Android Tablet Gives Rare Glimpse At North Korean Tech

alphadogg writes "An Android tablet brought back from North Korea by a tourist has provided a glimpse at some of the restrictions placed on IT users in the famously secretive country. The Samjiyon is the third tablet to have gone on sale in North Korea. It was unveiled at a trade show in the capital, Pyongyang, last September and received some coverage on state television, but few westerners have had a chance to see it up close. The tablet was likely manufactured outside of North Korea and the hardware itself is fairly unremarkable, but the software and the usage restrictions placed on the device provide some insights about life in the country."

Comments

Lame summary

[master_kaos]

You know, maybe it would be actually nice to list a few examples of the restrictions in the summary to see if I care to even read the article or not. (Yeah, yeah I know this is slashdot, who even reads the article.. even more reason to post examples)

Re:Lame summary

[quenda]

Summary:

• * The software is locked down so that counter-revolutionaries are unable to modify the firmware, as approved by Dear Leader.
• * Any attempt to bypass these restrictions can have you thrown in prison.
• * All communications to or from the device are intercepted by the State Security Apparatus.
• * Even telling people of the existence of this surveillance system can have you tortured and imprisoned indefinitely without trial .

I'm so glad I live in an enlightened democracy, instead of that totalitarian hell hole.
 

Re:North Korean Tech at it's best

[jtownatpunk.net]

It's not NoKo tech. It's Chinese hardware and American (and other) software imported to NoKo.

Re: North Korean Tech at it's best

[PixetaledPikachu]

He/she was probably referring to the restrictions being put inside those tablets, and probably some big brother-style tech embedded in them

Re:puff piece

[Anonymous Coward]

You talking about the US?

Re:When you turn it on...

[Pulzar]

You should follow you own advice and look at places other than the capital. It's pretty common for capitals of dictatorships to be at a significantly higher level of standard of living compared to the rest of the country..

Pick one of the smaller cities and zoom in.. you are indeed going to see lots of randomly scattered shacks.

Re: North Korean Tech at it's best

[lxs]

and probably some big brother-style tech embedded in them

So you're saying that it runs vanilla Android?

Re: North Korean Tech at it's best

[RockDoctor]

Since he only got to tinker with it in the shop, but didn't actually buy one, then he didn't get the chance to examine it's bowels closely. for example, he notes that he could see configuration files relevant to WiFi, but couldn't get it to work. So, hardly a forensic investigation, more a quick poke around during a fag break.