iPad Mini Has An Android Twin: The Nokia N1

‘Tis the season of tablet announcements. Nokia just broke the news about its new N1 tablet, which is comparable in size to the iPad Mini. However, the price points, inside hardware, and operating systems of these gadgets are anything but identical. However, you won’t be able to snag one of these tablets until after the holidays, since “the N1 will be brought to market in Q1 2015,” according to Nokia’s official press release. The N1 announcement is a major milestone for the Finnish communications company. Forbes points out that this “is the first brand licensing deal from the ‘new’ Nokia,” ever since the company parted ways with Microsoft after selling off their handset department.

If you’re thinking about making a tablet purchase in the near future, here’s a spec comparison of the two devices, which have surface-level similarities.

Nokia N1

One of the most noteworthy differences between the N1 and iPad mini models is Nokia’s low starting price point of $249. You would have to go two generations back to the first iPad mini in order to match that price with an Apple purchase. The N1 will be a hair thinner than the iPad mini 3 (by 0.6 mm) and 13 grams lighter than the Apple device. The N1 comes with 32 GB of storage space built-in but surprisingly, it doesn’t have the option for expandable storage with an microSD slot. The Nokia N1 runs Android 5.0 Lollipop with an interesting alternative to Apple’s Spotlight: the Nokia Z Launcher. Instead of typing the first few letters of the app or file you’d like to access, you can just trace those letters out on the screen with your finger instead.

iPad Mini 3

Like previous iPad mini launches, Apple provides buyers with three different capacity choices: 16 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB. However, these upgrades definitely come at a steep price departure from the Nokia N1, since each jump up on the iPad mini 3 costs you another hundred dollars. Apple’s 64-bit A7 chip might be losing out with its 1 GB of RAM, when stacked up against the 2 GB RAM in the Nokia N1. And of course, the iPad mini 3 will run the latest version of iOS.

When it comes to the display, both models have the same screen dimensions and resolution specs. The button placement on the Nokia N1 is also extremely Apple-esque. Beyond that, these two gadgets are definitely apples and oranges. If you’re trying to decide between these two mobile gadgets, it will be important to consider your preferred price point, capacity, and mobile operating system.