The Nokia Booklet 3G isn’t something’s you’d expect to see from the world’s largest cellular manufacturer, but times have changed.
Nokia is still #1 in terms of market-share, but its dominance isn’t as strong as it used to be, with Apple, Google, and Microsoft making industry-changing initiatives – and basically saying ‘we can play in multiple fields, not just our own’. Those initiative brought Google to the hardware market with the Nexus One, Microsoft to strengthen her investments in search and mobile and Apple with iPhone/iPad. The three screens (also as PDF) model also helped the cellular industry push forward, diminishing the boundary between software/IT/technology companies – everyone is doing everything now.
Nokia Booklet 3G
The Nokia Booklet 3G is Nokia’s first attempt to enter the PC ‘war-zone’, and the particularly hot netbook scene. Nokia is hoping its close ties with mobile operators will help push the Booklet 3G, making it an alternative to all the Asus/Lenovo/HP/Samsung/Dell netbooks out there. And after spending 2 weeks with it – Nokia has a winner in its hands.
The Booklet is beautiful, especially in the light blue I received (Black and White also available), and draw quite the attention. The clean design is also surprising, with neat, rounded lines, very Apple-like of Nokia. All ports are located on the right and left sides, leaving the front and back areas clear. The bottom keeps this theme, with just 2 clips to eject the battery – which means there’s no way to increase RAM.
Nokia Booklet 3G alongside Logitech Harmony One
Nokia booklet 3G comes with the usual specifications of the niche market, although I expected more power in the RAM and HD portions (1GB and 120GB, respectively). Even so, the Intel Atom Z530 running at 1.6GHz is doing a solid work with Windows 7 Starter, fast response, navigating multiple applications, wake-up from sleep and all. One of the best features in netbooks (and a major reason for buying mine) is the battery time. A year ago, 7-8 hours were considered amazing, now the numbers are reaching 10 and even 12 hours. Nokia Booklet 3G did a fine job in that area as well, giving solid 9 hours of intense work.
Lots of ports - USB 2.0 and HDMI
In terms of connectivity, the Booklet comes fully stocked, as expected from a world leader: 802.11 b/g/n wifi, BT 2.1 with EDR, built-in 3G modem (sim-card slot) for data only, and on-board GPS chip for use with OVi Maps service. The official specs also mentions motion sensor, but I couldn’t find how to enable/use it.
There’s plenty of data transfer options too: 3 USB 2.0, HDMI slot, SD Card reader, sim-card slot (data only), and a combined headphones+microphone socket, for Skype calls (integrated 1.3 Mega-pixel).
Eventually, it all boils down to pricing and plans. In Israel, netbooks are very popular, and in 2009 increased their market share over traditional laptops. Top 3 cellular providers all have plans that offer you a netbook+data package for 36 months at $10/month, a lucrative proposition, especially for students or for families with kids, as a 2nd or 3rd laptop.
Nokia did a fine work on its first non-cellphone device. With Nokia World 2010 just around the corner, I’m looking forward to see how Nokia is planning on building-up the lineup, with various OS options (MeeGo perhaps), and respond to the touch phenomena that’s overwhelming the western world.
