Well well, i thought i’d never lay my hands on a booklet 3G. it’s something i don’t see using myself too often. It’s simple: I use my Phones (currently N82 and/or HTC Hero) for Mails/Tweets etc on the Road, while at Home i’m using my Acer Aspire 6930ZG, a 16″ Laptop with lots of power. I’ve already been reading some first Hands-on reviews, which were a mixed bag of nuts and so was i when i received the trial invitation by my good friends of WOM World Nokia! I wasn’t sure if i’m the right person to review a Netbook, since i’m not really a PC Expert, but what the heck, i love new challenges, so why not trial something different!?

It took a few Days to get this Thing started, cause unfortunately WOM World has sent the Device with the standard UK charging plug, which does not work here in Austria. Well, mistakes make us human i think, things like this happen. Cool Thing here is, that Nokia Austria has helped me out with a “Trial Euro Charging Plug” (Conclusion: it works! lol). i got the new plug on friday, which was the day when my lovely girlfriend Mona came over to stay here for the weekend…

…so why not let her introduce her first Impressions!? From what i’ve seen, she was VERY happy with it – form factor wise or was there more? Here’s what she had to say after 3 Days with the Nokia Booklet 3G – with some of my own Thoughts:

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Pro Booklet 3G

  • very good Battery life: i never owned a Netbook, so i can’t really comment on this one, but we got almost 7 1/2 Hours of the Booklet, which is amazing to me. My Laptop barely lasts 3 Hours! Very good Battery Life, unfortunately its that good for a reason, which will appear down below
  • responsive Touchpad, reacts even on slightest Contact: ermmm .. yeah. the touchpad on my Acer Laptop is definitely not the Best, so i guess EVERY touchpad is pretty responsive. it worked good though on the Booklet, never had any Problems so far.
  • Zooming via “multitouch”, like on the iPhone: Mona discovered this by Accident. Did you know that you can zoom into Webpages via 2 finger stretch on the Touchpad? Its a pretty nice Gimmick, but we haven’t found any more “multitouch” capabilities.
  • The Size is a definitive Hit, fits in every Handbag: haha thats right. My Girlfriend is a Handbag fanatic and the Booklet fits pretty nice into it. But that’s not solely something for Women, i’ve also started to wear Shoulderbags recently, as they’re just great to carry around all my stuff. Yes, the Booklet also fits in my Eastpak Shoulderbag!
  • Although the Booklet has a pretty small Keyboard, you can type very fast on it and without Typos. You get used to it in no Time! Definitely! In Fact i was very surprised of how quickly you get used to it. After a few Minutes i was typing very fast, almost no Typos. Size and Spacing of the Keyboard is very nice and i think the Feedback is pretty good too. Overall i must say i’m very impressed by the Quality of the Booklet 3G. The metal casing gives it a very VERY solid look (and good feeling at that) and, to be honest, it looks REALLY stylish!

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Contra Booklet 3G

  • The Screen looks blurry, but you just might have to get used to it: That’s right. I first thought i made some Fingerprints on the 10,1″ Screen and tried to clean it, but i realized that the Screen actually looks like it. I’m not sure if the Hardware may be faulty, and it’s not really something that you see immediately, but it looks a bit weird sometimes.
  • The Booklet 3G is totally overpriced for the Specs given: i can’t agree more here. The Booklet 3G is currently available for about € 770,– via Amazon, or alternatively € 760,– via Price Search Machines, such as Idealo. If we look at the Specs, we have a Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB (of NOT REPLACEABLE) RAM, 120GB HDD, Intel GMA 500, and the Windows 7, Starter Edition. While i generally had a good Impression by my first  Windows 7 Experiences, i felt the Booklet was extremely underpowered. Mona used the Booklet fresh, without any Apps installed. During the week i started to install some of my very basic Applications, that i use on every PC. Tweetdeck, Google Chrome, Thunderbird, just to name a few.. and well, i hate to say it, but the Booklet lags. In Fact it lags a lot. Chrome + Tweetdeck Notification = Lag. Thunderbird + Chrome + MS Excel lags. This shouldn’t really happen in my Opinion. Thinking about the “Setup” i have going when i work on my Laptop, i doubt the Booklet can take this.
  • One more Thing i wanna add her is the Lack of Nokia on the Booklet. Nokia Social Hub, an Application to keep Track of your Flickr, Facebook and Twitter Contacts, but thats pretty much all that indicates that you’re holding Nokia. Not even OVI Suite is on it!? Would’ve been really cool if Nokia surprises us, but unfortunately, they didn’t!

As you can see, the Booklet has some Things to cheer for, but it also has some Problems that can’t be ignored. A very high Price for an underpowered, yet very sexy Device – is this enough to buy it?

PS: Gifts in form of a Booklet 3G for Mona are more than welcome, with regards from her :)

Monaaa :)