For well over a year now there have been murmurings and rumors that Nokia is working on a Windows 8 tablet with little to show for it. We have seen leaked images in the past and most recently, a late September date has been suggested as the announcement timeframe (Nokia is evidently planning an event in New York City).

Now, two images have come forth showing what is reportedly a Verizon-branded Nokia tablet with Windows 8.1 RT on board. The device appears to be labelled with “RT” suggesting that this is not a full Windows 8 Pro tablet, though there are too many caveats here to reach any firm conclusions. For instance, could Nokia have both RT and Pro devices both being tested as options for carriers and retail channels?

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Earlier reported Nokia 8 RT Tablet prototype

Other reported specifications of the device include a blue or red color option, 10.1-inch 1080P display, 5-point multi-touch, 2.15GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, 32 GB of built-in storage, micro HDMI, USB 3.0.

The photos themselves reveal very little except a blurry red “device” of some sort and some labelling. The image quality though is too low to discern legitimacy or yield anything really interesting. Windows Phone Central has heard of sightings of a red Nokia tablet in the past and the specifications fall in line with what is expected by a company like Nokia.

Due to the inconclusiveness of these specific photos, we're rating them a "6" on our rumor meter but we would put the overall rumor of Nokia releasing a tablet soon at a "9".

Nokia is expected to reveal the tablet in September for a mid October release, along the same time as when Windows 8.1 RT is released. Later in November, Nokia's first "phablet" phone with a 1080P display of 5-inches or greater is expected to be announced in conjunction with Windows Phone 8 GDR3. Windows Phone Central has learned that Nokia plans to have at least one "major" release every quarter with smaller releases in between to keep attention on the struggling company. 

Source: Digi-wo; via: New Phones, WPCentral Forums; Thanks, et and chfhyh, for the tips!