Nokia Booklet 3G: Full Specs & Pricing Released

Author Andy Vandervell
Published 2nd Sep 2009
Nokia Booklet 3G: Full Specs & Pricing Released
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We were promised more details on the Nokia Booklet 3G today and Nokia has duly delivered, releasing the full-spec list and pricing of the unit at its Nokia World event in Stuttgart.

So, what's to know? Well, while we knew that the Booklet 3G used an Atom processor, we can now confirm which one: the 1.6GHz Z530. This means the Booklet 3G uses Intel's Poulsbo US15W chipset, which utilises a graphics processor developed by PowerVR - makers of the graphics unit in the iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre among many others.


This does offer HD video decoding and since the Booklet 3G will run Windows 7, there's a far greater chance this processing will actually be accessible - on Windows XP based netbooks its abilities are largely inaccessible due to the lack of support of DirectX 10 and DXVA 2.0.

This should work well with the previously teased 'HD resolution display', which turns out to be 1,280 x 720 as opposed to the 1,366 x 768 more typically used. Anything is better than 1,024 x 600, so we can hardly complain - some might even prefer a less dense pixel pitch on a small 10.1in display such as this.

Nokia raised eyebrows with its 12-hour battery life claims for the Booklet 3G and though we're no closer to finding out if they're true, we do now know that the Booklet 3G will use a 5,680mAh capacity, 'prismatic' lithium-ion battery. That 'prismatic' bit is important since, rather like the lithium-polymer batteries in Apple's MacBooks, non-cylindrical 'prismatic' batteries are more space efficient and thus allow the svelte 19.9mm thickness.


Storage and memory might be an issue for some people. While the 120GB hard drive will be ample for most needs, it'll spin at a lowly 4,200rpm. Good for keeping heat to a minimum - a necessity given the system will be fanless - not so great for system responsiveness. Likewise, while the 1GB of DDR2 RAM is nothing new, it's soldered onto the motherboard, suggesting it won't be upgradeable.

Other interesting titbits include the presence of an accelerometer, while colour choices at launch will include black, white and blue. As we already knew, a 3G modem, Draft-N Wi-Fi, A-GPS and Bluetooth are all included (as are HDMI, three USB ports and an SD card reader), making this one seriously well connected netbook.

If all this sounds too good to be true, though, spare a thought for the price. Though it will doubtless be heavily subsidised on contracts (probably long ones), the 'SIM free' price will be a whopping 570 Euros - just under £500.


So, what do you think? Would you rather a smartphone than this, or are you willing to commit to what is undoubtedly an enticing mobile computing package? Let us know in the comments.

Link: Nokia Conversations

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comment AlmostDone said on 2nd September 2009

Yep £500 is just too high of a premium. They are probably using 1.8" instead of standard 2.5" hard drives which explains the low capacity and slow 4200rpm to keep t... more

comment drdark said on 2nd September 2009

@ThaDon: I understand where you're coming from, but it must also be noted than the N900 is their new Maemo(linux-based) OS and not Symbian. Check out youtube. The latest videos loo... more

comment Raffaele said on 3rd September 2009

1G non upgradeable ram seems low for windows 7 to run really well. As a premium netbook it could have been tempting with 2 gig ram on a decent telco plan.

comment purephase said on 4th September 2009

I guess what I was trying to say - but from ThaDon's smackdown I didn't get across is that I don't see why Nokia can't distribute these on standard contracts like they do a high en... more

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