The Nokia Booklet 3G has landed and was one of the first things we wanted to check out at Nokia World 2009. We’ve spent a little hands-on time with the new mini-laptop and have to say it’s amazing. Find out exactly how good it is with our Nokia Booklet 3G hands-on…

I’ve just had my hands on the new Nokia Booklet 3G and I have to say, it’s quite possibly the best device Nokia has ever produced – bar none. I didn’t want to take my hands off it. It’s that lovely. Initial hushed reactions from the gathered bloggers mooted the device to be surprisingly un-Nokia. The Nok has never been weak in the hardware stakes, but the Nokia Booklet 3G takes things to a whole new level. The build quality is just stunning, the design even better. It’s no surprise Nokia is swerving the Netbook tagline – this is so much more than a Netbook in every possible way.

We’re only just coming to terms with the specs, so our hands-on focussed on literally that, getting our mucky prints all over the lovely frame. All aluminum, the chassis is as sturdy as it looks – the overall package feels tight and well engineered. The back cover sports a bag-friendly material that is sure to give scratches the flick, while the underside shows off that solid block of aluminum, with the battery taking up the whole front half of the underneath, two knurled catches keeping it firmly in place.

Check out the full tech spec of the Nokia Booklet 3G

Weight distribution is spot on. Nowhere holding the device does it feel unbalanced, a clear sign of design and engineering working in perfect harmony.

Flip open the device and you’re treated to a lush black surround holding court between the screen and the aluminum edge. The “Nokia Booklet 3G” staring back at you in black on white at the top of the screen reminds us of the kind of self assurance typically seen on other all-aluminium devices (actually, it looks better than the Macbook Air I’m typing this on!)

The keyboard is seated in an all-black base, echoing the contrast shown off by the screen surround. Here I find my only grumble. The keys lack the damping I’m used to on a Mac, and give ground to the reminder that this is a Windows device. The two aren’t meant to be connected (Windows and noisy keyboards), but mentally, for me, they are. Perhaps the final production model might sort this. That said, it says a lot to me when the grumbles are coming in on that level of puritanical detail, so much else being pretty much perfect.

The most shocking thing of all is that this is Nokia’s first foray into this kind of device. What an opener. So, how much is it going to cost you when it ships later this year, not as much as the doom-sayers were saying – check out the Nokia Booklet 3G price.

Check out our Nokia Booklet 3G Hands-on image gallery: