Nokia Booklet 3G

The Nokia Booklet 3G arrives with a fair amount of hype surrounding it. That’s because this is Nokia’s first foray into the netbook space, and because the machine boasts a MacBook-esque design. This 10.1-inch laptop ($299 with a two-year wireless broadband contract; $599 unsubsidized) definitely looks and feels more expensive than most other netbooks while offering long battery life and built-in mobile broadband. However, the Booklet 3G’s small keyboard and slow performance hold it back.

Design

The glossy black lid (also available in blue or white) and aluminum-covered body give the Booklet an attractive, MacBook-like look when the system is closed. When you open the lid, you see the aluminum extends to the system’s deck, and a tasteful, glossy black bezel borders the screen. However, it’s hard to miss the cheap plastic keyboard, which contradicts the otherwise upscale design.

At 10.4 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches and 2.8 pounds, the Booklet is a little bit smaller than competitors such as the Toshiba mini NB205 (10.4 x 8.3 x 1.3 inches, 3.0 pounds), the Samsung N120 (10.7 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches and 2.8 pounds), and the HP Mini 311 (11.4 x 8.0 x 1.2 inches, 3.2 pounds). This netbook is very easy to tote, but you have to make some tradeoffs.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The Booklet’s 78-key chiclet-style keyboard has its keys in all the standard positions, and there was no noticeable flex. On the other hand, the keys are small (even for a netbook), and a bit stiff. Despite our discomfort, we were able to achieve our typical 80 words per minute and a strong 0-percent error rate on the Ten Thumbs typing test.

The black plastic touchpad on the Booklet 3G isn’t particularly attractive, but it’s accurate and pleasant to use. It even supports the multitouch pinch gesture for zooming in and out, and the two metal mouse buttons offer good tactile feedback.

Display and Audio

The 10.1-inch glossy screen is a bright spot for the Booklet 3G. The colorful panel offers sharp images at its native 1280 x 720 resolution, which is much higher than a typical netbook’s 1024 x 600 screen. We really appreciated the additional screen real estate when navigating around the desktop, surfing the Web, and using applications such as Google Earth. Images even remained bright and colorful when the screen was viewed from a 90-degree angle.

Even though the Booklet’s 1280 x 720 screen is capable of displaying 720p video, the system lacks the horsepower to be a decent multimedia machine. Full-screen video playback was a bit jerky and pixilated when streaming a 720p episode of Fringe from Fox.com, but a 720p WMV file we downloaded from Microsoft’s WMV HD Content Showcase looked better.

The Booklet’s side mounted speakers are nothing to write home about, either. When streaming both heavy metal and a jazz from Napster, the sound was a bit tinny and distorted. Moreover, the music was incredibly soft, even at maximum volume.

Ports and Webcam

Like most netbooks these days, the Booklet has three USB 2.0 ports and an SD Card reader. It also sports a slot on the right side for a SIM Card. A single 3.5-inch audio in/out jack on the left replaces the typical dual microphone/audio out jacks you find on most notebooks.

What’s atypical is that the Booklet has an HDMI-out port instead of VGA; we’ve only seen this on the Dell Mini 10 (with a TV tuner) and the Nvidia Ion-powered HP Mini 311. As many mainstream external monitors don’t support HDMI, we can only assume the Booklet is meant to attach mainly to more expensive, high-end components such as flat screen TVs. Unfortunately, the Booklet isn’t the right system to power your home theater.

The 1.3-megapixel webcam captures sharp, smooth video, even in low light. When conducting a Skype call, our friend was able to see fine details of our face and watch us move around smoothly, even in a dimly-lit room.