In February we had the privilege of testing a Nokia booklet 3G. A tiny 10.1″ netbook that feels like the long lost (little) brother of the Macbook family.
Netbooks have become extremely popular over the last two years, the price and size are extremely appealing. Nearly every major PC manufacturer has got in on the netbook craze and plenty of other unexpected companies too. Nokia is one of those companies stepping outside of its comfort zone with the Booklet 3G.
I have always been partial to the idea of a netbook although I am not completely sure why. Over the last 12 months I have had a look at a few options (the HP Mini 110, the Compaq mini 311 and Dell Mini 10) but for the most part the build quality of the machines has been pretty poor. Plastic chassis and flimsy keyboards are a common feature.
The Good
Nokia seem to have the build quality wrapped up well. The Aluminium body feels extremely sturdy and while the keyboard is plastic, its feels strong and responsive. It is a stunningly well designed and attractive little gadget. Inside it packs the very standard Intel Atom 1.6 GHz processor but despite this it seemed fast enough for most netbook related activities (web, video, music). Perhaps this is testament to beautiful things working better? Other highlights of the booklet 3G include the battery life (around 12 hours) and the built in 3G sim card slot – negating the need for a large 3G dongle.
The Bad
While size is one of the big attractions of netbooks it leads to many compromises. The screen resolution is too big (1280 x 720) for such a small screen and the keyboard feels cramped when typing. The screen is surrounded by a large black bezel which suggests the chassis could accommodate a larger screen and it would certainly benefit from it. The keyboard area also has space for larger keys which would be a big help. The other two negatives are the price (£650) which is twice the cost of similar specification machines and the operating system: Windows 7. Having used OSX for the past six years it seems like a step backwards with Windows 7. I would rather see and use a well thought out Linux distribution, perhaps Jolicloud?
Conclusion
Netbooks are a fairly strange concept if you think about it. As our mobiles get more powerful, do we need a device to bridge the gap between our (bigger) laptops/desktops and phones? After all the gap between our computers and phones is getting smaller all the time. My feeling is that I do not need a device that sits in this space, at least not at the moment. I am left wondering what are people using netbooks for and when?
If you would like to find our more about the Nokia Booklet 3G you can find the full specification on the Nokia site and we have also uploaded a few unboxing photos to Flickr. We would also like to say thanks to WOMWorld/Nokia and Carl for supplying the test unit. Keep an eye on the toggle shop for netbook cases arriving in the next few days.