Diaries of a Nokia Fan Boy

Well it looks like the seal on the Booklet 3G news is more leaky than a sieve! Some more info coming to us from NetbookNews and UMPC World. Lets leave the best for last and start with the specification update.

First of all, it looks like a safe bet that the CPU is an Atom Z530 (1.6GHz dual-core). That’s not necessarily a bad thing, its a pretty decent processor.

Second, the HDD is going to be 120GB. This implies that its going to be a disk drive, and not a solid state. Which is a shame because the solid state would have fared much better, as well as increased the battery life even further. To be perfectly honest, its a mystery how they’re getting 12 hours considering they have a dual-core processor and a disk drive :S

Third, and this is more of a speculation, the machine is likely to have 1GB RAM, and I am inferring this mostly from the CPU, the HDD and the fact that its a high-definition screen.

Fourth, it is quite likely that the battery isn’t going to be 12 hours, maybe closer to 6 hours with light usage, which is closer to the truth, and sounds like most other netbooks out there.

Since there are a lot more points mentioned I will just go on to the last one: the price. The Booklet is expected to have a price of $799, which, by any standards, is not acceptable for a netbook, even one as nicely outfitted as this. I believe that in order for this device to survive, it will have to be priced in the sub-$500 range, then it will have a fighting chance with the HP Mini’s, Acer One’s, and AI TouchBook’s of the world. Of course, the Booklet is meant to be subsidized by carriers, but the problem is, so are the other netbooks, and some are less than half the price! (the HP Mini 10.1″ is $350 at Costco across the street from me)

So in short, the specs are more disappointing than I would have hoped for, and if Nokia prices it at $799 the Booklet will die rather quickly. Especially considering its only differentiation is aluminum chassis, 3G, Bluetooth, GPS, and HD (720p?) display with HDMI out. In today’s world that just isn’t enough for a netbook to be priced in that range.

-Nokia FanBoy

via: UMPC Portal (read)
and: Netbook News (read) – warning: non-english

Well it appears as if more information is leaking out about the Nokia Booklet 3G, and its not even September yet. This time we get some more pictures (including a shot with an E71!), and a rumor as to what CPU the booklet uses!

In short, the pictures are below, and the Booklet is rumored to use the Atom Z530. The CPU is the dual core descendant of the Atom family, and would be quite capable of producing 720p content, which is all one can expect from a netbook. Still, it would have been nice to see it introduced with Tegra, but I guess the Windows requirement makes things difficult.

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Reuters (read)
and: Engadget (read)

Well it hasn’t even been half a day since its announcement and a couple, rather interesting, reviews and opinions are already out on the blogosphere.

Mirror.co.uk
seems to be comparing the Booklet 3G to your everyday cheap-o netbook. And they’re right, since this is likely to be their direct competitor. What is interesting in this comparison, however, is that we don’t even know if the two devices will be in the same price range. The only reasons this comparison has come up, in my opinion, is mostly due to the Atom processor, and has been confirmed by the 10.1 inch screen. But really, that doesn’t mean anything. Regardless, the comparison is rather interesting, and I must admit that I too think the Booklet 3G will be a fancy, slightly more expensive, netbook.

10 9 ways the Nokia Booklet 3G beats a netbook

1. The Nokia Booklet 3G is an HD netbook
2. Epic battery life
3. Hot swappable SIM slot
4. GPS on the go
5. It’s made by a mobile player
6. Small but sturdy
7. MacBook looks
8. It syncs with your mobile
9. It’s a home media player

The comparison is quite valid and draws a number of good points, so do go take a look through it if you’re considering this device. And especially if you’re like me and thinking whether to get this or the Always Innovating Touch Book.

Symbian-Freak
has some pretty strong feelings about the Nokia Booklet 3G, but his opinions are more closely related to the company. SF believes, and I agree, that Nokia’s entrance into the netbook market is their attempt at diversification and derisking the company. This is especially obvious when considering that their mobile phone market share has been decreasing slowly. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still the major player here, but the fact that they’re falling behind isn’t exactly comforting. The Booklet also strengthens Nokia’s stance as an “Internet Company” versus just a cell phone manufacturer as the device really is better suited for browsing the web compared to their Internet Tablets (of course we don’t know how good the N900 is yet, so we’ll have to wait and see). Finally, the Windows operating system shows just how deep the Nokia-Microsoft alliance is going, I just hope that WinMo doesn’t make it to Nokia devices, although it would be interesting to see UI variations such as HTC’s TouchFlo and Sense or Samsungs TouchWiz.

Take a look at SF’s review for more details.

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Mirror.co.uk (read)
and: Symbian-Freak (read)

Ok, so we all know that Nokia was planning to enter the netbook/notebook market, and apparently it did so by creating a “Booklet”. The Nokia Booklet 3G is basically a slightly more powerful netbook (for an unknown price). Nokia’s Exec. VP for Devices, Kai Oistamo, had this to say about the Booklet 3G:

A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility. We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us. Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility and with the outstanding battery life, premium design and all day, always on connectivity, we will create something quite compelling. In doing so we will make the personal computer more social, more helpful and more personal.

I must admit, the device itself looks quite appealing, with a very understated yet elegant simplicity. Indeed the device does remind us of a somewhat older, more classic, Nokia design. The Booklet 3G has some fairly impressive specs to be competing with the netbooks of today:

Nokia Booklet 3G

• Atom CPU
• 10.1″ HD Display
• Built-in Webcam
• HDMI Out
• Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/3G/HSDPA
• Several USB ports, 3.5mm audio out
• SD card reader (SHDC? SDXC?)
• Integrated A-GPS with Ovi Maps!
• 12hr battery life
• 2cm thick
• 1.25kg
• unconfirmed: Windows 7

The specs look really promising, in fact this would be the perfect in-car computer, depending, of course, on what kind of hard-drive it has. For the complete spec list and price info we’ll have to wait until Nokia World 09.

I was just thinking about the target market for this, and I realised that the potential is quite large. Students that prefer to have an always-on internet connection or that require GPS in their laptop could definitely use this. Of course while most universities now offer campus-wide Wi-Fi, this would be great for completing projects on the bus. And just like for exchange-students that would be greatly helped by GPS when navigating strange cities, travelling Businessmen would also find this feature quite helpful. However for the businessmen the built-in 3G would be more helpful for accessing internet en-route to a client’s location or at the client’s location during, say, a presentation (basically same reason someone would get the USB 3G stick).

The battery life in this beast is also quite impressive, and even more so considering how light it is. However, I would be quite interested to find out just how HD the Booklet’s 10.1″ HD screen is.

As for now, we have a video and a gallery for you to peruse.

Nokia Booklet 3G Back	Nokia Booklet 3G Blue	Nokia Booklet 3G Camera
Nokia Booklet 3G Colours	Nokia Booklet 3G Group	Nokia Booklet 3G HDMI
	Nokia Booklet 3G Open

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Nokia Conversations (read)
and: Engadget (read)
and: Symbian-Freak (read)
and: GSMArena (read)