Nokia Booklet 3G up for UK preorder: £649

Its taken a while, but the Nokia Booklet 3G has arrived for preorder in the UK.  The 10.1-inch 3G-enabled netbook is available SIM-free and unlocked, and is priced at £649 including VAT ($1,049).  Your money gets you Windows 7, WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G, along with A-GPS and an HMDI connection.  No word on when it will actually begin shipping, however.

There's also a long-lasting battery, which Nokia claim will see you 12 hours runtime.  Back when we reviewed the Booklet 3G in November, we found actual battery life was more like 8.5hrs at most with WiFi switched on and the backlight at medium; we also had concerns about performance, with the Nokia's relatively anaemic Atom Z530 processor falling short even of first-gen netbooks.

Still, it makes more sense to buy the Booklet 3G outright rather than with a carrier subsidy, which we reckon would leave you screaming at the display even halfway into the typical two-year agreement.  We can't argue with the netbook's build quality and design, however, so if your ambitions are low-to-moderate then it might fit the bill.