More details emerge on Nokia's Sirius tablet, including exact dimensions and $499 price point

The recently leaked details of Nokia's upcoming "Sirius" Windows RT tablet, has been generating a lot of buzz on what exactly will be under the hood. The tablet was first revealed ten days ago in leaked photos from Digi-wo.

WinSuperSite's Paul Thurrott says that he can confirm that the Nokia will indeed be releasing the 10.1-inch tablet and has offered up some specifics about it, including some specs, pricing and accessories.

According to Thurrott, the Nokia tablet, codename "Sirius", will be powered by a quad-core Qualcomm 8974 (ARM) chipset. The 10.1-screen is a 1920 x 1080 IPS screen that will be geared for "outdoor readability," a quality that many tablets have difficulty boasting and is reminiscent of Nokia's Lumia smartphones. While he cannot confirm the 2-megapixel front-facing camera, Thurrott says that the rear 6.7 megapixel one, in true Nokia fashion, will feature Zeiss optics.

All of this, along with a 10-hour battery and optional 4G capability, will be neatly wrapped in a Lumia-esque body that measures .35 inches thick and weighs in at just 1.3 pounds. While the red chassis in the leaked image is the only one that can be confirmed, it's not crazy to think that the "Sirius" could be offered in other colors.

Nokia Patent: keyboard accessory for tablets

One accessory that is confirmed is a keyboard cover that also adds additional battery life. That accessory may reflect a patent that Nokia filed back in 2011 and that was reported on back in April (seen above). Nokia also looks to bring "unique companion experiences" to users via exclusive Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps. Their Nokia Music app, though available for all Windows 8 devices, is clearly just the tip of the iceberg.

We first speculated that Nokia would release custom and exclusive apps for their tablet line back in January and now it looks to be the case.

So what will this newcomer to the tablet world cost you? Well, Nokia wants to take the "Sirius" toe-to-toe with the iPad and will therefore price it accordingly, starting at $499. That price seems a bit high for an RT tablet though and it could face similar obstacles as the now cheaper Surface RT, which is running for $349. However, with a 1080P display, high quality camera and unique Nokia design, it could raise awareness of the RT brand.

The last remaining detail is what Nokia will call this tablet. While 'Sirius' is its codename, we have heard 'Harmonia' as a potential moniker for the general Nokia tablet lineup, akin to 'Lumia' for Windows Phone.

We expect the "Sirius" to be revealed under a different moniker at an event on September 26-27 in New York City that Windows Phone Central was the first to learn about. You can bet that we'll be there to give you the skinny on all that Nokia has to show.

Source: WinSuperSite

Seth Brodeur

280 Comments

I better see the official Sirius XM app hit W8/WP store now. Haha!
Ya know, I had to do a double take... I was ready to cancel one of my radios.
I'd like to buy an RT tablet. I find it more suitable for tablet experience. But there is only one thing that would make me consider buying this piece of art and it is the internal storage. No less than 64 GB!
What's wrong with a MicroSD card? I have a 64GB card in my Surface RT.

But, personally, I won't buy any ARM based RT tablets. The battery life is no better than most Atom based tablets and the performance is way worse. And there is no way to run legacy PC apps. When Intel Haswell based ultra book chipset floods the market, RT tablet will be yesterday's news.
I also have a 64gb MicroSD card in my Surface RT, but the big problem is how Windows 8 uses that storage. You have to manually move stuff to it which isn't very convenient on a tablet. I hope in 8.1 they add some automatic storage scaling for RT devices if you add an SD card, similar to how WP8 does it.

As for ARM vs Atom, i am not sold on Atom. I have been dosappointed with the performance and battery life of it. I really think ARM is a better choice for a tablet and RT, not Pro.
PRICE, PRICE, PRICE. $499 is to expensive. To have any chance staring price must be $350. Hope Nokia smells the coffee and realize this simple fact. Of course MS should help.
The LTE support makes the difference. The 32GB iPad LTE at AT&T is priced at $729.99. So the Nokia RT is in fact $230 cheaper than the iPad LTE if it is indeed priced at $499. Nokia is a phone company, so I don't expect them to sell tablets without 4G/LTE capability.
The average user doesn't care for LTE; they will see the Nokia priced the same as the iPad and go with the status quo.
I agree. Most of the users don't use the one with LTE. It will be a challenge to market the comparison even with LTE ipad. Not sure why Nokia is going MSFT route.
I hope, they have some surprise price announcement than is what feared here.
Agree that most user won't care for LTE since LTE still quite new and not all carrier support it so the connection price might be to expensive for average users. Well ... Maybe Nokia has a plan to release wifi only version that priced lower? Let just wait and not jump to any conclusion before it even officially announced :)
The announcement says optional 4G/LTE support - probably somewhere on the order of $100-150 add on.
$499 would be fine if it had an ecosystem on the level of android or iOS. That's what hurts it.
It all depends what you do. If you use tablet mainly for productivity, WRT/W8 are definitely superior. It supports File Manager, multitasks, MS Office, all standard peripherals, and legacy softwares(not all for WRT). If you use tablet mainly for entertainment and casual works, Android and IOS will do.
And what are the majority of people buying tablets using them for, consumption or productivity? Answer is consumption and that is why all the productivity features of RT arent attracting buyers in any significant numbers. Windows 8 devices at least have the attraction of being fully managable in the enterprise but with RT you get either a watered down productivity device or a poor consumption device. Any way you look at it RT is the wrong choice for a Nokia tablet.
I don't call it 'poor consumption device' necessarily. RT should do reasonably well in the education sector, specifically the college students. MS Surface RT has been well accepted for two reasons - full version of Office suite and the Type Cover which can be used in the class room. RT will serve people well if they don't need to run some more powerful legacy softwares. The 1st generation Surface RT is slow in performance, the battery life and the display quality are less than desired. Nokia RT has corrected all the shortcomings. It may come out with a standard version and a LTE version. We'll find out on 9/26. Also I heard that Nokia is also working on a W8 version which will be released a few months later. That shoud do better.
Both iOS and Android have tons of stuff like music and picture creation, that I feel are a lot better than what I have seen of Windows counterparts. The ecosystem is growing rapidly, and with the cross-platform tools available we should see a more uniform playing field next year, but it is not there yet on light content creation or consumption.
Agreed, this is my biggest sticking point
If they aren't watching the news about the sale of Microsoft Surface RT dropping their price to $350 and are still having problems selling them they better.
Though Nokia brand is stronger than MSFT. I won't be surprise if Nokia does manage to sell more than MSFT, if they aim for it. Though it seems to me that they will try to push this more to business customers. I think they will be producing this in very limited quantity unless their pricing strategy is different than the rumors here.
Here is something close to Harmonia called Harmonium. It is a musical instrument. iPad = chopstick, remember. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=harmonium&qs=HS&form=QBIR&pq=&sc=8-0&sp=2&sk=HS1&adlt=strict
$499? Yet it has a 1080p screen. Hmmmm!
queue the price trolls
Price Troll? I said the 1080p would have me thinking twice about the price. I'd say it should be priced near an Android tablet since it's RT and that's where it should be priced but the 1080p screen justifies it for me. Don't get butt hurt. ;)
$500 is an overkill even with a 1080p sceen. Since some cheaper Android and Kindle tablets have 1080p as well and are a lot cheaper.
so right now ur basing the price on its screen but what can the samsung tab or kindle can do that this RT cant do and in Vice versa, think about it.
I'm guessing Nokia would rather make profit from a few rather than a very small profit or a loss from many. Like the Lumia 920, I would expect Nokia to make only very few of these tablets, and then increase production if and when demand increases. If there is higher demand, maybe they can bring down the price.
"queue" kind of works, as in "line them up so they can take turns" but "cue" means "signal to begin."
Fascinating :)
that's why I said queue....as you can see from the comments the line runs out the door.
Exactly why Mr Balmer needs to go. He couldn't get a clue if it fell in his lap. Amazon gets it and that's why their Kindle Tablets are on fire (& why I own one).
The services provided by Amazon pays for the kindle fire. Otherwise its sold at a loss. Can I ask, what do you use your kindle fire for?
Why doesn't Microsoft use its services to pay for the hardware? I'd love to buy a low-cost RT, Pro, and Xbox one if I paid for a year or two for Office 360 or Xbox music.
They were running a subscription type deal for 360, $99 with two years of $15 a month for XBL (and financing). Most speculation was that it was a pilot for a potential pricing model on One. Could see a similar transition in tablet space once Ballmer's out. But likely just on Surface tablets.
I don't think its possible because the computer itself is built by different OEMs. Every OEM must earn some profit somehow from the services to offset the lower prices.
Does that apply to a Surface tablet? As stated above, Microsoft did offer the Xbox 360 at subsidized pricing. Nokia could do the same by lowering the price with a 1yr subscription to Nokia Music.
Yes but how about Asus or Sony or any other OEM? What do they have to offer in order to lower the price of their products.
I don't know about Asus since they seems decided to not build another RTs. But for Sony, if I recall, doesn't they have Sony Entertainment? Or do they are different companies? If they have it, they can join the music subscription bandwagon, eg using Sony Music service. Or even Movies if they also have it. Remember that Sony is one of the best at display and sound engine area with their Bravia Engine and Walkman technologies.
I use mine to buy & read books, buy and read Comics (Comixology), watch Amazon Prime, Hulu+, control TV via TiVo & Watch Comcast Xfinity on demand all via my 8.9in Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE (AT&T). Price $399. Amazon s doing this without any official Google Apps. What's Microsoft reason?
Yes there are some missing entertainment apps but that's not much of problem as there are alot of them. RT/Pro though are for more than just entertainment. As more official app start to appear, hopefully they do, you have the best of both worlds in one gadget.
Why do they keep screwing up the price?!? The main goal should be to get those tablets out in the real world first. Drop the price for the table but offer accessories or features at a little higher price. If you keep pricing things the same as other products that people are aware of already, guess what? They are going to buy the other product. Like some friends of mine say, if im going to spend that much, might as well buy an iPad/Galaxy.
Sooo even if/when its released with superior hardware, software and design you are going to buy an inferior product that is similarly priced? Way to support innovation.
Unfortunately it is true. The vast majority of users aren't enthusiasts (knowledgeable) and go with what is popular rather than what is best technically.
It doesn't matter. Newcomer doesn't conquer a market with high end models. This applies pretty much to all markets. Look how Hyundai did in automobile market. Similarly, WP didn't get much traction until 520/521. For average consumer, spec doesn't mean much. The only way to steer them away from popular brand names is low price. There is no other alternative.
Memory will be a huge issue for me. I've already had enough with the 32gb limits of 99% of the WP's. Give us a 128 option, or go home.
Considering this is not a Windows Phone, I imagine they will offer the base version with 32 GB (double that of the base iPad) and expandable storage. With WIndows 8.1, expandable storage will be much easier to incorporate with the file system.
The previous leak has already stated it has microSD-card support.
This one I'll be watching for. At the very least, the updates and exclusive apps will be expansive. I expect they will be anyway.
Hardware has me excited.
Thats what she said!
Lol
Yeah, but that name "Harmonia" sounds horrific.. I hope that doesn't come into fruition.. They should just use the Lumia name, like Samsung uses its galaxy/Ativ name.
Hummer
How about Lumia❕
Or Lumioso?
Oh, how about Lumia❔
Nokia Lumia TabPadSlab....for some reason you gotta spell it out for the consumer.
Oh, of course. But, the main point being that they use Lumia.. Actually, Lumia Tab sounds just right..
Nokia Lumia Harmonia. Rolls right off the tongue doesn't it?
Indeed, I'm one of them. RT, if it exists, shouldn't have a desktop at all. Office and a better file explorer need to be made more 'Modern'. Otherwise 8 is plenty lightweight in its own right.
EDIT, comment I replied to was deleted...but basically I'm a bit of an RT 'hater'.
RT has a bad name, even with MS fanboys like myself. Time to just let RT rip. OT why would your average Joe shoppers buy this over a surface RT that cost $150 less?? FAIL
Dunno, why doesn't Xbox run rt exactly so they could at least share stores and purchases? Why is RT, RT and not 8 RT?
Modern Office is in progress.
Yes, I'm very disappointed in RT as well. At times, I even like my iPad more with IOS 7. And I love Microsoft!
I love my rt and no RT shouldn't ditch the desktop. I wish people would actually use the damn thing for a week before saying stupid sh*t like "it should have no desktop". Use it for a week and THEN try and say that .
ive been using mine since day one of release and i say it should have no desktop.
I'll bet it will have the nicest, well made design and build quality and be second to none. As good as it gets for tablets. But at that price, its just gonna flop and Nokia will bleed money again. As much as I love Nokia, an RT tablet at that price is just gonna be a loser. W8 pro at that price would have been a serious winner.
Going head to head with iPad is dumb and it's going to not sell. Why would they even try this price point again when it didn't work for the Surface and MS had to take a $900 million write down. Stupid Nokia.
It didn't work for MS because of horrible marketing and nowhere to buy it or try it. And on top of all of that, terrible resolution and slow performance. Nokia can change all of that.
You think that Nokia is going to spend as much money on advertising as Microsoft did? Nokia can barely get their phones into stores without being exclusive to a carrier and you expect Nokia, who has never done a tablet before to do better? I'm sorry but this is going to bomb hard at that price point and how much is the keyboard going to cost? I bet it's going to be over $100 for sure. Price and Windows RT will make it fail. Now if they swap it with Windows Pro then I think it would fare better.
if Nokia spends more than $2000 it will be more than Microsoft effectively spent. Microsoft advertising up till 2 months ago when they started the head to head iPad advertising was absolutely worthless.
It doesn't matter if you think that the early ads were worthless they still had to spend the money to do it. How is Nokia going to adverstise this tablet when Microsoft can barely do it themselves and knowing Nokia it's probably going to be carrier exclusive.
Not with this strategy. Nokia has to undercut the iPad by at least $50, if not more. People know the iPad, have accessories for the iPad, have iPhones that are essentially small iPads... What is there about this Nokia RT tablet that will really drive people to move away from what they know so well, especially when it's priced the same?

If you undercut the iPad on the price, even by as little as $50, that will be enough for a good number of people to try out the Nokia and Win8 tablets. I think it's too much to ask for them to compete head to head at the same price point.
I don't think the marketing failed it. The lock of a cheap version did. They should've had the Standard Surface and also a 7-8" version that would directly compete with say a Kindle Fire HD and priced to match. That would've penetrated the market and then made people interested int he 10.1 version.
The iPad that has 32GB and cellular/LTE costs $729. NOT going head to head at all.
Excellent point, at 499, cellular connectivity and same storage, this is a contender if they get the app issue for RT fixed.
This. Everyone is so eager to look for flaws in everything. Disengage your hate for a second and engage your brains... Read the specs, realize you've been an ass, and then move on to hating in the fact that there's no cheaper variant without LTE (that we know about yet). Although they may be focusing on that market with the phablet (which would be a shame IMO).
While it's not going head to head on price, it would be interesting to see how well the iPad with LTE is selling. Verizon is expensive...I just don't see Nokia moving a lot of these devices (with LTE at any price point).
Harmonia. Sounds like a feminine hygiene product.
Sorta like iPad...
Makes sense. Ipads and RTs are for women and children.
Windows RT? Blech. No thanks.
Yep, hopefully the failure of this and the Surface 2 will be the final nails in the coffin for Windows RT.
Windows RT isn't going anywhere. But of course you aren't able to understand that.
Why? Have you even used the bloody thing? No? Then shut up
RT is RT is RT. The capabilities of RT, which I have used for your information, are not governed by the hardware(barring the CPU architecture), but rather the crippling ARM infrastructure.
i really hope that too! You can put a fresh Atom bay trail generation in a similar case for about the same price and x86 compatibility. Well, RT have totally no reason to exists
Sirius.... Sounds Serious Cool stuff ;)
$500 is an instant fail. I wish Nokia could brainwash people like Apple, but that's simply not the case. And you'd think they'd learn something from the Surface RT. This should be $349-399. Oh, well...
iPad 32GB with LTE: $729.
I didn't ask a question...
Your posting needed questions to be asked badly and answered.
Well, post them up if you have any.
I was interested until I saw it was Windows 8 RT. While Win8 RT may not be bad I am interested in a Win8 Pro tablets. Of course it will most likely have crap for memory and storage.
wont apologize for this but Microsoft and Nokia are smoking something. RT tablets should NEVER pass $400. how is it that Acer put out a full blown Win8 8 inch for $370 without a prob? For those that keep saying RT is a flop, failure, blah blah blah do ipads run all the same programs as macs? do android tabs run the same programs as PC or Ubuntu? didn't think so, in other words they all run apps apps apps which is what Rt runs plus Office so shut up
Acer produced a Windows 8 tablet for $370 by using piss-poor components and build quality. The W3 is universally despised.
Seems to be working great.for my lady. A few ppl(older) at work bought it sooooo wheres the universally despised?
Its a shit tablet. Try it yourself for a bit and you will see. Or, I dunno try GOOGLING it?
I want this in pro❕
For you? Prozac
LMAO! He got you, Rodneyej.
NIST will be having my ball sacks in his mizouth later today.. And he knows it❕❕❕
Lol❕❕
NIST.. You give a new meaning to the term ""two in the pink, one in the stink"""
Rodneyej can you reply to yourself a couple more times?
Yes,, on the next article I will.,, just for you..
Hopefully this will be the Lumia 925 of the Nokia tablets and there's a 620/625 analogue on the way too. Use the allure of the high end model to drive sales of the cheaper versions like they have with Windows Phone.
I like that idea, a 520 like tablet would take on the legions of horrible Android tablets and win.
If Nokia is that stupid to go toe to toe with the iPad @ $499.00 it will be DOA. Again, MS and Nokia need to learn.
Plus it will have to go up against the Surface 2 RT and if MS keeps the price the same as the current one then that's $150 difference. I just have to say that they're pretty crazy if they do launch at that $499 price.
The iPad that has 32GB and cellular/LTE costs $729.
That may be the case but the Apple 32G has more useable space. Therefore, the public will not pay that price. An LTE version will sell for $399 and the non-LTE should go for $299.00.
With all due respect, the public has no clue even what "usable space" means. :D
exactly. they'll buy an ipad because their friends and neighbours have one. which is a damn shame cause surface tablets are way better imo ;)
I will not disgree with this. However, MS and Nokia is still the underdog. That's why price is a major concern.
I agree. They have GOT to nail the price.
Except we are the public... and we do have the clue. Some of us have solved the murder already. So now what?
Yes, that's quite correct. The 32GB Nokia Sirius with LTE priced at $499 will compete with the 32GB iPad with Cellular/LTE priced at $729.
128gb is too much storage for Microsoft. You'll be able to download more apps and game, which will support more developers. Now, Microsoft would not want that would they?
Please stop talking. Go troll somewhere else.
Any reason enough to get this instead of iPad, Android tablets or Surface RT?
Thinner, lighter, Nokia quality, Nokia apps, included keyboard with battery-extension, supposedly genuinely decent cameras for a tablet. And WinRT comes with Office, which is incredibly useful for businesses and students. It's also a lot cheaper than a comparable 32GB iPad, and has apps specifically made for tablets, rather than the phone apps for iOS and Android tablets. I'm sure there are more reasons.
Price is another reason. The 32GB iPad with LTE is priced at $729 while the 32GB Sirius with LTE will be priced at $499.
If you are at all familiar with what Nokia has done with Windows Phone, you wouldn't get anything else.
I'd buy for 299€, 499$ is way too much for RT
Then you won't be buying one.
Definetly on my list of things to buy this holiday season!!! Can't wait.
As with most Nokia devices I expect the hardware will be top notch. That price is at least £200 too expensive though. Don't get me wrong, it's a good price for what is in the hardware, but trying to compete with the iPad with your first ever tablet is just never going to work. That's without mentioning that it's running Windows RT, which again is a perfectly fine OS, but when you can already buy the Surface RT for £270 or the full Windows 8 Iconia W3 for £250... why is anyone going to buy this?

To me this feel like a massive misstep for Nokia. I've been able to understand their thinking with each of the Lumia devices they've put out but I don't understand who this tablet is for. What is the market? Who is the target audience?

If it was priced competitively with the RT and the W3 I could see some people maybe picking it up, but I'd still have to choose the W3, even if the processor isn't quite as good. I just don't see the logic in buying a device that cannot do everything, when you can get a much cheaper one that does.
£200 too expensive? What?
For a start, comparing the Nokia tablet to a Surface and a W3 is unfair. The Iconia W3 is awful. It's outclassed completely by practically every other RT or 8 device. It's the smallest - that's partly why it's cheapest. It's mainly cheap because of the cheap components in it. The Surface also contains fairly outdated hardware, so of course it'll be cheaper than Nokia's offering. It's also about to be replaced so MS are trying to clear them out.
As for the iPad, it starts at ~ £399 here... if that's the price Nokia can match - with a device containing a brand new CPU, LTE, 32GB of storage which is expandable and a 1080p screen - they're not looking too bad, especially given the iPad at that price is WiFi only, 16GB of storage and is non-expandable. If that price also includes that keyboard (which I hope), even better.
Until I actually hear the announcement from Nokia I'm not buying any of it.
+1. We'll see what all this is about come Sept. 26-27th. I just can't believe the price point until Nokia announces it themselves because $499 is that bad of a decision.
WIth no marketing heft and meager distribution this won't sell.
So far it looks like Verizon will have it. I'd be surprised if ATT didn't also. And they'll likely be in MS stores. Best Buy? Perhaps. Nokia stores across the globe? Yep.
Shame for the price really considering its RT. I think I'll have a few quid and go for the Surface RT.
Man, that is really thin. I don't know that I need one, but the wife's Asus transformer prime is about to give up the ghost. What a POS that was!
Isn't that an Android tablet?
Yeah, and an old one at that.
Seems most people (on this blog) are not happy with the price and have passed a death sentence already. Could you wait for it to hit the shelves already?

The same thing was said about the price of the Lumia 1020 and most tech blogs and readers of such blogs deemed it a failure. Recent stats showed that it's doing just fine.
PS: Though the comments and opinions of blog readers like us matter, it would be nice to know that we constitute less than 1 percent of the target market. So every one take a chill pill and calm down.
People said the same thing whent the Surface RT was released, "wait for it to hit the shelves before judging" and we all how that went. Nokia is new to tablets and them asking for the same price point as an iPAD is dumb not to mention the Windows Marketplace is garbage at the moment. I don't think they're going to convince a lot of people to buy this thing at that price.
It has microSD and will include keyboard, so that should help justify cost as well as allow storage increase very easily
Again. People vote with their wallets! $500 is too high a price point for an RT tablet no matter how great the build quality and specs are. If you truly want to come close to 'competing' with the juggernaut that is the iPad you MUST undercut them significantly by at least $100. Its the only strategy that can give RT any chance of getting a toehold in the tablet market space.
$729-$499 = $$230. $230 > $100. :)
You do realize that they are actually undercutting the Ipad by more than 100 dollar if they launch at this price? The cheapest Ipad 4 with included 3G and not Wifi is costing 629$....
No he doesn't. Cheapskates who like whinging and making stupid points that are based on information they just made up in their heads don't actually RESEARCH what they are talking about.
If they did their research, they will realize that the 32GB Nokia Sirius priced at $499 will be going against the 32GB iPad with LTE that costs $729.
Again tablet with RT Windows?
NOOOOOOoooooooooooooo
I wanted to buy a surface rt but did not because of lacking apps and poor performance. Nokias tablet will probably be faster. Will the app-thing remain? To be honest i fear that. Even with some homemade finnish aplications there will be the absence of third party products. Only massive use of money to get more rt-software developed will help. I don't want to wait again like i had - and still have - with wp8. I'm so tired of hearing "great apps to come, all in the pipeline" and similar blabla.
As long as there are people like you then yes, the app thing will remain.
And that is supposed to mean what?
I should buy a rt tablet ignoring the fact that there is a problem. Would you buy a car without brakes only to support the dealer? Come on. I like windows but let's be realistic.
That's the Windows predicament. Developers won't develop if there are no consumers, but consumers won't buy unless there are apps.
And apps won't be at the store if the developer didn't develop it ... one need to break this circle to advance. Microsoft already did by attracting developers to develop for RT (and Modern UI apps in general). Now it's user turn to actually use the system. This will attact more developers which in turn will adding items into app catalogue.
Should be WinRT 8", 1080p, 20mp Zeiss camera, stereo speakers, HAAC, HDMI, 64GB, USB, expandable storage. $299
The real price of the Lumia 1020 at launch was 649$, so basically Nokia should introduce a tablet with bundled office for half the price and still deliver higher specs than the current lumia flagship phones? You got to be kidding... A lot of americans seem to have a completely distoreted view of the real costs by contract prices and the fact that you have easy accesss to the Nexus and Kindle tablets who are sold at cost or at a loss as Amazon and Goggle expects to make it back by selling media and ads.
Don't bundle it with office and remove the desktop. Make it a pure tablet. Entertainment not productivity. You want office? Use the web app in SkyDrive. WiFi, Bluetooth and LTE enabled. I would thoroughly enjoy a larger screen to shoot and edit photos without pulling out a 10"+ screen. Or a larger Bluetooth device for media playback in the car. If I want to work, I want to be in front of my PC with dual 24" monitors, period.
Or they could just let the 32GB Nokia Sirius with LTE at $499 stay as is and let it compete with the 32GB iPad with LTE priced right now at $720.
Even without office and desktop part on the OS side, those hardware you spoken off still expensive (-_-)a
Um... who would want a 20mp camera in a tablet? And you really think any manufacturer can do this without selling the damn thing at/below cost? Seriously?
Yes
I think WP Central should have a poll about the hypothetical price point and then send it over to whomever their friendly contact is at Nokia. $499 is not going to cut it. Should be priced par to current Surface RT prices since MS has basically admitted that is the true value of RT on the market. I really love WP and think W8 has the potential, so not a hater here, but good business sense is nowhere to be found here.
1. Public still remembers the failure of an overpriced, poorly bundled, poorly marketed, under-developed Surface RT (and other RT tablets)
2. Even with RT 8.1, I seriously doubt that the biggest problems with RT (and Pro) have been fixed for tablet use Things like scaling, poorly designed workflows, and let's not forget lack of Metro Apps with no ability to run legacy software..Oh and it needs to be ONE mode...make office and file browsing work in Metro or don't even try. It's a confusing, jarring, and useless experience when you can't load legacy apps to replace non-existant metro apps.
3. The majority of the public really didn't seem to buy the "but you can get work done on it!" argument. E.g., it was being shopped for as an iPad competitor not to replace the PC that's used for work.
In sum, RT needs to be Paused, focus resources on W8.x until RT can be a seamless single mode environment that can ALSO do work. Think of it as 1 really great personality instead of multiple distinct personalities of which you'd never want to date either for too long.
I agree, Surface RT now has that stink of failure attached to it and marketing it as a productivity device didn't work. The real issue here is that the Windows Marketplace app situation is so poor that's hard to sell people on RT devices when all it can do is use apps from there. Plus it's their first tablet and they have no name recognition in that space so how are they going to justify the price?
I wish people would stop saying RT is a failure because it doesn't run "legacy apps".....ok wise guy, what legacy apps does iPad and android run??? Exactly
Yes, it does get tiring listening to the same uniformed comment again and again.
RT is not a failure because it can't run legacy apps. It has been a failure in part because MS botched the distinction between W8 and RT with regard to the user experience - and I mean the experience of 95% of consumers who are not reading tech sites like this. To them, it is needlessly confusing and offers no advantage over iPad or Android tablets. So, why go with an unknown, poorly marketed, poorly executed, unfinished product sold at par or at a premium when they can get a known quantity? For RT to make any sense as a distinct OS, MS needs to kill the traditional desktop, make Office metro (for f*cks sake, how hard can it be to just have the tile launch the app without going to the desktop?), vastly improve basic apps like mail, make a metro file browser, notifications, etc.
DOA
If it would run Windows 8.1, I would buy it 100%. With RT I'm not sure.
RT is a mistake.
Or, its not
Wait, what ever happened to that announcement in Russia?? Is it already over?
The price is steep but only because apps are missing and iBloggers will feel threatened and bash it.

iPads cost much more and do much less in all realitiy except that they have a thriving ecosystem of lame games and seem cheap compared to a replacement PC (replacing the PC the iPad owner never needed in the first place).
LTE makes it more attractive than Surface to many since most family share wireless plans on ATT/VZW allow adding tablets for $10 (a nominal amount) for shared data. This is a strong selling point that Win8 tablets totally lacked. Sure most phones can "teather" but at the expense of your battery and also with Verizon the lack of ability to call while teathered.
This also opens doors to wireless carriers getting behind this, something they clearly wont do for wi-fi only Surface devices. AT&T's lame ATIV windows 8 tablets were like $749 and way too large. Plus that putrid, awful name.
Win8.1 will be more accessible to people. Microsoft seems to have let Sinofsky really screw up Windows 8 by not allowing cross-organizational development and sticking to silly deadlines.12-14 months extra time to mend this will be visible as per the 8.1 preview (which is missing all the core app updates).
RT and Price Point are a HUGE problem. RT does not sell well and this won't sell for that price.

Make this for 299 and maybe you will sell a few but still RT is a no go.
and some kid is using it in an advert BING FOR SCHOOLS :
http://cdndiscoverbing.blob.core.windows.net/sitecore/dbing/media/BingSchools/students-img.jpg
The original RT hater is back!!!! :). Ok, I think I have the perfect formula for a RT tablet. Ready? Max 8" screen at 1080p, ARM quad core, yada, yada, Office mobile (as in WP Office mobile), micro hdmi, micro SD, NO desktop, NO USB, NO Office home student, no silly pretense of being a full PC while actually not, pure consumption device for $299. Add in Nokia apps and build (camera makes sense at this size) and its perfect. Anything bigger comes with Windows 8 (not Pro), Bay Trail, Office home student, USB, HDMI, optional digitizer, starts at $399. ULV Haswell hybrid devices with Win 8 Pro start at $699. Sounds good to me. :)
Its great to see people moan and complain about the price, when the product itself wasn't even confirmed. I don't trust Verge with rumors after they claimed that instagram is launching with WP8.
They are going to have to sell it through phone carriers
As they apparently are planning to.
I think I'll pass.
Lets not forget too that if I'm gonna shell out $500 for an RT tablet it MUST have apps. I have a Surfaces RT at the reduced price and I am still bothered by the paucity of apps.
I thought it was a bit too high into I read the article 499 is pretty good I paid more for my tablet but I'm waiting on a Pro version Also I think a 7inch RT tablet makes sense Nokia go make that please
Was waiting for the surface 2 now I might get Nokia tablet instant!
Well, in my opinon Nokia should wait a bit more before build a tablet with W8 RT. We all know that OS doesn't have many apps. How could anyone buy that Tablet instead an iPad? What Nokia will offer that make a person buy that tablet? That's why I belive that new tablet won't sell too much.
It doesn't have many apps because of people like you. Nokia may be doing this to help raise the profile and market share. Then you will get more apps. Jesus.
WP barely had any big apps before Nokia joined. Nokia doing RT device will just increase app store for RT.
I don't find the $500 price range to be too high. Everytime ASUS releases a new high end Android tab it seems to release at $500. It has high end specs for an ARM tab. My only concern is when happens when the next round of Intel Atom chips start getting incorporated into devices by OEMs? I think RT will be left by the wayside like Windows ME.
I honestly don't see how $499 is high for an RT device when RT is more capable than its competitors, not to mention a device much nicer than any iPad.
You're right, MS should raise the Surface RT price back up to $499 because it is more capable than its competitors and much nicer than any iPAD. It's totally priced fairly and it's only a matter of time before it starts selling well. Let's just ignore the most important things that consumers want which is apps but I;m sure all those high quality apps currently in the store is enough for them.
*sigh*
This particular RT from Nokia has LTE and will compete with the iPad with LTE priced at $729. It might be too high for you but not against what its going against.
Most people will still see they can get an iPad for 499 (even if it is 16gb WiFi only) and just buy the iPad anyway.
No software.
The surface do not have LTE and it has a lousy camera. Plus I am quite sure Nokia will include Offline GPS. If Keyboard is included to me it will be a no brainer over the surface tablet even with its cut price. And I forgot to mention a way better screen.
Yes that's correct, it has LTE - plus it will be competing against the 32GB iPad with LTE that is priced right now $729.
DOA...what a waste of time/resources by Nokia.
so let me get this straight, some ppl are stil saying this will fail, it will have a 1080p screen, 6.7 camera, 10 hour battery, usb port, hdmi, sd storage, LTE and may come with a keyboard/stand with battery inside and yet if the price listed remain to be true is still $100 cheaper than a 32gb ipad wifi only tab. explain to me why this will fail? let say the apps isnt an issue why would this fail, cause if ur only basing it only on apps then i never will by that standard
RT...every major OEM has already given up on RT...Dell, HP, Asus, etc...
Yes and we all know we should follow the crowd because whatever MOST people think is ALWAYS right... That was sarcasm slowpoke.
You're an idiot. OEMs not making anymore RT devices and Microsoft taking a $900 million write down for Surface RT should tell you how hard creating a RT device is. Do you really think Nokia is going to sell well at $499 when Microsoft couldn't do it with all their advertisements and distribution? Think about that for a second slowpoke.
o
I thought the iPad was still selling for around $700. Shows how out-of-touch I am.
The price sounds high, but with 4G wouldn't have carrier subsidies? Nokia sells phones and has inroads with carriers. If consumers can get is for $199 (or something like that) it might well have a good chance.
RT still doesn't make sense to me. Maybe it will work for other people, but I can't see myself ever getting one. Sure, RT is my favorite tablet OS---but Microsoft made tablet OSes obsolete by releasing a hybrid OS. I'd get this if I got any tablet, but since my laptop is now a tablet too, I'll never actually need a tablet.
I'm surprised people are still complaining about WinRT. It was never meant to be used by the power users amongst us just as the iPad and most android tablets aren't either. It does what it needs to do and, contrary to popular belief among many here, awareness about it is definitely growing amongst the average joes. I've had multiple friends say they want a Surface RT and another friend who just showed up with one, complete with type cover and all because she went online, did her research, and bought one. Apparently, word is getting around that the Surface RT gives the most bang for your buck amongst people in school.
Why RT
More importantly. Why are you so gorgeous?
--------------------------------------------------------------^Creep.
Says the man with a pic of him taking pics out of a car window with a zoom lense as his avatar. :P
oh umm... thank you very much.
BC that price point worked so well for Microsoft. I love my rt surface but I wait for the drop.
Let's take a look at what 499$ buys you in the rest of tablet land as this seems to be a completely unthinkable amount:

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-TF700T-B1-CG-10-1-Inch-Tablet-Champagne/dp/B008F4NL0O/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1377550488&sr=8-3&keywords=asus+transformer+pad+infinity+tf700

Congrats, 399$ gives you the same resolution but you get the pleasure of owning a device with slightly less stellar quality and Tegra 3, oh, and wifi only. Dock sold separately, and the price used to be 499...

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-Tab-10-1-Inch-White/dp/B00D029NNA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1377551856&sr=8-3&keywords=samsung+galaxy+tab+3

Samsung generously gives you a clover trail+ processor which is a previous generation, 1280:800 resolution and likely a worse quality screen, 1 Gb of RAM and 16GB of memory. Also, yout get the pleasure of owning a device with Samsungs world famous plastic "design". Launched at 399$, and seems to be Wifi only.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Xperia-SGP311U1-10-1-Inch-Tablet/dp/B00CE590Z0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377552208&sr=8-1&keywords=sony+tablet+z

Let's not forget the Sony tablet Z, 16 GB, wifi, S4 pro SoC, and all this for 499$ at launch. Running android and not windows RT with office. I could go on, but I guess I have made my point. Of course you could also look at cheaper chinese no name tablets with the cheapest components, poor build quality and no support. Sound like a great deal to me.. And as mentioned, the cheapest Ipad 4 with 3G costs 629$ for 16 GB of storage and no expandable storage.
500$ is in fact a completely reasonable price for a device with such high end specs, and in fact cheaper than comparable tablets in the 10 inch space, the Nexus 10 might come close but it is subsidized by Google as all Nexus devices are. There is certainly room for a cheaper tablet at about 300 USD, but obviously it will have to be built with cheaper components.I certainly think this could be an interesting device, but I will wait and see what else comes out later this autumn before comitting.
High end specs with RT on it? What are you just going to spend that money on the looks? Its still very limited as to what it can do. At that price it should come with a keyboard and a pen. App selection compared to the iPad us what normal people -not us- are going to look for. Pretty hardware has yet to work. Take Surface RT for that story.
Keyboard and pen? I'll definitely go for that as long as it is an active capacitive dual digitizer screen.
Just to put things in perspective, you must not forget one important aspect. The Nokia Sirius with LTE is carrier bound and will therefore go against the 32GB iPad with LTE presently priced at $729.
Hmmmmm this or Surface 2?......
Colours....so with black it's gonna named SIRIUS BLACK
If the tablet ends up looking anything like that, with other color options, I'll be wanting one in red and one in cyan! And a yellow one for my girlfriend!
I just hope Nokia knows "more" about the near future of RT if this is true. Maybe bringing the platforms more together and merge both app stores? WP8 has the (some) apps and RT is the spin off from W8. Merge RT and Phone to something compatible with W8 and life becomes easier. Or?
In order to be relevant in the tech blogs community, apparently one must commit to spreading a believable combination of FUD and ignorance. RT does enough out of the box better than an iPad to justify someone who doesn't own a tablet choosing it over the iPad. True, it doesn't run apps that the iPad does but for the most part, they aren't necessary apps. If only people touted functionality and not popularity...
Dude, thank you. Some people and their FUD.
You also forgot to say that they're two completely different OS... ;)
I'd be willing to spend $499 on an RT tablet IF it comes equipped with an active digitizer for inking, the keyboard and built-in Qi-charging. Though if that price included LTE, then yeah, we have a deal.

Nokia fully understands that their best bet lies in entry-level pricing, this Sirius tablet is a premium device meant to represent what Nokia tablets are fully capable of and to score margins wherever possible.

I am willing to bet that Nokia also has a 10.1 inch $299 Windows 8 tablet running on Bay Trail in the pipeline.
$500 didn't work for Surface RT, or any other RT device out there. Not enough apps, so why would this be a success for Nokia at this price. Doesn't anyone get it? RT is dead at this price point. Failure!
I couldn't agree more but it seems like Nokia wants to try for it themselves and expect a different outcome. That $900 million write down from Microsoft or other OEMs dropping RT didn't scare them off. They're either really brave or really dumb.
Don't forget that the Nokia Sirius with LTE is carrier bound and with its $499 price point will be competing against the iPad with LTE that is currently priced at $729. The $230 price difference is a point to consider before you start saying "Failure" and calling anybody "dumb".
I agree, that comment was a failure... =[
You have a point. Do you think Nokia is in a position to heavily subsidize products at this stage in its transition? You might also want to take a look at what's on offer.
I am not advocating the $500 price tag. But I think it's premature to pass a verdict on the success of the product bassed on this.
Seriously...I mean, our phones cost around $600!
Folks, can we stop quoting prices for Android tabs and the IPad as if the fact that this is a little cheaper helps. It doesn't. I don't care if the Ipad cost 1k and this is 500. The general public does not want Windows tablets. They don't want RT and they don't want Windows 8 tablets at this point eaither. The general public will not spend 500.00 on any type of Windows tablet. I will, most of us might, the general public won't. They generally don't klike Micrsoft to begin with, They have heard nothing but negative things about RT while hearing the Ipad being praised and they are being overwhelmed at the store by the sheer amount of Android products. Windows tablets at 500.00 do not stand a chance at this point. Nokia of all people should know this. If they don't want to believe Micrsoft's results, just ask Samsung or Asus or Lenova or Acer or...

People call us price trolls and RT haters. I'm neither. I'm fine with RT the way it is other than wanting a few more games and apps and I would be willing to pay 500 for this and the Surface. But I'm also not going to ignore the last year of sale #'s or the negative spin from the press that's is always an obstacle or the absolute blind love that the general public has for the Ipad at the moment. This price point for any Windows tablet is a mistake. Doesn't matter about the resolution or memory or additional features. They won't sell at the level that is needed. The Surface Pro won't sell at this price at the level needed either. You and I here will buy it, some Tech enthusiats will buy it but the general public just won't. 300.0 max for RT, maybe 500.00 max for Windows 8 but it better be 128 GB, 1080P, USB ETC. It's a shame, but that's just the current state of Windows tabs. It gets tiring trying to convince people they are worth the price because believe me I try. Every day, I try.
"The general public does not want......." - Please stop speaking for the general public, the general public can speak for itself so just speak for yourself.
First of all, this comment is too long...secondly, no and third, what Tips_y said!
But will it Blend?
I hope they would add a digitizer pen (like the Galaxy Note S-pen) to make it more a productive device. I hope the Win 8.1 RT also support Miracast so that I can mirror the screen onto HDTV, great for use in classroom or boardroom.
Digitizer is a must in my opinion. I'd love to see Microsoft productize their research project (revealed 18 months ago) that does away with the typical digitizer display layer found in today's solutions and instead uses a more advanced digital pen.
...or at least find a way to get it to work on ARM.
Do you guys think if they could some how get this thing into the classooms it would help them out?
I thought.Microsoft was already doing some of that with their Surfaces. Even then, Microsoft is probably selling them to schools for low margins. I say Nokia do it, business is risky and sometimes they're worth the risk.
They win them with heavy Bing searches..? =P
Iyea. What's with the hate? Consider that at $500 it does undercut the iPad but not nearly enough. People pay a premium on iPads not just for the hardware or OS, or even superior performance in general. Its the APPS. Their catalog of popular, high quality apps is HUGE, and if Nokia and Microsoft want RT based tablets to compete on any meaningful level without a MUCH more robust app store coupled with a $500 entry price tag they are shooting themselves in the foot. No whining. Just thoughtful points to consider.
The iPad with LTE that the Nokia Sirius with LTE will compete against in the carrier is priced currently at $729. If $230 is not enough of an undercut, how much do you think the price cut should be.
The apps are NOT what makes iOS products premium price, they pay for themselves...don't act as if RT can't run apps, because it can. Ok, so developers are basically worthless and can't figure it out but try again. Apple didn't make all those apps, they milked those developers of their 33% the old fashioned way. It seems Microsoft's problem is they are too kind with developers... =/
I love the product, but $499 is simply too expensive. Hopefully that's not the true price.
Is it though..? =/
The Lumia Tab ;)
Tablet market is still in its infancy for most of the world outside US, Western Europe and Japan. Considering Nokia's deep distribution network that is unmatched reaching all the small towns across the world, this is a good start. Nokia can take this device to a middle class consumer in India or China and sell it as their ONLY family computer. And there are lot of places in the world where you cannot buy an iPad even if you want to because of Apple's limited distribution network. Remember, it is hard to get carrier support for tablets unlike cell phones.
GO NOKIA, if you execute well, you have a great opportunity in your hands. Just like WP8, W8 RT could be your own OS, with little to no development cost from your pocket.
Here's another tablet I won't be buying. 10 inch tablets are simply too big for what I use them for. I have yet to find any tablet that combines the fuctionality and portability of my Verizon Galaxy Tab 7.7. Perfect size, killer screen and 4G LTE connectivity. So what if it's two years old. It works brilliantly. I would love to see Nokia come out with an 8-inch version of this tablet. That might get my interest.
Is 6 too small? They have that coming up.... =[
Surface RT is a good product but MS didn't capitalize on 3 key areas.
1. Price point way too high at launch.
2. Hardware specs were too damn slow to run the OS
3. No LTE/3G
Guess what all of that is fixed with the 2nd gen refresh.
Gues what RT did though bring apps to the app store not bad not bad..
I think the Nokia tablet price is ok it could be a bit cheaper. Needs pressure sensitive pen support & awesome first party Nokia apps and now were talking :)
I say yes to the pen!
But people forget that the Nokia Sirius has LTE and is carrier bound where it will compete with the current iPad with LTE that has the price tag of $729.
I would buy it if it was free
Now that's funny, good job sir! =P
The price is less than the Samsung Galexy Note 10.1 on Verizon it is 599.99
Damn I hope its not $499..
I'm not sure how I feel about Harmonia. 4 syllables seems like a mouthful. Then again, I can't think of anything better in particular right now.
I'm not sure why people on this site act like they have the definitive formula to outselling the iPad. Its even more nonsensical that they think a lower price is going to help. Just like it has been since the beginning: successful technology solves a problem. The iPhone was less functional than the Motorola Razr, but it solved the app problem and developers made a mint. The Killer App is what it used to be called. The moment somebody else actually uses a competing platform to solve a problem, creates the killer app tied to its platform, Apple is cooked. The truth is people are already poised to leave, but they have no clear vision of where to go.
I think the Windows tablets solve a problem, they can replace a laptop and have great battery life to boot. Problem is, they are too expensive. That's why people still buy shitty laptops instead of these tablets., price. iPads do not do productivity well, but they are simple, work well and have all of the apps plus beautiful well built hardware. So the only thing these Windows tablets don't have, since the commercials on TV show what they have over iPad, are apps. They solve a problem. Windows does not have apps, and the problems they do solve, freaking productively, is not worth the price because you can get a shit Dell laptop for $300.
Solving a problem is not the same as having a Killer App.
People still buy these laptops mainly because they are confused about their options. They don't know that the particular tablet will actually meet their needs because there are no reliable media outlets that give that information. The few that do actually report useful info are generally swarmed by fanboy soldiers. Jobs knew what he was doing when he designed his products marketing.
Price has nothing to do with it. Talking about the price of this product is simply a distraction. And a misleading one at that when you take into account that you pay more for the same functionality in an Apple product (something that is being ignored by the people screaming about price for a reason).
The portability problem no longer needs solving. Nor do the apps, space/storage or productivity problems need solving. Apple products are as popular as they are because they are essentially the Blue Pill. Android is decidedly a Red Pill. WP8 seems to want to be a blue pill, but keeps smacking us in the face with things that don't work yet.
I'm digressing a bit. Price is hardly the most important factor. The best selling option is wildly overpriced.
I don't even remember which pill did what... =[
You have to be more clear, iPhone *created* the "app problem"
Nokia/ms should only have rt in 7-8" devices and the price ranges less than $300 to be competitive. And why dont put in a great pureview like 20mega to be the best camera on tablets
I really wish was 7 or 8 inches! I would buy it then.
The tegra 3 was a very slow processor for Windows, even a stripped down RT. The Snapdragon 800 clocked at that speed has the floating point and interger performance close to an entry level icore i3 laptop CPU. This thing will be very fast.

$450 Surface RT + keyboard (no LTE)
$450 Galaxy Note 10 (no keyboard & no LTE)
$500 ipad 4 (no keyboard & no LTE)
$580 Transformer infinity + keyboard (no LTE)
$730 ipad 4 + LTE (no keyboard)

$500 Nokia Sirius + keyboard + LTE!!!!!!! Are you people crazy! The Surface was heavily marketed with the keyboard. That was a $600 purchase compared to $500 for the ipad 4. Nokia's tablet will likely be priced with the entry level 10" ipad BUT COME WITH A KEYBOARD & LTE!!! The price of the tablet is extremely competitive with the ipad. With that hardware, it will be the best value in the tablet space. It also might get subsidised a bit through phone carriers with a 2 year contract.
The reason MS took that huge loss is because they wildly over produced a 10" tablet when 80% of the sales in the tablet space moved to 7-8" tablets. The Google nexus 10 is moving less than 200K a quarter. They also had limited retail and no enterprise channel distribution because they wanted to protect their partners and increase their margins by selling through their limited number of stores.
If Nokia comes into this with more realistic expectations of 200-300K per quarter with an initial order of 500K units they will be fine.
I think you are one of the few who can actually see that the Nokia Sirius with LTE is carrier bound and will be going against the iPad with LTE that is currently priced at $729.
Why can't they make a Pro tablet? :(
With the recent price cuts the Surface RT sales have surpased the pro. The surface pro only sells about 100-150K units a quarter. Due to cost, haswell/ivy bridge tablets are not mass market devices. They have to sell @ $800+ because the i5 mobile cpu alone is $320+ for OEMs.
I can't say I'm crazy about that keyboard design... and hopefully they'll have two types like the Surface. I have to say I'm not head over heels about the design either...but maybe it's because the one we saw was red and I hate red. I need to see it in black. Still...the design of the Surface is gorgeous...it will be hard to beat. I'm definitely going to check this one out...but only IF the price tag goes for around 350€. Anything higher and I'll just skip it. For 350€ and I'll buy one even though I don't need another tablet and the Surface RT meets all my needs. Also, it would help if, like the Surface, this Nokia device comes with Office. Otherwise...another deal breaker to me. I don't care for Windows 8 on tablets. RT is good and enough. All I need is good battery life, Office and a keyboard. In that sense, this Nokia tablet will have to be really awesome and really cheap for me to give away my Surface.
Brig it out with W8.1 not RT and I'm sold. Add 4gb of RAM and the new super efficient processors and I'm sold. SOLD I SAY! jejeje. Alright. Back to dreamig... Its late. jejeje
The Nokia Sirius with LTE is carrier bound and therefore will be going against the iPad 4 with LTE that is currently priced at $729. I think this good-looking tablet RT is in the right place. May it prosper long and well!
It unfortunately doesn't matter how good the tablet is... you *cannot* charge $500 for the entry level price. It *HAS* to be less than $400.
We're going to have Atom tablets with 1080p displays, equivalent battery life, and full windows 8 selling for less than $400 soon. Why would you pay $500 for an RT tablet? >.<
None of those 10" full windows tablets will have LTE support
None of them will cost less than $400 with 1080 displays
None of them will come with keyboards
None of them will be $100-$150 subsidized by carriers

The new lenovo Miix 10 tablet with last year specs was just released for $500. Baytrail T will be more expensive than the current clover trail Atoms. $550 will likely be the starting price for Baytrail-T 10" tablets & add another $120-140 for an OEM matching keyboard accessory. This tablet is targeted for the niche but growing higher margin carrier supported LTE market. Those with data contracts that want a larger screen experience than the upcoming 6' Bandit phablet.
Why wouldn't you..?
It doesn't matter what it has, an RT tablet @ $499 seems DOA to me...
It's mostly due to lack of communication and excution of the product line on so many levels, and I am not just talking Microsoft. Walk into an AT&T store or walk up to a T-Mobile Kiosk at the mall, the sales people barely know or don't know how to navigate a windows phone or 8 device. I work for a major office supplly retailer. I can demo every computer, tablet and printer in the store, regardless of brand or OS. I will even recommend Apple products if it's going to meet the needs of the customer. Many consumers that I have helped since the launch of the RT tablets and then the Win8/pro tablets, all had these concerns. 1. what apps were avaiable for the RT? 2. Does it come with Outlook? 3. Where can I purchase one. Microsoft should have gotten the Surface RT, into alot more retailers sooner. Customer were clamoring for the MS tablet, for the first few weeks of Windows 8\RT launch. No retailer outside of Microsoft, had them yet, not even for display purposes, so consumers could try it out. Many consumers got too see the Samsung Ativ, and the ASUS vivotab. These two tablets were priced another $100, more the the Surface was, so this turned alot of my customers off. The school district, Universaty, Community colleges, and Businesses could not make big purchase Orders, due to the lack of their respective distributain partners, still get authorization to sell from MS. Most consumers, wanted the Office Home and Business, meaning they were looking for Outlook, so they did not need a constant internet connection, when traveling. This was a very big sticking point for most of my customers. You take the price of Office off you have a pretty sweet deal on a tablet, to bad you don't get a chioce of not having Office. There was only abut 4000 apps at launch, it is now over 110,000. Most customers didn't seem to care about the apps, since they could still use IE for accessing their busniess. I mean my bank does not have a mobile app or WaP yet, but I use IE, and I have the mobile version of the site comes up, and I still can do my bank that way. I guess my point is that need better presence in the retail sectore and enterprise channels, do a better job of explaing the benefits in ADs, and knowledgable sales reps on the sales floor. I shouldn't be the one, demonstrating a WP or tablet to a sales rep.
If office is included like every other RT device, I am buying one of these for my parents
Tips_y. That $230 buys you an OS that people already are more than familiar with and APPS. Access to hundreds and hundreds of APPS many of which are specifically designed to be run on the iPad. Who might buy the new RT tablets from Nokia & Microsoft? Folks like us who already enjoy the platform, however people who are already invested in the Apple ecosystem will NOT switch, some may, most won't and tablet newbie's want APPS. They will pay the premium price to get access to premium APPS. Until RT supports even a third of the premium content that the Apple ecosystem does, the price point MATTERS.
Still it's the other way around, its not like, "RT doesn't function, so we can't make apps for it" the apps makers are the ones that need to support RT...everyone is erroneously treating RT as substandard. =/
The lack of being able to torrent on a RT table is what's keeling me from buying these.
Why does everyone insist upon treating RT as less valuable than iOS, app store notwithstanding, like we all seriously expect these things to cost nothing because android set the expectation that an OS is cheap? Sad... =/ #communismiswinning
OK, Again. I am a Surface RT owner and I enjoy it. However is this site full of MS fanboys or are folks having a problem with REALITY. I'll give you an example. I like the Tune-In app which is available on my RT. IT DOESN'T WORK. IT NEVER HAS. I understand that this is one small example however it illuminates a much larger problem with RT. It is a tablet that is VERY capable and flexible and in many ways does so much more than any iPad can do. However there is one critical Achillies heel: The unacceptable lack of quality apps that work! Period. If you want to tout the versatility of the Surface RT great do that, however without an even comparable amount of quality apps please tell me what average consumer will shell out $500 to start for a pretty solid tablet that DOESN'T EVEN HAVE MANY OF THE MOST POPULAR AND USED APPS IN THE TABLET SPACE. The bottom line is until MS does whatever the heck it has to do to shore up its PATHETIC APP ecosystem people will often opt to PAY MORE for a device that will support its user needs NOW, rather than to save a couple of bucks and NOT HAVE WHAT THEY WANT.
Not really impressed with yet another rt device. Someone tell me again why they are out there?
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8974 (Sirius) vs Nvidia Tegra 3 (Surface RT)
I try to offer at least some information in my post.
Specs for the Sirius (left) vs Surface RT (right):
Processor:
2.5 GHz vs.1.6 GHz
28nms vs. 40nms (more powerful, yet cooler processor for the Qualcomm)
Dimensions:
0.35in thick vs. 0.37in thick
1.3lbs vs. 1.5lbs.
==========================================================
First, when talking about tablets, more specifically, Windows RT (ARM) based tablets, the talk legacy apps should stop. Now, once we get pass that we can really start doing some fantastic comparison. The biggest note to me is how much the 8974 processor kicks the pants off the Nvidia Tegra 3. I enjoy my Surface RT, but boosting performance by this much is more than welcome.

Also, if the Sirius is $499 (assuming this is for the 4G LTE version), it would not be hard to imagine a $349 version without the 4G capability, so we shouldn't be too quick to whine about price.

- moxie
I laugh at posts with people complaining that RT wont run their Computer software, and how fast ATOM is over ARM. Windows RT is not ment to run computer software anymore than Apples IOS is ment to run MAC software. It's a tablet not a PC, and it is ment to compete against other tablets. As for ATOM vs ARM I don't see the appeal. Non of us would want an atom powered Laptop or desktop PC running Windows 8, so why does everyone feel its such a great option? Any software you would be able to run at any performance level would be basic at best. In my opinion Microsoft should have never released a Windows 8 Pro tablet, and left that for the Laptops / Desktops of the world.
It's hard to see how this will have a better reception than Surface RT. Surface RT is a beautifully engineered piece of hardware hobbled by an already obsolete operation system. The NexGen atom (Haswell based Bay Trail) will have better performance under Windows 8, match battery life, have great performance for Metro apps. Can't see it doing any better than the Surface RT. It's a shame because they are just starting to get their financials in order with the release of the 520/521/620 budget line of Windows Phone 8.
Wonder why they choose to call it Sirius. The radio? Taking a shot at apple's siri? Pretty sure they could come up with another name. Interesting.
Why is Nokia's codenames for devices better than the actual names.

Show more comments