http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/from-north-korea-with-love-a-tablet-with-no-internet-access/?_r=1
アップルや他のタブレット端末は、機能追加に余念が無いが、北朝鮮のタブレット・サムジヨンはユーチューブ、gmail.インターネットアクセスがなく、IPADのライバルにはなりそうにないと紹介されている。ただ、スピードの点では世界トップレベルである。
From North Korea With Love: A Tablet With No Internet Access
TOKYO — The Samjiyon tablet computer, it is safe to say, is no threat to the iPad.
While Apple and other leading tablet makers keep adding more features to these devices, the Samjiyon is more notable for what it lacks: YouTube, Gmail, Wi-Fi, even access to the Internet – at least, the Internet that most of the world knows.
Samjiyon is a North Korean brand, if that is the right word for the labels affixed to electronics in the world’s most hard-line communist country. Word of the Samjiyon began to trickle out of North Korea last year after the device was shown off at a trade fair in Pyongyang.
Now an intrepid traveler has gone into North Korea and brought back a Samjiyon tablet for the rest of the world to see. IDG, a technology news service and trade publisher, has provided a report based on his review.
The device, IDG says, comes equipped with a 7-inch screen, a 2-megapixel camera, a 1.2-GHz processor and it runs a version of Google’s Android operating system. Several apps, including games like “Angry Birds,” come pre-installed.
IDG said the information was provided by a tourist who asked that he be identified only by his first name, Michael, to ensure that he could re-enter the country.
The Samjiyon, acquired at a gift shop in Pyongyang for $200, is “surprisingly impressive,” IDG quotes Michael as saying.
“In terms of responsiveness and speed, it can almost compete against the leading tablets,” the news service quotes him as saying. “Tapping and launching apps feels fairly fluid, initializing the camera is as fast as the world’s leading tablets, and there is no noticeable lag when playing games I’m familiar with, like ‘Angry Birds.’ ’’
But there is a hitch. Michael tells IDG that he has been unable to get the Samjiyon online. While there is limited Internet connectivity in North Korea, access requires government permission. Even mobile phones remain rare.
Instead, North Korea has its own walled garden of an online service, called Kwangmyong, and the tablet has a Web browser for access. The Samjiyon also provides access to government-run television broadcasts, IDG says
タブレットの存在は昨年に分かっていた。
http://www.northkoreatech.org/2012/05/20/kcc-shows-tablet-pc-at-pyongyang-trade-fair/
ITWORLDは、ハードウエアは北朝鮮製ではないようだと指摘している。中国製をローカライズした可能性がある。
http://www.itworld.com/367228/android-tablet-gives-rare-glimpse-north-korean-tech
解体して内部のデバイスを調べたところ、深せんにあるyeconというタブレット製造会社のものが基本になっているという。
具体的にはMG705という製品で、サムジヨンに酷似している。
http://www.szyecon.com.cn/en/products_details.php?id=25
やはり北朝鮮には現在、自国でタブレットを作る能力はないようだ。
こういうハイテク器機が中国から輸出されているということは、他のハイテク技術も流れているのではないかと疑わせる。
私は以前あるところで、タブレットの登場は、北朝鮮の技術レベルを物語るなどと話したが、褒めすぎだったようだ。
http://www.northkoreatech.org/2013/08/04/exclusive-north-koreas-samjiyon-tablet-made-in-china/