North Korea usually gets thought of as a small, aggressive, backward nation that is more at home pointing missiles than it is at a negotiating table. Its people are poor, isolated and a large portion are imprisoned for saying the wrong thing. With the fog of its restrictive and Juche-flavoured internet it’s hard to imagine any decent tech ever surfacing… but amazingly, it does.
This week the internet got a first look at Samjiyon (삼지연), the best-selling (read: probably only) tablet device to be sanctioned by Pyongyang. Sneaked across the border by a tourist who goes by ‘Michael’, the North Korean tablet is surprisingly impressive for the $200 price tag.
Firstly, its an Android, packing a 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 2MP camera and 8 or 16GB storage. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 features the same RAM but with a weaker processor, so this obviously isn’t some weedy kids tablet. The whole system is reportedly as smooth and responsive as anything Apple or Samsung have to offer. As for the Android OS it’s 4.0.4 and obviously not Google-branded so there’s no Gmail, Maps, Navigation etc… though for a nation with somewhat scarce internet access these wouldn’t be of much. Plus there’s no WiFi on the device anyway.
In terms of apps there’s a web browser which can access the North Korean intranet (mostly North Korean news), a PDF reader, a whole host of generic games, and quite a few brand name ones, including Angry Birds. There’s also a camera, but no word on Instagram availability. It’s also packed with educational tools, from a catalogue of Juche study books, to English language courses and a video touting the potential as a learning tool for schools.
One feature we’re not used to seeing on western tablets is a TV tuner and pop-up antenna, allowing for watching live TV broadcasts. However in line with North Korean laws there’s no way to retune from the present 4 channels (we wouldn’t want you watching Chinese TV now, would we?), making it largely redundant outside of the capital.
Overall, and aside from the design which doesn’t exactly rival Apple, the Samjiyon is a pretty impressive piece of tech – it’s surprising Kim Jong-un didn’t design it himself. But what’s really worth noting is the price tag. Don’t be fooled, the Samjiyon is a gadget for North Korea’s rich and famous. Whilst $200 is pretty standard for a tablet here, the average monthly salary in Pyongyang is around $100, and in the rest of the country it’s much much lower. And if you think a quick holiday would be worth it to pick up a bargain, remember that you’ll need to take cash, as the evidently tech-savvy state doesn’t do cards…