Nokia Unveils Booklet 3G Specifications, Price

Not too long ago the news got out that mobile phone company Nokia was about to enter the netbook market with its Booklet 3G. Specifications were unavailable then, but today at Nokia World ’09 the company announced all the details around this slick netbook.

The specifications of Nokia’s first foray into the personal computer market are both impressive and a massive letdown. Here’s a rundown:

  • Intel Atom Z530, 1.6 GHz
  • Intel Poulsbo US15W, fanless design
  • 1GB DDR2 RAM 533 Mhz, soldered down
  • 120 GB HDD, 1.8″/5mmH/SATA, 8 MB cache, 4200 RPM
  • 10.1″ display, 1280×720, glass window
  • 16 cell, 56.8 Wh, Li-Ion prismatic, removable design, 12 hours (!)
  • 802.11 b/g/n, 2T2R
  • BT 2.1 + EDR
  • Inbuilt 3G modem (data calls only). Different variants: WCDMA: 850/1900/2100 or WCDMA 900/2100 or no modem.
  • All modem variants have GSM and GPRS
  • Assisted-GPS

Design-wise, it’s built out of a solid block of aluminium, 19.9mm thick. The Booklet 3G weighs 1.2kg, and comes in three colours (black, white, and blue). Port-wise, it has HDMI 1.2, three USB ports, headphone out/audio in, an SD card reader, and a SIM slot. It also comes with a suite of Nokia software, and the operating system it ships with will be Windows 7.

While most of these specifications sound pretty impressive, the big problem that everybody is falling over currently is the RAM. It only has 1GB, which, while technically enough to run Windows 7 relatively comfortably (I tried), is simply not enough for a netbook of this class. Sadly, it seems as if there will be no expansion slot for RAM on the Booklet, meaning you’ll be stuck with 1GB of RAM.

The Booklet 3G comes with a relatively hefty price tag for a netbook: EUR 570. Nokia did emphasize it will be subsidised by carriers, but it’s still a lot of money, especially for a machine limited to just 1GB of RAM.

It all looks like a very solid device, but the RAM is the breaking point for me – and I assume for many of you as well.

20 Comments

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