Nokia Booklet 3G review - part 2, performance, applications, conclusion

I'm not sure that I really want to be paying premium for build quality and design when the underlying technology moves on so quick. Devices such as this are almost consumable/disposable and therefore I would rather pay half as much for a cheaper and buy another with a dual core atom in 9 months and another with whatever the latest breakthrough technology is 9 months after that.

In reply to the comment above. That is true, but if so we will forever be waiting. Why buy that dual core Atom when you can wait for the next CULV processor, and then why wait for that if you can wait for etc. etc. etc.

There will always be a market for people who are keen on buying one now. In any case despite the slow processor, the Booklet seems to be a win to me. 8-10 hours of battery life is perfect for the average long haul flight.

@Captain Jon

I am unlikely to be waiting forever if I buy cheap and regularly replace (Say at 9-12 month intervals). So today I wouldn't buy a Nokia netbook, I would buy a far cheaper samsung one and replace it in 9 months. I'm suggesting that a device like this Nokia book that is built to last on the outside, will be let down by the technology inside. In 9 months time there will be faster more powerful devices with 18 hour batterys and WiMax 3GPP/dual core/breakthrough displays that work in direct sunlight etc. I won't wait forever, I'll buy a cheap device now (more powerful than the Nokia but half the price) and then replace it.

All the long haul flights I've been on recently have offered laptop power points anyway.

Unregistered wrote:In 9 months time there will be faster more powerful devices with 18 hour batterys and WiMax 3GPP/dual core/breakthrough displays that work in direct sunlight etc.

18 hour battery life. You are on drugs. No way, not now, not within the next 2 to 3 years. Right now, the best I've seen on a computer is the 7 hours I get on my Mac Book Pro 17 inch. I get about 7 hours if I turn things off, turn the display down, try not to spin the hard drive too much.

Oh, yes, with all due respect. Thanks Malerocks. Don't want to forget manners.

In theory, you can have 18 hour battery life now, if you don't mind 3/4 of the weight of the laptop being just battery... 😊

However, the simple fact is that battery technology has more-or-less plateaued for the moment, so I wouldn't expect too much improvement for the foreseeable future; the main improvement in battery life is going to come from optimised hardware/software rather than from any fundamental shift in battery design...

Unregistered is just bringing up nerdy stuff and is talking behalf of minority of customers. I thank Satan for that. Normal customers don't care things like that.

And what comes to upgrading. I see this device like many other as a device to new customers and some enthusiasts, who wants the best accessories to their mobilephone. Nerds are always talking about upgrading and other BS. If you already have a netbook, why then come here to cry? Oops, it's interwebs.

@paulvise,

Which unregistered. 😊

You, me, her and it.

18 hours was just for illustrative purposes, not something I was expecting to happen. Thanks for the typically anally retentive geek-fest repsonse.

I for one feel the Booklet is almost perfect in what it tries to do and I would love to get one but (and there's always a but) I've been led to believe that you can't even replace the hard drive and after reading this review I can see the hard drive is clearly one of the weakest points of the combination.

Can someone confirm to me if the HDD is user-replaceable or not.

Forget the battery. 18 hours isn't realistic at the moment (or in the next 6 - 9 months); 12 hours is good!

The point to note from Rafe's review is this: Nokia shipped Rafe a unit with Windows 7 Home Premium on it. IF Rafe turned off all the aero graphics niceties (and essentially made Home Premium act like Starter Edition) then he'd have seen some performance improvements due to lower requirements on the graphics card / CPU and memory.

Of course, I'm the first to want all the graphics niceties I just mentioned, but it's interesting to note that Nokia are offering a choice of Windows 7 Starter Edition (better performance) and Windows 7 Home Premium (nicer looking, more "wow" factor) - to me this clearly points to a desire to promote the "premium" nature of the Booklet 3G's brand, a-la Apple branding.

... and if anyone does go and buy one of these things, I'd seriously recommend they play with the Windows 7 config. (if they know what they're doing) - loads of performance improvements can be gained with some careful tuning...

I think this looks quite nice on the surface, but it's out way too late for the kind of spec it's offering and illustrates again that Nokia are taking far too long to get things to market in comparison to their competitors.

It's only a couple of years since Asus started the whole netbook revolution but everybody moved very quickly into the market they created and several generations of netbooks have already evolved.

I've just sold my original eee 4g on ebay and replaced it with a Dell 11z offering a dual core, low voltage processor, 8 hrs battery life, decent graphics performance, 2GB RAM (4GB available as an option) etc etc and it only cost �275 (admittedly this was through the Dell outlet). Whilst it may not be for everyone, the Dell feels like a 'next generation' purchase, and probably at least 3 generations on from my original Asus.

If Nokia had released this about 6-9 months ago, even at that price I think it would have had a wow factor and been an aspirational purchase for people when compared to the incumbent top netbooks such as the (already ageing even then) Samsung NC10 and Asus EEE 1008. People who are going to spend a premium on a product typically want it to be bleeding edge or at the very least near to the forefront - this just isn't.

As their first foray into the market you can forgive Nokia to some extent (I'd imagine Samsung and Asus have got a big headstart in developing netbooks), but the same appears to be happening with their phones. I forgave the 'warts and all' nature of the N80 and the N95 when they were first released because they were fresh, exciting and way ahead of the competition. That just isn't the case anymore and 'good enough' technology with not even 'good enough' firmware just isn't acceptable, especially when the competition have raised their game so much.

In response to the first 2 comments, my own take is that personally I neither wait for future technology, nor do I look for a regular upgrade schedule on a product of this kind.

A device such as this is never going to be used for high end applications. I'd be using it for basic mobile functions due to its portability and because of it's pedigree as a defined companion to my Nokia smartphones when travelling, for syncing, backup, maps, email etc.

So what I tend to do now is look at whether the device will suit my current situation, compared to how my future usage will be. Bearing in mind this device will probably work well doing the same tasks in 3 years time, means I'd rather pay a premium for the good design side of things and hang on to it for longer.

Obviously, everyones approach will be different. 😉

Does anyone know the UK release date of this Booklet?

And why is it on the Nokia Shop you can only ever find the phones. Can't find UK availability for Nokia Home Music Network device, Nokia Sat Nav device etc, just reams of phones and accessories... :con?

Unregistered wrote:18 hours was just for illustrative purposes, not something I was expecting to happen. Thanks for the typically anally retentive geek-fest repsonse.

I really really wanted to like this machine but I can't. Not only does it have low specs, but below average performance at that price?? To add insult to injury, you can't upgrade the RAM? Goodness, can it get any worse?? I expected it's premium build and premium price to come with at least above average performance. In all honesty, I don't see why anyone would want to buy this. There's something better than this in virtually every aspect!
Brilliant review by the way.
Cheers 😊

Steve, you mentioned somewhere that it is possible to disassemble the machine. What if one were to do that, remove the 1GB RAM chip and replace it with a 2GB RAM chip? Surely the RAM could be upgraded that ways right? Anyways the 1GB and 2GB chips would have very similar physical dimensions and normally netbooks / laptops are not that hard to disassemble.

A task for the techno-geeks?? 😉

malerocks - that was probably me. I was rold it wasn't possible to do even this - however I did not take the machine to bits. It may be possible, theoretically to do so, but it is not (unlike many devices) designed to be user serviceable.

@malerocks the RAM is physically soldered into the MoBo in the same way it is to your phones, good luck with that upgrade!

@Rafe, try making some effort if you're going to pretend this is anything more than a Nokia propaganda machine. If you really are going to diversify you need to up your game a whole lot.

Ever lovingly unregistered

Steve Jobs

I've also got a Booklet 3G that I'm reviewing on http://www.rickycadden.com - interestingly, mine also came from Nokia for review, but came with Windows 7 Starter Edition.

I've had several other netbooks (Fujitsu P1610, Dell Mini 9, Asus 1000HE EeePC) and the Booklet 3G is easily the slowest. I've chatted with Rafe on IM about our respective experiences, and I'm floored to read that he was able to use Firefox with multiple tabs *and* another app at the same time. I've rarely gotten the Booklet 3G to do more than one thing at a time, and I'm no stranger to cutting back to save resources.

I also uninstalled the F-Secure trial in an unsuccessful attempt to speed things up.

If the Booklet 3G had a way for me to upgrade to 2GB of RAM, I'd buy one, without question. Unfortunately, it doesn't, so I'll stick with my uglier but faster 1000HE.

Thanks for contributing Ricky. I wonder in Window 7 Home Premium made a difference.

I wasn't really pushing things, but 4 or so tabs + IM + Word and Social Hub was fine for me.

You might also try Chrome as the browser?