Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The tie-up between Nokia and Intel has borne fruit, in the form of Nokia's first Windows netbook, sorry, sub-notebook - the Nokia Booklet 3G. For a first effort, we must say we're mightily impressed with the specs; including 3G, HD video out and integrated GPS!
The Intel Atom Z530 processor powered unit will offer 12 hours of battery life, yet weighs in at just 1.25Kg with a thickness of only 19mm.
The specs include Wi-Fi, 3G and HSPA - plus a range of Ovi applications, integrated GPS to support Ovi Maps and other location based services. It will also be pushed as a device ready for Nokia's own music store.
A 10-inch display is pretty standard, but an HDMI port for outputting HD video is anything but standard on a netbook. There's also Bluetooth and an SD-card slot for additional storage.
More information, including pricing and a release date, will be made available at the Nokia World event in Germany on September 2nd 2009 - which What Mobile will be attending.
Update: Nokia just called us to state that this isn't a netbook, despite the obvious similarities. The reason is because it has an enhanced specification and the ability to synchronise data with a mobile phone.
We're not sure exactly how this makes the Booklet 3G different, as we've been using PC Suite quite happily on an old Eee PC running Windows XP for ages! Nor do we know why Nokia is trying to define a whole new category, just as it did with the term 'Multimedia Computer' a few years ago for the Nokia N95.
What is perfectly clear and not up for debate is the fact that it looks awesome and could well become the number one choice for laptop/netbook/sub-notebook buyers - at least until Apple enters the market (and the latest word is that won't be for a while yet).
