Nokia is launching a tablet computer months after selling its ailing handsets unit to Microsoft.

The new offering operates Android instead of the Windows software that Nokia adopted on its mobile phones when it started a strategic partnership with Microsoft in 2011.

The 7.9-inch N1 tablet will first be available in China in the first quarter of 2015 with an approximate price tag of 250 dollars (£160), before being introduced to other markets.

Sebastian Nystrom, from Nokia's technologies unit, said the former global mobile phone leader was "pleased to bring the Nokia brand back into consumers' hands".

The Finnish company's earnings have improved since its 7.2 billion dollar (£4.6 billion) sale of its handset unit to Microsoft.

The slimmed-down company has three remaining operations: networks, mapping and software.