  • uhuznaa - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Seems like a nice tablet. Battery seems a bit small though, especially since there's more than enough room for a larger one in there (at least judging by the photo).
  • hojnikb - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    This would be soo much better, if it came with Windows 8 bing..
  • darkich - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Nice trolling.
    Windows has sooo long way to go before it becomes a good tablet OS.
    Not to mention the apps.

    Android offers perfectly useful and customisable touch UI that scales automatically with high PPI (just imagine Windows on a high PPI 8“ screen, gasp) and a library of million touch-tailored games and applications.

    Among those apps are a plenty of productivity tools that will do whatever an average user wants, and more.

    You can even do serious Java programming, video editing, and 3D modelling on an android device now.

    If you tried any of that in a 8" Windows tablet, you'd need to get a magnifying glass, mouse and a keyboard.
  • Fleeb - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    I could not imagine using the on-screen keyboard to do serious Java programming.
  • kyuu - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    What a load.

    Windows has a perfectly useful (and I'd say superior) touch UI that scales automatically with high PPI. It also has a library of touch-tailored games and applications - not as extensive as Android, no. But having actually used it, it's more than sufficient for most people's needs. Also, quite a lot of those Android apps are just blown-up phone apps and aren't made for a tablet, whereas *all* of Window's apps are tailored to a tablet.

    Then, you get the desktop and the entire library of legacy software and compatibility with a vast ecosystem of peripherals as a (completely optional) bonus. And the desktop can be scaled up for use on even a high-PPI 8" screen just fine.
  • darkich - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Trust me, you don't want to use Windows on a 1440p 8" screen.

    And may I ask an example of an app that you would use on a this device, with a mouse and a keyboard?
  • darkich - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Btw, I have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse that seamlessly connect to my android tablet, and work as a charm. Power up and go.
    Of course, plugging in an USB over the micro USB adapter works just as on Windows
  • darkich - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Correction (darn you anandtech and your ancient comment system).. the question in my first reply regarding the app example used with keyboard and a mouse was for Windows tablet, not this tablet.
  • name99 - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    "You can even do serious Java programming, video editing, and 3D modelling on an android device now."

    Just because you can, WTF would you want to? Any normal human being would 10x more productive programming Java on an appropriate machine (at least 13" laptop, ideally a desktop with a 27" screen or larger). Decent keyboard, chording shortcuts, massive screen space for comparing text, looking things up, and viewing debugging state are all essential to modern programming.

    Are you really so poor that you can't afford to buy the right tool to do the job (even if you could pick up a second hand version of that tool on eBay for probably $200 if you really had to)? Do you also own only one plate, one pair of shoes, and one pair of trousers?
  • darkich - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link

    Haha, thanks for proving my point!

    And my point was that, when it comes to small tablets, there really is no real advantage in having windows on it.
    Android is perfectly good for content consumption and gaming and everything that would be reasonable to do an such form factor.
    The supposed advantages of Windows really don't make sense here.

    "Oh but you can run 3D Max and Photoshop and all the legacy Windows games "!

    Good luck with that
  • Walkop - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Why is no-one mentioning how INSANELY IMPRESSIVE this is for $249? Especially the Type-C, EMMC 5.0, 64-bit Intel SoC, thin and light (and metal)…
  • Death666Angel - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    EMMC 5.0 doesn't mean anything for performance. It can be good, but just as there are SATA III SSDs that suck and USB3.0 sticks that suck, so can NAND connected via EMMC 5.0. Intel SoC is fine, but likely not much better or worse than competing nVidia and Qualcomm solutions. Type C is a nice to have feature, but people have been getting by with micro USB for 5 years now and all they make use of is the reversibility, no need for a higher power draw and no faster connectivity than USB 2.0. It being thin and light has been mentioned quite clearly.However, if you hadn't said it, I would not have known about it being all metal. I was assuming a metal strip at the most, considering that Nokia is fond of their polycarbonate designs. Weird for Anandtech not to gush over a metal tablet. :D
  • repoman27 - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Why would using the Type-C connector result in higher power draw? This is just USB 2.0 using a Type-C connector instead of Micro-AB.

    Despite Ryan's comment that, "Nokia is utilizing the new USB Type-C connector for the tablet, and not entirely in the way we’d expect," this is exactly how I expected the Type-C connector to be used. It's not part of the USB 3.1 or even 3.0 specs, it's a new and much improved connector designed to replace the Micro-B variants. And personally, I was pretty excited to finally see a product announced that actually uses the new connector.

    One additional potential upside to using Type-C is that the spec includes an Audio Adapter Accessory Mode, which this tablet might support. Thus if Type-C becomes popular with headset or other audio gear manufacturers, this tablet might be able to support those types of accessories.
  • name99 - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    So when rumors about this happening with Lightning, it's the end of the world, the start of DRM everywhere; but when it's going to happen with USB type-C it's something great that we should all look forward to ???
  • kyuu - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    You seriously can't understand the difference between Apple's proprietary Lightning connector and the USB type-C connector?
  • repoman27 - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    When I multiply 5300 mAh x 3.7 V I get 19.61 Wh (like it says on the battery in that image of the internals) not "18.5 Whr" like you list in the specs and state in the post.
  • Ryan Smith - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    18.5 Whr comes straight from Nokia's specifications.
  • coburn_c - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Nokia makes ARM devices and puts Windows on them, then makes an x86 device and puts Android on it. Could they fail any harder? Not to mention this is just some Foxconn et al. design with their badge slapped on it. Nokia needs to die.
  • ppi - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Intel was and probably still is paying off development cost of Atom devices (based on latest financials), which could have easily been the reason for going with them.
  • ABR - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Whatever part of Nokia is responsible for this needs to die, for sure. Jumping back into a cutthroat low-margin market with very little to distinguish their product? Their network and mapping divisions are doing fine and they'd do better to focus on these.
  • icrf - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Have we seen the Z3580 in an Android device before to know what to expect for battery life and performance?
  • kron123456789 - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    No, we haven't. But I can tell that performance should be pretty good(GPU is a bit powerful than iPad Mini 3's, for example).
  • nevertell - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    I just wish the SoC had a modern intel iGPU instead of one licensed from PowerVR. Then this would be the best tablet for Gnome.
  • satai - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    It has Intel GPU.

    I am going to be a bit sceptical about gnome, we don't know how is booting proces limited.
  • satai - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    It has PowerVR, my fault.
  • BMNify - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    This is a disgrace in the name of Nokia, just a foxcon product with Nokia name slapped(licensed) over it.
  • TheWrongChristian - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Unlike the foxconn built iBlah products with an Apple logo slapped over them?
  • BMNify - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Seriously, you are comparing iphone and ipad to this POS Foxconn engineered copycat tablet, i am an Apple hater but know that only thing Foxconn does is assemble them, everything else is handled by Apple.

    Here this tablet is engineered, built, sold, marketed, supported and serviced by Foxconn, Foxconn has just licensed Nokia name for this!!
  • toyotabedzrock - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    That sounds like an attractive price for the hardware.
  • Cygni - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Finally, another generic rectangle 7in Android tablet that looks like all the others and doesn't do anything differently. Really what the market was begging for.
  • uhuznaa - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Come on, show us all the other 8" Android tablets with a 4:3 ratio display and a decent resolution... There's the Xiaomi Mi Pad and that's it.
  • kyuu - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    "Generic rectangle"? Seriously, what do you want? A tablet in the shape of a circle? A trapezoid?

    And really, this tablet has some impressive specifications for a pretty low price.
  • name99 - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    I'm on the Apple side of the fence, but there ARE things a tablet vendor can do to separate themselves from the pack and from Apple. For example

    - take audio as seriously as the screen. Include 4 speakers, one at each corner, and have them automatically reroute the stereo sound to track screen orientation.

    - provide more sensors (eg thermometry via a bolometer)

    - provide a low power built-in laser. (This is more useful for phones, where it can be used as a laser pointer, or to check alignment; but it's easy to stick in anywhere and once it's there people will find a use for it).

    - use the multiple (at least two in any decent tablet/phone) speakers to triangulate where noises are coming from (so can track down where the beeps from a smoke detector are coming from, or the various other weird noise one hears in a house)

    - etc etc. EVERY DAY there are a dozen small little irritations we encounter that could be handled in some way by digital technology. What defines an innovative company is that THEY are the one's trying to solve those problems, rather than waiting to see what Apple does next and then rushing to copy that ASAP.
  • tsafin - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    With all due respect but Foxconn has not R&D facilities for new design of such kind, it looks for me very much like Intel Merrifield Reference Design with few exterior tweaks. This is not Foxconn tablet, but Intel tablet.
  • Samus - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    $250? Wow.
  • haukionkannel - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    Good tablet! And very reasonable prized. This is more like what Google do. They don't have own production capacity, so they try to find a manufacturer who is willing to produce devices they have planned. I am quite sure that we may see another Nokia designed devices from another manufacturer in the future, just like Google is chancing manufacturers!
  • sonicmerlin - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link

    I thought modern Atoms used Intel's IGP solution. If nokia's pairing Atom with the iPad Air's GPU, does this mean we could possibly see someone using Atom with the iPad Air 2's GPU? That would be really amazing.
  • kron123456789 - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link

    Lol. It's not an iPad Air's GPU, it's ImgTech's GPU licensed by Intel))
  • Kutark - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link

    Welp, looks like this will be my first tablet. Been waiting for something bigger than 7" and smaller than 10" that wasnt $500 and not a communist tool for the masses.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now