Nokia’s connected Netbook
We’ve known about the existence of Nokia’s Booklet 3G Netbook for months now.
We knew the cell phone giant was about to release a Netbook which will connect to someone’s 3G wireless data network – but we didn’t know much else. Now we do.
In a New York City press conference, Nokia and partners AT&T Wireless, Best Buy and Microsoft formally and proudly announced the eminent release of the Booklet 3G.
The 3G will run on a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor – with one GB of memory – a 120 GB hard drive – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a wireless connection to the Web via AT&T’s 3G data network. More about that in a minute.
The 3G comes in three cool colors – and has lots of cool software bundled inside – the most important of which is Microsoft Windows 7.
In a very, very brief play session, the 3G seemed to run very well on the new OS. Of course, we’ll know a lot more when both hardware and software are finalized for release.
As for the time frame, all the participants say Best Buy will be the exclusive reseller of the Nokia Netbook – at least through the end of 2009. They will begin taking orders for the device within the next few weeks. Delivery is expected sometime mid-November.
As for price, the Booklet 3G will retail for $299 with a two-year AT&T data contract. And the contract – of which very little was said at the press conference – will cost you $60 per month for connectivity.
Add that all up and the total cost comes out to more than $1,700 (plus tax and tip) when you’re done. I think that’s a pretty steep price for a Netbook – connected or not.
Even without fully testing the new design, I’m guessing that the Booklet 3G will live up to Nokia’s high standards and should be a terrific device.
I’m wondering, though, about AT&T’s ability to handle much more data traffic on their wireless network. It seems that every person I know with an Apple iPhone (original, second and third generations) has to suffer through a plague of dropped phone calls and sometimes slow data download speeds.
Not every other device I’ve tested suffers from the same dropout problem – or to the same extent – as iPhones. But it’s something to think about.
Full test results will be coming ASAP.