You might think Nokia is all about Windows Phone 7 now, but the company has stressed it's not killing off Symbian just yet. That's good news for owners of the Nokia N8, as the company has revealed a taster screenshot of the next OS update for that device and other smart phones running the Symbian 3 OS.
The screenshot was shown during a talk by Nokia's smart-phone boss Jo Harlow at a conference in China, where she was banging the drum for Symbian despite the recent Windows Phone announcement.
My Nokia Blog has the image, and explains that the new UI condenses the battery, signal, time and operator info to a smaller bar at the top of the homescreen, while presenting three soft buttons at the bottom. That top status bar can be pulled down to reveal more information, too.
Also new for the Symbian update are "flexible widgets", although it's hard to make out from the pics exactly what that means, other than they're different shapes and sizes.
Harlow didn't say when the update will be made available for the N8 and other Symbian 3 smart phones. Her talk promised "completely new devices" though, as well as "improvements in hardware performance" and the "latest experiences delivered over the air".
When Nokia announced its deal with Microsoft just before Mobile World Congress, CEO Stephen Elop said the company is planning to sell at least 150 million more Symbian phones before completing the transition to Windows Phone.
That, plus the healthy number of N8s sold since its launch last year, means updates to the Symbian OS will receive a warm welcome, especially if they address some of the niggles with the software we identified in our review of the N8.
Photo credit: My Nokia Blog
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Mark Anderson 25 February, 2011 12:20
Good news although I doubt we'll see it until summer at the earliest - the next update is PR2.0 due end March which keeps the basic Ui but adds a better browser and portraitr QWERTY.
The UI shown above is PR3.0.
I'll try PR2.0 but suspect I'll continue to use the 3GS until the big update comes out.
Jamma 25 February, 2011 12:54
So basically they're going for an Android style interface with a pull down notification bar and a row of soft buttons at the bottom.
Not that I'm complaining, it's easily the best interface for notifications (not tried webOS mind) and a vast improvement of current symbian layout.
It does make me wonder more about why Nokia went for WinPh7 over Android, Since Android could have allowed them to put their own UI tweaks on (a la HTC Sense) so that if they wanted use their fonts and icons, keeping it familiar for nokia users of old. It was also mean that all the widgets and apps already available for android would be available to customer
Anonymous 25 February, 2011 13:19
In the mean time, I'd recommend people load SPB mobile shell on their n8's, gives you 5 home screens and big UI improvements in the meantime. At least you get access to larger widgets and a carousel or grid with shortcuts to access pretty much everything in 3 clicks, takes some off the UI pain off while we wait.
Anonymous 28 February, 2011 04:02
SPB is not great... as email widget, social widget and some other dont load
the1beard 26 March, 2011 16:16
You can't make a load of rubbish a better load of rubbish all you can do is bin it.
Avoid the N8 at any cost it is complete rubbish.
AVOID !
RIP Nokia....
Bring back the 6310i that was a real mobile phone....
6310 i = over a weeks battery life and crystal clear calls...
N8 = nothing but trouble...