Nokia introduces Booklet 3G 'mini laptop'
By Tim Stevens 
posted Aug 24th 2009 7:33AM
posted Aug 24th 2009 7:33AM
Nokia rocked the world this morning by introducing its spin on the laptop, called the Booklet 3G. If you're the rude sort (like us) you could call it a fancy netbook, what with its Atom processor and 10.1-inch display, but that screen is higher res than your average Eee, and it also sports integrated 3G wireless and a hot-swappable SIM card, so it's definitely trying to define its own niche. It looks to be running Windows 7, which isn't particularly netbooky, and also has integrated A-GPS with a copy of Ovi Maps, HDMI output, a rated 12 hour battery life, and the usual Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, all in a 2cm (.78 inch), 2.7lb aluminum body that's understated, sophisticated, and should make most Nokia fans very happy -- Nokia fans who are looking for a tiny laptop, anyway. There's a fancy promotional video after the break, and while we don't have any anticipated release date or price just yet, we'll be learning more at Nokia World 09 on September 2. We promise not to make too many Foleo references.
Is this nokia's answer to the iPhone or the Air?
Its Nokia's answer to your mum.
its nokia reply to the whole maemo,moblin,ubuntu and other crap stories
Wait, it's Nokia's reply to their own technology (Maemo) ?
Congrats on being first we are preparing your grand price right now!
Third, Fail.
What OS is it running?
Now that is a surprise! Pity Nokia's Conversations site is down for the mo. The suspense! When they put their mind to it, Nokia can produce some sweet products, their set top box and the E71 being good examples. It's all about execution. Chop chop.
Agreed. Looks like Nokia may give Apple a run for their money if they keep this up. Obviously Windows is a problem, but the hardware is nice. Maybe this will prod Apple into making some decent small laptops. The Air is a joke.
@Nutjob
Nokia were thinking "what would Apple do if they created a netbook?" when they made this, but only in the "how much would Apple charge" question.
It's going to be so expensive you'll pull your eyeballs out. You'll be able to buy an equivalent Dell for less than half the price, I bet.
It's going to feel heavy and bulky. Metal case + big-ass battery.
It's going to look thick. Square edges do not flatter a small screen notebook; even Acer get this!
It's got an Atom processor so it'll be dog slow. It's got an Intel chipset so terrible graphics and drivers.
It'll run Windows so little innovation or differentiation from the myriad of other netbooks out there.
It's Nokia's first PC so they're on a steep learning curve - want to bet against some quality problems??
However, it will have good battery life, a better screen, some nice peripherals like GPS and 3G and will feel very solid compared to most netbooks, including my lovely MSI, so I may be tempted.
How exactly is Windows a problem? Given that around 95% of the worl'd computer users prefer it and netbook owners are flocking to it over the Linux alternative I'd say that it's anything but a problem.
They've taken some design queues from Apple (metal case, glass screen, clean lines) and might be expensive (but who in their right mind would buy Dell?) but pretty much everything else you say makes no sense.
It's 2cm thick and 1kg. In reality it's small and light so it will feel small and light. I'm not sure how Nokia will bend reality to make their hardware feel worse.
Dog slow is a relative term. My MacBook runs fine with Intel graphics, no-one will be running games on this thing for thinking it is a 3D demon.
And what should they run instead of Windows? Linux? Don't make me laugh.
Nokia build hundreds of millions of devices that are smaller, more dense and tricker to make then this every year. They will romp it in.
If you use an MSI, why on earth are you complaining about this machine? It looks very well done.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MikroMikko
so, not the first pc that nokia has ever made, but first for a long while.
As for price, I doubt its going to be apple expensive.
@jakem Please don't make up statistics. Windows is on (just) under 90% of computers worldwide. And we all know it's because it's the "default" OS for PC makers. I know a few PC makers are trying to give Linux a shot, but the average PC user is gonna see Linux and run screaming when they first try to use it.
@jaken, 95% of users and forced to use it.
Haha, wow - how to get the Microsoft astroturfers into action, eh :)
@Jakem - I never said Windows was a problem for the user. I use it 90% of the time. I'm no Macbook Air fan and think that Linux needs to improve a long way before it will be acceptable on the desktop.
What I said is that it's a problem for the company trying to sell you a PC with identical specs for twice as much, with no discernable benefit. Apple can try to use Mac OS to differentiate in order to charge more - Nokia can't and, therefore, are stuck purely with the hardware differences, of which there aren't many.
@ The others who said that it isn't bulky / heavy.
I know it's difficult to trust a random off the internet but feel free to ignore me until you try it yourself. I guarantee that you will find it heavy and bulky.
At 2.7lb (1.22kg), it's over 20% heavier than its competition and, because the metal casing spreads the weight out more from the center than on a plastic netbook, you notice it big time when you move it around.
It's a question of proportions: this may be only 2cm thick but that is quite a lot compared to the width / depth. The real problem is that it is that thick right to the edges. Even the Taiwanese netbook makers don't make that mistake and taper the edges so they are thinner where you see it most often - a visual trick to make it seem much thinner.
Good luck to Nokia, but I'll be surprised if this sells well.
Oh, and @nutjob
There is more than one variety of Intel graphics chip. The ones used with the Atom are especially poor because they clock it down so much to save power and justify charging more for their "normal" products.
Add in the fact that there's no powerful, multi-core CPU to offload things to and things get unbearable. And I'm talking about doing normal day to day jobs like scrolling in applications and playing back videos rather than 3D gaming...
oh SHIT, a whole 2.7 GODDAMN POUNDS.
suck it up dude, i can't believe you're complaining about a laptop under 3 pounds. unbelievable.
Hmm, 20% more weight for a sturdy aluminium case versus plastic. Yeah, people will be rioting in the streets. You probably don't leave your bedroom so you don't realise laptops get knocked around quite a bit. But hey, saving 200 grams is worth destroying your laptop for!
Your theories about the case just don't make any sense at all, but at least you're consistent. You're saying visual tricks are better than actual thinness? You should buy a MacBook Air. Also that plastic cases are have all their contents in the middle? Do you think that the hard drive, battery and motherboard weight more or less than than the case, be it plastic or metal? Also how do you theories apply to someone not actually holding it but having in their backpack or case?
@Fnuky
What are you talking about Nokia's first PC? They were making PC's before you were even born. ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MikroMikko
跟手机做的一样丑....
I respectfully disagree.
oh Lord you didnt get the point
Windows7, whee
It has been quite a while since Nokia sold computers. Interesting. Is this running Maemo?
looks like its going to run Windows. makes sense, since they dont want to force a linux OS down the throats of users. Besides, installing a new OS is easy, and those that would want linux would be perfectly capable of installing it themselves.
Wait up. Do you even read the whole article or post what happens to be on your mind based on its title?
I could gather that it runs Windows 7 based a cursory scan of that article yet you come in here and ask if it runs Maemo 5?
What is wrong with you?
Good to see competition starting in this segment.
Oh what a massive let down, it's running Windows! What are Nokia doing? Why not a nice Web OS?
Add a browser, you have a nice Web OS.
Why do you want LESS functionality?
Or better yet, install OS X on it.
HD video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIHWM4liM2g
http://www.swedishwire.com/nordic/799-nokia-to-launch-mini-laptop
look like win inside. now symbiant
Windows 7
This came out of nowhere.
It looks like a nice product. Now, let's hope it doesn't cost much more than 450$...
Also, does HDMI output mean Nvidia Ion?
finally a nice skinny netbook without that bulky vga port! lets hope its below $400
"The computer will include a hard drive and a glass display capable of showing high-definition video, making it a higher- performance device than a stripped down “netbook,” says Nokia Executive Vice President of Devices Kai Oeistaemoe.
So I'm guessing this is not going to be cheap ...
This isn't going to be cheap, I suspect way over $500, closer to $1000, but the "HD" screen is not why. That's only 1280 x 720 which, sadly, qualifies as HD. I very very very much doubt it will be 1920 x 1080. That would be unreadable.
Not necessarily, but I damn well hope so that HDMI port is being powered by Ion. Unless they're using a new Intel chip, that is. This seems like the netbook we've all been waiting for.
Uh, I think the HDMI port is powered by the +5V rail. WTF is Ion? Can you comunicate without using marketingspeak?
Also interesting is the fact that they seem to be targeting this to mobile professionals - at least according to their video. In this context, 3G and GPS make a bit more sense.
HDMI = Presentations in HD?
Not that it's not a perfectly good netbook for consumers. Enteprise-grade products from Nokia usually come in better-than-average quality.
Let's hope it doesn't come with an enteprise-grade pricetag. ;)
I want true convergence - give me this with the ability to place a phone call over a wireless carrier (not voip) and I can throw it in the car, briefcase, etc. If I really need mobility and don't want the booklet - I can remove the sim and throw it in a penny phone.
@thoughtmonster:
Standard PC and projector resolutions have been at or higher than HD for years. You don't need HDMI for high definition, it's just the most convenient cable since it packs the audio in it as well, and is HDCP compliant.
Mmmmmm would buy this if the specs are true, looks sweet.
SWEET!!! :D
This looks mighty tempting - great battery life, integrated HSDPA modem, Win 7, gorgeous looks.
Of course, it all comes down to price...
How much?
"It looks to be running Windows 7, which isn't particularly netbooky..."
Maybe not in your world, but in mine it's been kicking ass!
Yes! Why would you want crippled os, when win7 is offering the full cake experience ;) Symbian, linux etc. would be just pure stupidity on business & entertainment world...
linux is a crippled os?!? wtflol
If the wireless drivers are already preconfigured, then its hardly crippled....
I'm all for W7 as the next person especially on netbooks, but don't ever call linux crippled until you've used it daily for a year.
Mike:
To the Average user it is, especially one not prepared to learn about how to properly use Linux.
linux is crippled!
using an OS without a single software that i need is useless. thats one reason y i couldnt use ubuntu and osx. whether u hate windows or not, u gotta admit the plethora of programs on it
Why will it take me an entire year to form an opinion of Linux?
I agree with jakem - why should anyone waste a year trying to get to grips with an OS, if it takes that long then it's a failure.
@darkstar: Here's "a software" you need, included in almost all distros' default install:
aspell
Beyond that, web browsers (which I imagine you used to make that comment) are avaiable on Linux systems, so please can the hyperbole. If you have a few proprietary packages keeping you stuck with Windows, that's OK, but most of what most folks do on a computer is equally available with Linux. OS X, or even the *BSDs.
@Jay I see now, they posted a video. :)
Where are the real specs? You know, cpu, ram, hdd. I would actually wait on Tegra laptops to become more widespread. Fluid HD playback and long battery life.
gezz this is so boring, its a netbook running windows 7 which there going to be millions of them. Nokia haven't released anything interesting in years. And if this is Vapor ware i will scream
Oh, I thought the N95 was pretty breakthrough nearly 2 years ago? My bad, the iPhone has all those features...oh wait...
Nice. I really should read what i write
Hopefully, they'll release an 11.6 inch version with a 92% or 100%-sized keyboard. I'm fine with Atom, it runs Win 7, Foobar and Office perfectly, and that battery life is even better than the Asus 10H or whatever and the Aspire One 11.6. Any word on whether this is using HDD or SSD? They don't really make much of a difference in battery life, so I'm hoping SSD.
From the looks of it I would guess that this keyboard is already at least 92% of full size.
I think you're all gonna be dissapointed. Nokia are notorious for over-pricing their products (take the N96 and N97 as examples, two products with cheap hardware, cheap software and a terrible experience overall). This 'booklet' is going to cost more than a normal notebook.
Yea good point, Apple never did that with its iPhone.
Of course it's a good point - I was the one who made it. By the way, who was talking about the iPhone? It certainly wasn't me.
sar⋅casm [sahr-kaz-uhm]
–noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark: a review full of sarcasms.
When ones name is 'iloveapple', one must assume that you refer to them as a benchmark for Nokia.
You have been put in your place, little boy.
now, with this, nokia completes the ovi customer ecosystem, next, nokia server for the back-end?
Good spec. If it also has the 2Ghz Intel Atom, then it is very good.
Tempting. Though I'm still holding out for something with a 3Qi screen.
Hope it to be having ion, when u r on the go and feel like playing games then ion is the answer for netbooks.
Interesting comment from Nokia at http://www.whatmobile.net/News/generalnews/307958/nokia_launches_its_first_windows_laptop_the_nokia_booklet_3g.html
"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."
Indeed, I was just thinking that the ability to synchronise with a phone was dependent on the name given to the laptop.
Hmmm... my Aspire One syncs with my mobile. Guess I should stop calling that a netbook too. ;)
The Foleo lives! Again.
Hmmmm. This MIGHT well be a little slice of awesome, if the price is right. I definitely think there is a market for a more powerful, "premium" netbook. I'd prefer to see Ubuntu or some such similar, but if the device has enough oomph I suppose Windows 7 won't be a particular hardship.
I dont know why people think Ubuntu goes light on hardware. It most certainly does not and Win7 runs a LOT faster on old hardware than Ubuntu. Even a watered down distro like Xubuntu is slower.
Maybe someone can shed light on the netbook flavour they were also cooking up when i last checked, but to say that Ubuntu runs faster is not true the way i see it.
I'm with Jesper. I've tried Ubuntu on my Aspire One, and it just wasn't friendly enough. The only Linux distro that runs smoothly is the net-centric Moblin.
In an ideal world, I'd love to see Moblin as an instant-on OS, with Windows 7 when I want to do more than web and social media type stuff.
I honestly believe Nokia made a huge strategic mistake entering the Windows based netbook. The margin
is too low to begin with. And they are counting on Windows OS? Any Tiwanese company can slap a
similar netbook for much cheaper.
Nokia stock has been downgraded this morning. So the market reaction is not very positive.
No, the stock price has had a slight up movement today, about 1% in Helsinki stock exchange. But its such a big company that a single product wont make much difference in the bottom line.
Wow! That acutally looks pretty good for a non-note/netbook manufacturer. Nice to see some new competition getting involved :)
Darkstar: re your comment: "using an OS without a single software that i need is useless. thats one reason y i couldnt use ubuntu and osx". I cannot speak for osx, but I have been using Linux for many years, and there is so much more software for Linux then there is for Windows, there is no comparison. Plus, it is all free. You can download and try a program, if you dont like it, try something else. I am not sure what kind of software you use, but anything you can do on windows, you can do just as easy or easier on Linux.
This is the biggest lie in the computing world and I can't believe you typed that in here and no one has called you out on it.
There are always programs that are still awaiting being ported to Linux. It's a fact. I don't even need to bother listing them. You know as well as I do. For those who like games, you're not gonna be using a Linux PC for that. For those who like .exe files (majority of the world), PC beats linux up and down.
Linux is a great OS for those who have the time but since most people don't, Windows FTW.
That is the biggest lie? If so, then I guess the computing world is doing pretty well. I will give you the games, although it is possible to play most games on Linux, with an emulator such as wine. What do you mean for those who "like .exe files"? What difference does it make what format a file is in, as long as you can install it or use it easily? For the average user, who doesnt have a lot of time, like you state, I still say Linux is better. You can open up a package manager, and in a few clicks, you can download and install from thousands of programs. That is much less time consuming than going to a store and purchasing an overpriced program, or buying it and downloading it online, then installing it. The main point is that because of the pressure and tactics that MS uses, many developers, etc dont write programs or drivers for Linux. Of course most are going to follow what they are told and where they can get the biggest bang for their effort. It is not a shortcoming of Linux if something isnt available or something doesnt work. Linux is not trying to be windows or like windows. All in all, there is more software available for Linux than people think.
"You can open up a package manager, and in a few clicks, you can download and install from thousands of programs. That is much less time consuming than going to a store and purchasing an overpriced program, or buying it and downloading it online, then installing it."
But if the program you want isn't available from the package manager, in Windows you download a .exe or .msi installer off some website and within minutes (sometimes seconds), it's installed and ready to go. In Linux, you download some archive, then you have to go back to the stone age and manually run "make" and wait for an hour while it compiles the program, tries to install it, then complains that you didn't set the proper permissions or that you're missing some dependency and you have to start the whole process over again.
A typical out of the box Ubuntu installation contains about 25000 packages in the package manager, without adding any additional repositories. Sure, a lot are dependcies, library files, etc, but there are still thousands available, which do not require any compilation. Even if you choose to compile something yourself, no program will take anywhere near an hour on any hardware of the last couple of years. A kernel compilation could take that long, but that is not what we are talking about here. I would not call using the command line stone age, either. Linux is all about choice. If you want to use the command line, you can. If you want to just install something with a few clicks, you can. If you want to customize your system, you can. Here is an example. Say you want to install an Office suite. On Windows, you must spend at least $150 for a version of Office. You must go buy it or you can download it, I assume. How long does the download take? How long does the installation take? I would think you were looking at least 30 minutes total. Now, if you are running say Ubuntu, you can open up say Synaptic, select Open Office, and in 10 minutes or less, you have it installed. Oh, and it doesn't cost anything. To make it better, Open Office gets installed during a routine installation of Ubuntu anyway, so it makes it that much easier. Hey, to each his own, I am very happy with Linux, and wouldnt want to use anything else. Even for the average non-computer savvy user, Linux is much easier to use.
Seems REALLY sweet if it really has all those features, plus the keyboard seems really comfortable.
Tho it has 1 HUGE flaw! No microphone jack!! SO how are we supposed to voice-chat online in such an "online everywhere" device if we don't have a bluetooth\USB headset since those are the cheapest and most common?
I'm hoping HDMI means ION 9400M too but... maybe it's just an Intel 4500MHD... still WAY better than a GMA950 tho. x'D
I would think if there's a webcam, there's also a mic!
NokiaBook pro?
If Nokia had made this a convertible tablet, running Maemo, I would be ALL over it. I wouldn't even care to wait around for the Apple 10" tablet rumors to pan out. A 10" convertible tablet netbook with Maemo == SOLD, no questions asked.
But this? An WINDOWS piece of crap?? on a conventional netbook? F THAT.
I'm sure price will be around $300 - $400 if they can get a subsidy. The thing has built in 3g, so maybe a carrier will grab it and subsidize it in exchange for a data plan. Would love to see what frequencies it uses to see what carrier might snatch it up. I've been a little hesitant on the whole netbook thing, but this one looks pretty good. Need more specs, though. HDD or solid state drive, RAM, etc? It could be a contender. It at least looks, good, and lots of people buy electronics that just plain look good, regardless of functionality. ;D
Eldar(yes the guy who posted N900 preview and owns mobile-review.com) revealed the price to be 399 euros.
price! you wont see alist price, it will be incorporated into mobile phone companies offerings on the model, expect a low intro buy price, combined with a high monthly phone subscription fee on these models. like $100 upfront and then $50-80 per month for a period.
Looks nice, and has the specs I've been looking for in a netbook -- 3G being the important bit. In fact, this kit looks like the perfect basis for a Hackintosh.
Looks really beautiful.
cool, the video was shot in singapore!
$1,000 for that wouldn't be excessive. I paid more than that for my Sony TZ and it's very similar in size.
Nokia adds in:
- A-GPS, HSDPA
- 12 hour battery
- HDMI
I'd buy it.
$1000 is excessive. A Dell E4200 is $1000 from the outlet and weighs 2.2lbs and has a 12" screen. Magnesium alloy FTW. Even a X200s Thinkpad is around $1200 these days. Weighs 2.7lbs with 7 hour battery and has a real Core 2 Duo.
This would be competitive around $600.
Yum Yum
The monthlies will kill ya on unneeded built in data card.