Nokia 'seeking partners' for ARM-based netbook

Wintel not the fruit for phone giant, claim moles

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

26th August 2009 08:45 GMT

Nokia's first netbook, the Booklet 3G, may be based on Wintel technology, but Taiwanese manufacturer moles claim the Finnish phone giant is working on an ARM-based model.

The sources, cited by DigiTimes, are vague on the details and admit Nokia's ARM-based netbook - we refuse to use the marketing term 'smartbook'; an ARM chip won't make it any more intelligent than an Atom- or VIA Nano-based one - isn't likely to appear for the best part of a year.

Still, they insist Nokia is on the verge of signing up a manufacturing partner, with Compal and Foxconn named as the two on Nokia's shortlist.

Compal, it's alleged, will be punching out the Booklet 3G.

Adopting ARM is widely seen as leading the way to delivering far greater battery performance than current Atom-based netbooks can provide, though that's an argument largely based on extrapolation from mobile phones.

Nokia has promised that the Atom-based Booklet 3G will deliver up to 10.5 hours of runtime on a single charge, leading some pundits to speculate that the machine will use Intel's upcoming 'Pine Trail', a system-on-a-chip part that should deliver better power efficiency than current Atoms. ®

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