Mysterious Android tablet shows up in North Korea

Yes, you read that correctly; a tablet was spotted presumably running Android in North Korea's capital of Pyongyang. The photo was taken during a trade fair where various approved electronics were being shown off.

Due to the closed nature of North Korea, we don't know much about the tablet. No hardware specs, no software information and certainly no dates for availability. One of the only tidbits that was discovered was a box in the background that read Samjiyo, which is the name of another North Korean tablet introduced in June.

From the photo, it looks to have around a 10-inch screen and has some applications installed. Other than that, it's anybody's guess. If we were to surmise about a North Korean tablet, we'd assume it's extremely locked down and will not run Google's core services. Remember North Koreans are prohibited access to the wider Internet. Interestingly enough, it seems as though the Seoul Google office took interest in this photo as well and are trying to find out more information, just as we are.

There's a certain irony in a closed nation like North Korea being able to develop its own tablet because of an open-source OS like Android, don'tcha think?

Source: WSJ

Sean Brunett