Kim Jong Un's Tablet Can Do One Thing Your iPad Can't

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By Chris Taylor2013-08-02 19:39:11 UTC

It may not be able to connect to anything but state-sanctioned websites, and only offers a limited selection of apps (such as Angry Birds Rio).

But the Samjiyon tablet, manufactured and released in North Korea last year, does have at least one novel trick up its 7-inch sleeve: a built-in antenna for watching live, non-streaming TV.

See also: First North Korea Instagram Videos Give Eerie Glimpse at Mysterious Land

The $200 tablet was purchased late last month in Pyongyang by a tourist identified only as Michael, who sent the unboxing video below to Northkoreatech.org. If you believe the specs on the box, it has a 1.2 GHz processor — making it theoretically faster than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and the iPad 2, and within striking distance of the latest iPad's 1.4 Ghz processor.

Somewhere, Kim Jong Un is grinning — and not just at the fact that his Android tablet's specs come close to the best of the west. The North Korean dictator, friend of Dennis Rodman, is likely happy with the fact that the Samjiyon comes with a game called Basketball Shot.

There are also a number of military games, such as Tank Recon 3D and the American-made Field Runners.

The TV antenna and app is pre-set to state TV frequencies in Pyongyang, rendering it useless outside the hermit kingdom. Still, the feature is something you won't find in western tablets without purchasing a clunky add-on antenna. (It can be found on the Samsung Galaxy S Lightray phone.) The Samjiyon's antenna folds up inside the tablet itself.

So for all its constrictions — there's no apparent way to connect to Wi-Fi, at least not outside North Korea — the Samjiyon is an impressive device for an isolated nation. We can only hope North Korean nerds are wily enough to figure out how to hack the device to pick up TV signals from across the border.

Thumbnail image: AFP / KCNA via KNS

Topics: Gadgets, North Korea, tablets, Tech