In the world of cheap tablets there’s very little that’s worth considering outside of the Amazon Fire line. Just take a look at our guide to the best cheap tablets for evidence of that – all but two of the entries are from Amazon. But the company could now have a bit more competition, as the Nokia T10 has just been announced, sporting a temptingly low price.
This Android tablet has an 8-inch 800 x 1280 screen, a modest Unisoc T606 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a microSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone port, face unlock, an 8MP rear camera and a 2MP front-facing one.
It also runs Android 12 and comes with the promise of two operating system updates (taking it up to Android 14), and three years of monthly security updates, which the brand claims is twice as many as the competition.
The Nokia T10 seems attractively designed too, with a polymer build that has an unusual nano-textured finish, designed to hide scratches. Plus, it comes with Google Entertainment Space and Google Kids Space, the latter of which could make it a good device for children or families looking for an inexpensive slate. What's more, it supports a range of accessories.
If you’re interested, you can grab it in the UK from August in Ocean Blue (pictured), at a cost of £129 (roughly $150 / AU$225) for the Wi-Fi model, or £149 (around $175 / AU$260) if you want 4G as well. There’s no word yet on if or when it will come to the US or Australia.
Still, if you can buy the Nokia T10, it might be worth considering, since we were fairly impressed by the larger Nokia T20. Then again, we’d always suggest waiting for a review.
This isn’t the only new Nokia-branded device though, as the Nokia 8210 4G, Nokia 5710 XpressAudio, and Nokia 2660 Flip have also been unveiled. This trio of phones all land in the UK in late July, but they look less interesting – or at least more niche. The former two are feature phones (one of which features integrated earphones that pop out), while the 2660 Flip is an Android flip phone aimed primarily at the elderly.
Analysis: how does the Nokia T10 stack up to Amazon’s offerings?
As noted above, the Nokia T10’s main rival is Amazon’s range of Fire tablets, so which should you buy? We can’t definitively answer than until we’ve reviewed the T10, but one big advantage that the Nokia slate has on paper is that it runs full fat Android.
If you buy a Fire tablet then although you’re technically getting Android, it’s a heavily forked version called Fire OS; which doesn’t give you access to the Google Play Store. Instead you have to use Amazon’s own app store.
The Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus is the closest rival to the Nokia T10, as it has the same screen size and resolution, and broadly similar specs elsewhere. But its starting price is slightly lower at $109.99 / £109.99 (around AU$165) with adverts. Grab it without adverts for a comparable experience and it costs $124.99 / £119.99 (roughly AU$185), or you have the option of a 64GB model for slightly more.
Although there's not much in it, if you’re reading this on July 12 or July 13 then Amazon Prime Day is in full swing, and at the time of writing the Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus is down to a starting price of just $64.99 / £54.99 (approximately AU$95).
The Nokia T10 can’t compete with that, so if you’re happy with a Fire tablet, we’d suggest jumping on that deal rather than waiting for this. The Fire HD 8 Plus is also more widely available. Or for something more premium, check out our roundup of the best Amazon Prime Day iPad deals.
