There are several interesting things about Nokia’s just-announced Booklet 3G. One is the battery life: Nokia claims “up to 12 hours of battery life”, which is an immediate selling point among transatlantic travellers and the like.

Another is that it runs Windows. I guess after the announcement of Microsoft Office Mobile for Nokia devices earlier this month it should not be a huge surprise; but I admit there was a time when I thought Nokia would never release a Windows device.

I am sorry in some ways that this is not a Tablet running Maemo, a variety of Linux as seen on the Nokia N810 and others; I’m also sorry that Nokia is not experimenting with a Windows 7 Tablet, which would be suitable for a device of this size (10 inch screen) and make it more convenient for some operations; but I guess the company is playing safe by providing a keyboard; I’m also not convinced that Windows 7 is good enough yet for touch-only users.

The third point to note is that Booklet 3G ties in with Ovi Services: music, maps, cloud storage, app store, and more.

Why is Nokia partnering with Microsoft? I guess this is a vote of confidence in Windows 7, for a start. But I also guess that Nokia is badly rattled by Apple, whose iPhone is eating into Nokia’s Smartphone sales, and that partnering with Microsoft, unthinkable when Windows Mobile was the enemy, now makes sense.

Let me add: if Apple does release a Tablet in the near future, Booklet 3G is also likely to suffer.