The latest news doing the rounds on the tech rumour mill is that Finnish phone giant Nokia will be diving into chilly tablet sales waters, courtesy of a Windows RT running device.

According to The Verge, this tablet - codenamed Sirius - will be launched “shortly”, boasting a 10.1" (1920 x 1080) touchscreen.

Powering the Sirius tablet will be a seriously snappy mobile processor in Qualcomm’s quad-core Snapdragon 800. This is currently the fastest SoC (system-on-a-chip) on the mobile block, utilised in devices such as Sony’s Xperia Z Ultra and LG’s G2 flagship smartphone.

Additional features also slated to be onboard are LTE (4G) connectivity, 2 GB worth of RAM, 32 GB internal storage that is expandable via microSD card slot, a 6 megapixel rear-facing camera as well as a 2 MP front-facing snapper, and micro HDMI input.  

The touchscreen has apparently been optimised for enhanced readability outdoors, which would make sense considering that Nokia’s mid- and high-end smartphones sport ClearBlack screen technology to keep things visible in direct sunlight.

In need of a Windows ReThink

Despite the impressive list of claimed specs, releasing a tablet running Windows RT would still be a brave move by the company, seeing that this operating system has not exactly set the world ablaze in terms of device sales.

For its own Q4 and year-end financial report, Microsoft had to write-off a whopping $900 million charge related to unsold Surface tablet stock, as well as cutting prices for the struggling Redmond tablet line to the bone.  

Asus chairman Jonney Shih recently also weighed in on Windows RT, stating that sales of tablets running this version of Windows have “not been very promising.” Asus is now focusing more on mobile devices that sport Intel Core i-range chips and operate on Windows 8 rather than RT.

To the point

Whilst we would welcome a polycarbonate tablet from Nokia, and even feel that Nokia should have pushed for a tablet sooner, we can’t help but wonder how well Windows RT will be received in the market? With 67% of the tablets shipped around the globe during Q2 2013 being driven by Android, 28% on iOS, and just 4.5% employing Windows 8/Windows RT as its operating system, it feels like Nokia might have an uphill battle.

In related news, Nokia recently announced that the Amber software update for its Windows Phone 8 operating smartphones has started to roll out.