Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Experiencing Nokia Booklet 3G Firsthand



Third to fourth quarters of 2009 saw the introduction and formal launching of the Finnish company's first ever mini-laptop called the Nokia Booklet 3G. Though it has mostly the same capabilities as that of fellow rivals, Nokia has made use of its strength in creating mobile devices and translate them to fit a netbook. Their end product is gorgeous, portable, and user-friendly like their phones.

Here's the unboxing video of the netbook (forgive me for the shaky takes and some wrong grammar, coz this is my first time to video a gadget *lol*):


Aside from the common features such as a webcam, microphone, multiple USB slots, and Windows 7 Starter OS, here are the things that I've liked and the details that I think would need improvment.

What I Like:
  • Looks. It was as if I'm using a Mini MacBook. The sample unit I got had a glossy blue lid with a main body made from aluminum. The keyboard had a contrasting black color that was spacious enough for people with big hands. Other available colors are white and black.
  • Weight and Size. It weighs at 1.2kg, which is almost the same as an HP Mini. With screen size of 10.1in and thickness of just 20mm, I think it is just enough size for a netbook.
  • Battery Life. You will love the battery life of this one. I was able to use it for about 8 hours after full charging. Amazing! Comparing it to other netbooks' battery of only 4-cells, Nokia's BC-1S battery has 16-cells.
  • Fanless. Unlike other netbooks, this one uses fanless design for efficiency. With the way it's designed, it uses less battery power and therefore does not need a fan to cool it down.
  • Connectivity. The unit is built in with an HSDPA modem, which allows Internet surfing when a 3G signal is available. The slot used to connect to 3G is placed on the side for easy popping in and out of the SIM card. On the other hand, WiFi is also reliable if you don't have a SIM card.
  • GPS. With a built in GPS, the netbook can be used hand-in-hand with Ovi Maps to find and know locations around the world.

What Needs Improvement:
  • Keyboard. Although spaced well, it will take some time to be familiar with the Enter, Backspace, and Shift keys, which are all smaller than the usual.
  • Trackpad. Size isn't the problem here. It's just that it doesn't support multi-touch feature and the button's click is so loud.
  • Speed. Running on Intel Atom Z530 with 1GB RAM DDR2 533MHz, it should already suffice a netbook. However, through the course of my experience, the netbook froze for about 5 times, so my choice was to do a force shutdown.
  • LAN. You'd have a problem if you don't have 3G or WiFi, since there is no LAN port for wired connection. However, since a netbook is mainly used to bring around, top of mind would really be either 3G or WiFi.
Although Nokia's netbook came so much later than its other competitors, the sturdy design and strong battery power are already good features to start off with. With a bit of improvement here and there, I bet the next generation will stand out from the crowd, given that the price will be affordable to consumers.

Nokia Booklet 3G has long been released in Europe, but there's no official word on whether it will ever reach the Philippine market. Let's wait and see if Nokia will come up with a newer model in the next months or years to come.





Thanks to WOMWorld/Nokia for sending this demo unit for review.

4 comments:

That's pretty handy!
Too bad netbooks have speed issues.

Nokia's starting to compete with the netbook giants. Good for them.

I wanted to buy this lappy but when i went to nokia, they said its not in malaysian market yet..raelly wanna get my hands on 1..i love the built in GPS and modem..=)

I have to say the design the nokia booklet is a really nice looking netbook. but in terms of performance that sounds sad, and the no lan is a big minus. netbooks are not that bad in performance. my eee pc has not failed me... yet :p nice review ahia

I wanted to buy this lappy but when i went to nokia, they said its not in malaysian market yet..raelly wanna get my hands on 1..i love the built in GPS and modem..=)

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