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Nokia Booklet 3G To Cost $299 From Best Buy

// October 13th, 2009 // 7 Comments » // toys

Today at an event in New York, Nokia announced that its Booklet 3G netbook will be an AT&T exclusive, taking advantage of the carrier’s high-speed 3G network. The mini-laptop will be sold exclusively through Best Buy, priced at $299.99 with a 2-year contract from AT&T. The contract requires activation on AT&T’s $60/month Laptop Connect plan, which offers a 5GB monthly limit.

Today, AT&T already offers 3 netbooks, from Acer, Dell, and Lenovo. All of these are priced at $199 with a 2-year contract, which positions the Nokia Booklet 3G at only $100 more. While the Booklet 3G’s suggested retail price of roughly $600+ is absurd for a netbook, this contract pricing is actually really attractive, for the right consumer. Sat beside my Asus 1000HE EeePC, the Nokia Booklet 3G looks awesome, feels awesome, and performs way better. Similarly, when positioned, for an extra $100, next to the other netbooks that AT&T currently offers, the Booklet 3G will, in my opinion, fly off the shelves.

The only sticking point is the $60/month data plan. For advanced users such as myself and most readers of this blog, $60/month for a (nearly) unlimited data plan on a netbook is quite absurd. I pay $20/month for my unlimited (truly unlimited) data plan on my regular AT&T plan, and can easily tether my phone to my 1000HE for 3G access already. However, most consumers have accepted that portable computer data is going to cost them $60/month. It’s the same on all four of the major carriers.

With the pricing and hardware in order, Nokia is in a great position to use software updates to continuously increase the value proposition of the Booklet 3G over the next year or so. The built-in GPS receiver, accelerometer, monster battery life, and integrated 3G antenna all open up the possibility of some cool applications just waiting to be developed.

What do you think? Are you interested in the Booklet 3G, or do you think it’s still priced out of this world? I hope to have a Nokia Booklet 3G for review shortly, and will definitely be doing some hard-core comparisons against my Asus 1000HE EeePC, which I think is currently one of the best netbooks on the market.

Best Buy Carrying The Nokia Booklet 3G Is Brilliant

// October 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // toys

Today we found out that Best Buy will be the exclusive carrier for the Nokia Booklet 3G in the U.S., offering it with an AT&T contract ($60/month for 5GB of data transfer, unless Nokia somehow convinced AT&T to give a discount with it, which I doubt). There’s no official word on the pricing as of yet, but even so, getting Best Buy to be the exclusive carrier is *HUGE* for Nokia.

Of course, you’re immediately wondering why, given that it’s going to come with an AT&T contract. Why wouldn’t Nokia want the Booklet 3G to be sold in AT&T stores, as there’s surely more of those than there are Best Buy stores, right? Sure, but people go to Best Buy for electronics – such as laptops. In fact, the last 3 laptops I’ve purchased have come from Best Buy. People go to AT&T stores to complain and to buy phones.

Also, Best Buy is quickly becoming *the* destination for netbook shoppers. The last time I was in there, they had over 10 different netbooks, lined up at the ready for users to check out. I’ve seen the Nokia Booklet 3G, and I’ve seen it side-by-side with my beloved Asus 1000HE EeePC. If you have them both lined up next to each other, the Booklet 3G will win every time in the looks department. Throw in the impressive specs (such as the 12-hour battery life) and high resolution display and it quickly becomes a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, we don’t know how much they’re going to want for the Booklet 3G. The announced pricing puts it roughly $800+ without a subsidy, but Nokia is going to have to get it down to around $200-300 with that AT&T contract in order for it to really be a competitor. Time will tell. In any case, I would imagine that this holiday season will be a stellar time for the carriers to hawk their connected netbook offers, and I’m glad to see that Nokia intends to get its piece of that pie in the U.S. I know I’m anxiously awaiting the opportunity to pit the Booklet 3G against my 1000HE to see which one dominates the other.

Hands-On With The Nokia Booklet 3G

// September 2nd, 2009 // 10 Comments » // toys

Last night I had the chance to spend some time with the Nokia Booklet 3G, Nokia’s new netbook, and I have to say – it’s dang impressive. Comparing side-by-side to my trusty Asus 1000HE, the Booklet 3G is smaller, lighter, and built *much* more solidly. It’s also alot sexier, thanks to the aluminum body and glass screen.

The Booklet 3G is powered by the Intel Atom Z530 processor, which is part of the reason it’s able to boast 12 hours of battery life and full HD video (720p) playback, as well as an HDMI-out port, so you can connect it up to your TV, if you wanted. It will run Windows 7 Starter or Windows 7 Home Premium, and will most likely be available through your operator. It will also come with only 1GB of RAM, and that’s *not* user-upgradeable, unfortunately.

In terms of software, they’re really working on bringing it to the consumer with as little bloatware (or crapware, as the Nokia rep last night called it) as possible. It will have a new Nokia Update application that will check that you always have the latest version of Nokia’s Ovi Suite 2.0 (which is currently in beta, but should be ready for the Booklet’s debut) and other Nokia applications.

The keyboard is extremely comfortable – I had no problem touch-typing, similar to my Asus 1000HE. You can see a pic of the keyboard below, to get an idea of the layout and size of the keys. The touchpad is small, and is not currently multi-touch compatible, like the one on my Asus 1000HE. However, I was able to give some feedback to the product manager on that, and he said it’s likely something we’ll see in the future. Also, the keyboard is not currently backlit, and when I brought it up, he reacted as though he simply hadn’t thought about it. He also made a point to write it down, so that he could investigate the possibilities. The battery is a custom-built 16-cell battery (most netbooks come with 6 or 8-cell) and I have no doubts it really will power through the full advertised 12 hours.

Priced at 575EUR (US$820) it’s certainly quite pricey, though Nokia was pretty clear that they don’t believe most consumers will purchase the Booklet 3G alone – it’ll usually come subsidized through a carrier or something like that, which would be good.