Time magazine showers kudos on the Nokia 770 in its Persons of the Year issue: “A viable laptop alternative weighing in at 8 ounces, the Nokia 770 tablet packs a powerful punch,” reads its headline over a review by Wilson Rothman.

It’s an online-only review — the Business section’s “gadget of the week” — and not in the print version, the big end-of-the-year issue with Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono on the cover.

Positive even when discussing the 770’s negatives, the review doesn’t reveal any new aspects of the device. Typical sentence: “Web browsing and instant messaging are the two areas that highlight both the strengths and weaknesses of the 770. The browser — from a ‘third party’ — is powerful.”

Rothman falls in the “it replaces a laptop!” camp without complaining that it doesn’t have everything a laptop has — instead he adores its portability: “[The] 770 will do almost everything you’d want a laptop to do…. And at just over 8 ounces, it’s a lot easier to carry around.”

Thanks to Mike Cane for pointing us to this yesterday!