Nokia Booklet 3G

Mobile maker's netbook debut

A slower hard drive helps out with battery life, though, and the Booklet 3G has no problem taking long excursions away from the mains. Running our standard PCMark05 loop test with WiFi on and brightness at full whack, it whizzed along for just under six hours. Take things a little easier, and you can expect eight or even nine hours out of it. Nokia reckons 12 hours is possible, but you’d have to be barely using it to get anywhere near this figure.

Black, ice or azure – the choice is yours

Its excellent design, long battery life, 3G and GPS are all big plus points for the Booklet 3G, but there’s no getting away from that colossal price tag. Nokia’s clearly hoping it will soon be available at a subsidised rate from one or more of the UK’s mobile operators, but you’ll most likely still have to shell out a fair wedge of cash, as well as sign up to an expensive monthly contract.

Verdict

Nokia won’t be best pleased that not a single UK mobile operator has taken up the Booklet 3G at launch, leaving it with something of an unpalatable price tag. It might be marketed as a mini laptop but, to all intents and purposes, it’s a netbook, and it was the affordable nature of netbooks that made them such an instant hit. If money’s no object the Booklet 3G well worth considering but, compared to the competition, it’s just too darn expensive. ®

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