Nokia is said to be launching a Windows RT tablet near the end of September. Dubbed the “Nokia Sirius”, the 10.1-inch device has been described as something that’s quite similar to its Lumia phones, being encased in colorful plastic casings as per Nokia’s Windows Phone style.

The Sirius looks like an interesting device, but isn’t it a bit late for Nokia to be entering the tablet market?  Surely, other manufacturers are way ahead of Nokia in the tablet race – so is there anything that Nokia’s tablet has to offer that could differentiate it from the rest?

Nokia Sirius v. The World

The leaked specifications of the Nokia Sirius are not yet complete, but there’s enough for us to do a quick comparison with some of the other leading tablets.  To keep things fair, we’ll be comparing the devices based on what little info we have about the Nokia Sirius so far.

Nokia Sirius: No numbers yet but sources have claimed that it will be thinner and lighter than the current version of the iPad. Moreover, the Sirius will sport various different colored bodies.  It will feature a 10.1-inch 5-point touchscreen display with a 1920×1080 resolution, 6MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM, 10 hours of solid battery life on LTE connectivity in a single charge, microSD port to extend the 32GB internal storage, a Micro HDMI connector, and a Micro USB port.

Apple iPad: Height 185.7 mm x Width 241.2 mm x Depth 9.4 mm;  Weight (Wi-Fi) – 652 g, Weight (Wi-Fi + Cellular) – 662 g, 9.7-inch LED-backlit Multi-Touch display with IPS technology and 2048×1536 resolution, Dual-core A6X with quad-core graphics, available in WiFi – 16, 32 and 64GB; WiFi+Cellular – 16, 32 and 64GB, battery lasts up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music; Up to 9 hours of surfing the web using cellular data network, 1.2MP front camera and 5MP rear camera.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1: Dimensions – 262 x 180 x 8.9 mm x 600g (3G), 597g (WiFi), 10.1″ WXGA(1280×800) TFT LCD, 149 ppi, 1.4GHz Exynos Quad-Core Processor, available in 16/32/64GB User memory + 2GB (RAM), microSD (up to 64GB), standard Li-ion battery 7,000mAh, 5MP rear camera, and 1.9MP front camera.

Microsoft Windows Surface RT: 10.81 x 6.77 x 0.37in, about 680 g, 10.6″ ClearType HD Display, 1366×768 pixels, 16:9 (widescreen), 5-point multi-touch, Quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3, 2GB RAM, available in 32 and 64GB, 31.5 W-h battery, and front and back 720p HD LifeCams.

Google Nexus 10: 263.9mm x 177.6 mm x 8.9mm x 603 g, 10.55” screen with a whopping 2560×1600 display, 300ppi, 16:9, WQXGA, HD PLS, Corning Gorilla Glass 2, Dual-core A15 Eagle, Mali T604 GPU, available in 16 and 32GB, 2GB RAM, 9,000 mAh Lithium polymer battery, 5MP rear camera, and 1.9MP front camera.

Based on the available specs of the Nokia Sirius, the display resolution is a plus. The display should be better than of the Surface RT and the Note 10.1, however it will be inferior to that of the iPad and the Nexus 10.  Same goes with the processor, it’s not that bad, but it isn’t that great either, which does give us some pause for concern. The likelihood is that Samsung, Apple et al could all release new tablets just after Nokia release the Sirius, and so it could soon look pretty average compared to these newer tablets – when they come out.

The problem for Nokia is that consumers will only be enticed with a device that’s far better than what Apple and Samsung offers – if not, Nokia’s tablet is in very real danger of being ignored because it doesn’t offer anything different. The other problem of course is the operating system itself – the Sirius will run Windows RT rather than Android or iOS, and that already means its starting out with a huge disadvantage in terms of available apps and so on.

Aside from the Nokia Sirius, the Finnish company is also rumored to be unveiling a phablet come September 26.  Dubbed the “Nokia Bandit”, the device will feature a 6” display with a 1080p resolution, a Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core processor, at least 20MP rear camera, and will be debuting on AT&T.