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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."
Given the war on general purpose computing , North Korea is far ahead of us technologically. We won't get this level of responsible computing for at least a few more years.
The article doesn't actually go into too much more detail (TV tuner only has access to two channels and can't be re-tuned, can't access the internet...), so it's not really the fault of the summary.
Parking lots for of cars? According to this several year old article, there's less than 30,000 cars for a country of 24m people. DFW airport has approximately enough parking for all of NK's vehicles.
Regardless, a $200 LCD screen that is useless for the average citizen seem to be an expensive luxury item where a car, if they somehow got permission to own one, may be necessary just to get around. How many people in the US or Europe have a vehicle but don't have a tablet?
I've never heard of an integrated TV tuner in a tablet.
When I was in Seoul a few months ago I was surprised to learn that almost all smartphones in Korea include a integrated TV turner, complete with antenna. You could see all these people commuting on the train watching broadcast TV - Even on flip-phones.
http://modernseoul.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/south-korea-vs-qatar-cell-phone-tv.jpg