If you've become tired of Intel Atom-based netbooks over the past year or two, you might find yourself longing for the likes of Apple to revolutionise the market with the launch of the fabled iTablet.
However, if Mac OS X just isn't your scene, you might well like this.
It's Nokia's attempt at the ultra-portable PC, and it's called the Booklet 3G. The system, announced earlier today, is arguably one of the best looking netbooks ultra-portables we've seen, and one could easily be mistaken into believing it to be designed by Jonathan Ive himself.
Measuring 185mm x 264mm x 19.9mm and weighing 1.25kg, it's an ultra-sleek and easy-on-the-eye piece of computing. What's more interesting, though, is Nokia's teased specification.
According to the mobile-phone giant, the Booklet 3G is powered by an Intel Atom processor, but what's different here is that Nokia is equipping the system with a 10in glass HD-ready display, and an HDMI port for outputting HD media to a big-screen display.
All sounds a bit much for Intel's current crop of Atom processors and chipsets, and that leads us to believe that Nokia's system is packing something else. Providing the power for HD functionality could be NVIDIA's ION platform, or, perhaps even Intel's next-gen Atom parts - codenamed Pineview. The latter, combined with Intel's Tiger Point I/O to create the Pine Trail platform, is believed to provide HD-ready graphics and improved battery life.
Conjecturing somewhat, Pine Trail could facilitate a 10in screen with resolutions of up to 1,366x768, and the improved efficiency of the 45nm part could make sense of Nokia's promise of "up to 12 hours of battery life" from a single charge.
Nokia won't be revealing the finer workings of the Booklet 3G until its Nokia World event on September 2nd, a date on which we hope we'll have pricing, too. In the meantime, all we know is that Nokia's "mini-laptop" promises to provide "the rich experience of a full-function PC inside an ultra-portable aluminium chassis."
Users can look forward to a wide range of connectivity options - including Wireless N, 3G and Bluetooth - and, judging by Nokia's promotional video, a copy of Microsoft's Windows 7 Starter operating system. There's sadly no mention of touchscreen functionality, but Nokia has equipped the device with Assisted GPS - that'll help make good use of Windows 7's location-aware functionality.
With Windows 7 arriving on October 22nd, it's a fair bet to assume that the Booklet 3G will land in Q4. Question is, what's inside and will Nokia's system be one of the first to sport Intel's Pineview-based Atom processors? We might just find out at next month's Intel Developer Forum (IDF). For the time being, check out this Nokia-provided promotional clip, and remember to share your thoughts on Nokia's upcoming mini-laptop in the HEXUS.community forums.
