General Kim is mighty - Review of North Korea's "Juche Idea" tablet电脑

If there's any brand of tablet computer that has managed to overshadow Google Nexus 7 recently, it must be the "self-developed" North Korean tablet computer brand - Samjiyon. Under the close care of the great General Kim Jong-un and the brilliant guidance of the Juche ideology, the North Korean Android tablet computer Samjiyon was officially "released" in North Korea in July 2013!

This Android tablet named Samjiyon is available for sale to foreign tourists in North Korea. Therefore, a foreign tourist named Micheal actually purchased such a device in North Korea. However, it is rumored that this tourist had a certain technical background, and he also intentionally did not reveal his last name; we only know his first name is Michael. Non-famous IT blogger Martin Williams interviewed Micheal and published the interview content on northkoreatech.org. This is currently the first-hand introduction material about Samjiyon.

Samjiyon first appeared at the North Korean International Exhibition in September 2012, when a tablet device capable of receiving TV signals was introduced at the exhibition. The North Korean news media (yes, the one hosted by the kind Spring姬 lady similar to the 'News Broadcast' program) gave a feature report on this "high-tech product". In the report, a man referred to as the "Chief Engineer of Tablet Development at the North Korean Computer Center Multimedia Research Institute" (long enough?) introduced the tablet device. Although North Korea claims that this device is "self-developed", outsiders suspect that the hardware is actually made in China and sold to North Korea, while the software is customized by North Korea itself. Thereafter, no further news was heard until the product was "officially released" in July 2013.

Michael discovered this Samjiyon tablet computer in a restaurant open to foreigners in North Korea. At that time, the product was boldly displayed in the gift shop of the restaurant, being sold as a gift (of course, these gift shops in North Korean foreign restaurants are specifically targeted at foreign tourists selling items and earning foreign exchange). The price of Samjiyon is 200 US dollars. Although Michael felt that this price was completely incomprehensible, in order to bring it out into the world, he still paid without hesitation. As an electronic product, Samjiyon is allowed to be taken out of North Korea after purchase, which is one of the few electronic products in North Korea that can enjoy this "privilege".

According to Michael's description, various images, and video demonstrations, the features of Samjiyon are as follows:

1. Interface and operation

Michael himself, due to work reasons, comes into contact with many high-end mainstream brands of Android devices, such as Samsung Galaxy, Nexus, Kindle, etc. According to his trial experience, Sanjiyon's operational smoothness and response speed are quite excellent, fully comparable to those mainstream brands.

2. Software

All the software on Samjiyon is pre-installed by default and neatly arranged on the interface. Unlike regular Android devices, Samjiyon does not contain any Google-native provided software applications (such as Gmail, Youtube, Google mobile search, etc.). This is probably because Samjiyon has not signed a software agreement with Google. Moreover, the Internet cannot be accessed within North Korea (you understand why), so even if there were Google applications, they would be meaningless.

3. Web browser

Samjiyon has a web browser application, but once opened, the page will automatically redirect to the homepage pointed to by the IP address 10.76.1.11 (what do you think, Principal Fang?). Direct connection to the international Internet is not allowed within North Korea, and all web requests will point to North Korea's internal large LAN. The web browser also includes some default bookmark pages, such as the homepage of the North Korean News Agency, the homepage of the North Korean Central Television Station, and the homepage of the North Korean People's Library. Of course, these are all within the scope of North Korea's large LAN.

4. Wi-Fi

Samjiyon has no Wi-Fi settings options available for selection. However, by checking the configuration files, there is still some information related to Wi-Fi parameters. It can be inferred that the hardware of Samjiyon should support Wi-Fi modules, but through modifying the software, deliberately writing wrong Wi-Fi entities, or hard-coding forms bypassing Wi-Fi.

5. North Korean self-made APPs

Among all the apps, some of the apps should be self-developed by North Korea. Interestingly, the PDF reader app, Sanjiyon's PDF clearly marked with the words "North Korean Computer Center", though other parts have not been modified much. Most applications developed abroad haven't changed names, but these modules should have been modified to some extent by North Korean technicians.

6. Games

Samjiyon contains several games. An interesting point is that some very famous games in the mobile gaming industry, such as the famous Angry Birds, also appear on Samjiyon. A basketball game called "Basketball Shooting" is also interesting because the great General Kim Jong-un claimed to be an outstanding basketball player surpassing professional athletes, and he just appointed Dennis Rodman, the former NBA rebound king, as "a good old friend of the Korean people." Therefore, basketball games will inevitably appear on Samjiyon.

7. Educational software

One of the characteristics of Samjiyon is its educational software. Samjiyon's educational software includes various courses from primary school to junior high school. The primary school part includes mathematics, music, computer science, etc., and of course, reading materials like "The Childhood of General Kim Il-sung" are indispensable. The secondary school part includes foreign languages, biology, art, chemistry, etc. Of course, it also includes many reference books.

8. Manufacturing process

The manufacturing process of Samjiyon is generally pretty poor. The edges are roughly made, and the design of the SD card cover is quite peculiar. Basically, opening the SD card cover is a test of your nails. If you don't have nails, you're out of luck. In terms of screen display, the colors will completely distort when viewed from the side under normal light, and only in very dim light can you see the screen from the side. The resolution of Samjiyon is 1024x768, which is basically on par with Samsung's 7-inch products or iPad mini.

Samjiyon runs on Android 4.0.4, and for well-known reasons, it does not support Wi-Fi (despite evidence showing that the hardware actually has a Wi-Fi module). Overall, Samjiyon can reach 80% of the level of similar tablet products in the European and American markets.

9. TV reception equipment

Samjiyon can receive TV signals, so the body comes with a built-in TV reception antenna (this is absolutely a North Korean original). North Korea uses the old Soviet TV broadcasting system and the PAL TV format. The North Korean people can use the Samjiyon device to watch a few fixed channels: such as North Korean Central Television, North Korean Education Channel, the Mansudae Art Troupe program at the Kim Il-sung Statue Memorial Museum, etc. Manually modifying the antenna reception frequency is absolutely prohibited (if discovered, it would be considered treasonous behavior, with very serious consequences). Regarding TV reception frequencies, some say North Korea has no UHF band programs, while others say there are. Given the extremely inaccurate intelligence the outside world has on North Korean TV signals, both statements could be true.

All TV reception equipment antennas in North Korea are specially adjusted to ensure that only programs broadcast from Pyongyang can be received, and no external information can be received. Again, it is strictly forbidden for civilians to privately modify the TV signal reception frequency. As a result, only residents of Pyongyang can listen to and watch programs. However, this also has a benefit, namely that no one outside Pyongyang would be able to afford this device priced at 200 US dollars. Actually, they wouldn't even consider buying it, because even if they did, they wouldn't receive any signals.

In general, as the most closed and mysterious country in the world, North Korea’s approach to a civilian high-tech product with such an open attitude is a very refreshing and delightful change. The gradual introduction, development, and open popularization of North Korea's civilian information products, whether personal computers, mobile phones, or tablets, to some extent reflects the determination of North Korea's ruling class to let the North Korean people follow the trend of the times. However, from the perspective of the product itself, Samjiyon has undeniable serious problems such as weak functionality, poor craftsmanship, inability to connect to the internet, and questionable claims of self-development.

A high-tech product research and development requires sufficient industrial foundation and R&D capabilities behind it; the popularization and promotion of a high-tech product depend on the social prosperity and humanistic quality of the audience. For the North Korean Samjiyon tablet computer, given the current industrial foundation and technological R&D capability of North Korea, its symbolic significance far outweighs its technological significance; the price, popularity, and even North Korea's own economic structure and political structure, talk less about social structural prosperity and humanistic quality advancement; as observers, after watching such a "with North Korean Juche ideological characteristics" tablet computer product with a "sour laugh" attitude, we must surely hope that the North Korean people can take this as an opportunity to achieve a double harvest in technology and humanism! However, this is beyond our readers' ability to achieve, and it must be entrusted to the great General Kim Jong-un who "aims for the universe" to complete!