Nokia has overhauled its Symbian software. The much-maligned operating system has been updated with Symbian Anna, a new version of the software to make its debut on the new Nokia X7.
Anna sports friendly new icons on the front end, while the Web browser and Ovi Maps apps are quicker and easier to use. Maps now has new public-transport information, predictive search and social-networking features.
Typing on the phone is also easier with a new portrait Qwerty keyboard, and there's a split-screen view so you can still see your app while you're typing. Nokia also says there have been improvements behind the scenes, so it's secure enough for business.
Click play on the video below to see Anna in action.
Symbian has been looking increasingly tired as first the iPhone then Android revitalised phone software. When even Microsoft's hackneyed Windows Mobile was reborn as the slick Windows Phone 7, it was clear something had to change.
The gap between Nokia's solid hardware and lacklustre software was never more clear than in the Nokia N8, a smart-phone powerhouse with an excellent 12-megapixel camera that seriously divided opinion. Not long after the N8's failures crystallised Nokia's problems, the Finnish company took full control of Symbian, before relegating the much-maligned software to lower-end phones by adopting Windows Phone 7 for smart phones.
Symbian Anna will appear on the new X7, and will work on Symbian phones including the N8. Further updates will follow, but it's not clear what'll happen to Symbian when Windows Phone 7 makes its debut on a Nokia phone. Each update will have a lady's name, presumably proceeding alphabetically in the style of confectionery-obsessed Android. We hope B is for Bertha.
Is this the boost Nokia needs, or have you lost interest until Windows Phone 7 Nokias turn up? Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
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Comments 9
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skapete 12 April, 2011 18:22
I certain phrase to do with dead horses and flogging comes to mind...
Mark Anderson 13 April, 2011 07:07
@skapete
150 million sales is flogging a dead horse? Really?
Me, I welcome this. I'm back using the N8 as the iPhone is nice but boring and Android feels like a poor man's copy of iOS. At least the N8 makes calls and doesn't die after less than a day.
ribbons 13 April, 2011 11:09
After this update, will you stop putting "much-maligned" in every article mentioning Symbian?
It feels like a geeky tabloid.
Anonymous 14 April, 2011 11:42
symbian will never die...becose most ppl around the world use symbian the most. it will just get faster and faster with updates and better.....and i wellcome that. and dont forget nokia caters for the world. not just in europe or u.s.....or the poor or the rich.nokia thinks about every one...and the phones hardware is the best u can buy...................thanks nokia for anna. hope to c her soon on my N8
Anonymous 25 April, 2011 09:20
'or have you lost interest until Windows Phone 7 Nokias turn up?'. I will lose intrest once they turn up, Microsoft sucks, Windows sucks, Windows phone sucks. I'm happy with my linux based Nokia N900, after all no other phone (which I know of) can open X Terminal or run python scripts.
anonymous 10 October, 2011 10:50
Symbian used to be the center of my mobile universe but ever since i have moved to my Jail broken IOS i can do things much faster and in much more style. symbian now feels really slow and outdated. I have simply lost interest in nokia and it seems that nokia too have "lost interest" in making new and exciting phones. Their speed to roll out new devices is really slow and when they do bring out a new model its plagued with problems you have had before.
Goodbye Nokia, its been a good 10 years and i have enjoyed many of your phones but now its time for you to RIP, unless of course you ditch your foolish software and go with andriod.
anonymous 17 October, 2011 23:07
symbain update
anonymous 17 October, 2011 23:12
symbain Ana update
anonymous 17 October, 2011 23:17
symbain Ana update