Nokia Booklet 3G review: First look

With the Booklet 3G in the hand, it feels every bit as solid as a Sony VAIO or MacBook. It will ship from day one with Windows 7, not XP, and Nokia has also promised not to pre-load it with hundreds of trial applications that you spend hours removing, not to mention slowing down the machine considerably and extending start-up times.

Indeed, the only applications, beyond the standard Microsoft stuff, will be the Ovi suite of applications – including Ovi Maps (the Booklet 3G has an internal GPS receiver too) and Ovi Sync.

Easy to use

Although Nokia’s launch video showed how easy it is to synchronise data with a Nokia phone, you can of course use it with any mobile phone. Connectivity is plentiful, from USB to Wi-Fi (supporting 802.11b/g/n) and Bluetooth. The other feature, which is a must for a Nokia-made device, is 3G connectivity with HSPA (7.2Mbps down/5.76Mbps up). The SIM is inserted via an easily accessible slot on the side.

Netbooks boast good battery performance, thanks to the low-power Atom processors, but the Booklet 3G boasts an exceptional 12 hours of usage time, based on MobileMark 2000 benchmarking. Even with 3G or Wi-Fi usage, Nokia reckons that you’ll be hard pushed to get less than eight hours of use before needing to find mains power, giving the laptop yet another significant advantage over the competition.

Unlike netbooks with bulky extended batteries, Nokia has used a slimline battery that takes up a great deal of the base of the unit – so it doesn’t add any bulk.