Nokia Booklet 3G review from CrunchGear
If you were wondering whether that $600 Nokia Booklet 3G ($300 with wireless Internet service) is worth the premium, the answer from CrunchGear appears to be a resounding… maybe.
I feel that the Booklet is an odd chimera by any standard. It’s a netbook by one of the most famous cellphone makers and it’s subsidized like a cellphone but is not worth its unsubsidized price. In a nutshell, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Okay, that looks like a solid “no” but the reviewer also states he got 10 hours of video playback on battery power, which is incredible. If you only go a couple hours at a time between plugging in, that longevity of battery life isn’t worth the premium, but if you really need all-day computing on-the-go, it’s a small extra price to pay. Coupled with the built-in GPS, Bluetooth and webcam, I can see it being an attractive option for highly mobile folks, though not nearly as alluring as cheaper netbooks are for the masses.
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Stuart | Nov 10, 2009 | Reply
I think the reviewer missed the entire point of this netbook. It is called Booklet 3G because it is meant to work on a 3G network–to be totally mobile. He didn’t mention what the WWAN speeds were like, how switching from 3G to Wifi and then back to 3G was like. He didn’t not how good the 3G reception was? Was it better than a typical 3G phone? Did it seem to last well in a moving vehicle?
Obviously for those who live/travel outside the United States having the ability to hot-swap sims is a real advantage. When there are more than one 3G carrier that you can access (such as in Europe and Asia) you can simply put in the sim which gives the best signal without having to turn the machine off and take the battery out. I have had to do that numerous times and that feature seems like it was made for things like that or for putting your cellphone sim into your pc for internet connectivity instead of using your cellphone as a modem.
I’d like to see a user take it out and ride the train or a bus or while waiting at the airport for a flight where there are no available outlets to recharge. Where they would have to pay and arm and a leg for internet service at the airport or at some hotels and they can see how effective the built-in 3G is.