Nokia previews future Symbian UI
The screenshots released as part of the design proposal show a more modern side to the Symbian platform.
The company has published its proposals for the user interface in Symbian^4 for evaluation by the Symbian Foundation, a collection of companies and individuals looking to further the open-source mobile platform.
According to an official blog post by Nokia's Effie Vraka - via ARN - the aim of the new Symbian version is to introduce a more modern look-and-feel to the platform, with a widgetised dashboard and consistent user interface between applications.
Featuring auto-save functionality to streamline the user experience, Vraka describes the concepts for Symbian^4 as "[placing] the Symbian User Experience into the race with the Android, PalmOS and iPhone."
It's a fair comparison to make: looking at the screenshots, anyone who has used any of the platforms mentioned will feel immediately at home, with various widgets being made available on the homescreen. Perhaps more surprising is the fact that the interface has quite clearly been designed with touchscreens in mind - an control method which has traditionally been available on the minority of Symbian-based handsets.
The concept screenshots provided by Vraka in no way represent the final design of the next generation of Symbian - but they at least show that a wholesale replacement with the Maemo platform isn't on the company's cards just yet.
Do you think that Symbian can be salvaged with a user interface overhaul, or should the company be concentrating its efforts on Maemo - or perhaps defecting altogether to the Android camp? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyWidgets were the most annoying thin for me on the PC...havent tested a phone with them though...
My next phone is probably going to be android based(apple bores me) and the new motorola shadow looks quite interesting
I find (with my Android phone) that widgets are quite useful, weather, calendar, WiFi on/off switch etc., however I wouldn't use them on a PC. I think they're much more useful on the go with a phone, than sat down at a PC.
A widgetized/shortcuts home screen is pretty handy, the iPhone owning IT boys at work are definitely envious of the fact that I can disable Wifi/BT etc with one click on my home screen versus the menu system they have to face on the 3GS, bit of an annoyance for them when they have to do all they can to save battery life on the device.
Think of it like a quick launch bar in windows or your favourites in Ubuntu, no trawling looking for the stuff you need, its just right there when you switch the phone on, they are not just the crappy things you get in the Vista sidebar.
+1 I know your pain :(
Tell me you didn't copypasta that phrase directly from the press release.
Or, even less attractively, tell me you made it up yourself!
I hope your kidding?
Nokia is the worlds largest phone producer. Although I think symbian will become the linux of phone OS'. Nokia has enough clout to float whatever crap they want on the short term. In fact Nokia is one of the largest companies in the world (85th) Google doesn't even make top 100.
Really? Gotta source?
(I dont doubt you, just interested to see this list)
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2009/full_list/
Nokia is # 85
google is # 423
Just let it go already, concentrate in Maemo and making your actual devices worth paying for.
I guess they just missed the smartphone boat
N900 looks good interesting
Thanks for the insight.
"...the fact that I can disable Wifi/BT "
I'd prefer hardware buttons for that, but I'm probably too oldschool :D
I dunno about hardware buttons for those functions on a phone, I don't think there has been a phone in existance that had that.
But on my front screen I have a widget that will do wifi/BT/GPS location based services, Syncing and quick change of display brightness, plus all radio off.
I do miss hardware based buttons for pick up/end call though I have to admit, that's the only thing I really miss with these fancy touchscreen phones, but that might be more to do with the proximity sensor turning the screen off and not always turning it back on with out me shaking the phone so I can't see if I have ended the call, little software buggette in Android me thinks, everything else just feels as though this was what touchscreen were designed for, its just so right.
First of all, why do you say the Palm Pre was a disaster?
Second of all, the OS on the Palm Pre is webOS, which only two devices run (the Pre and the Pixi) which is completely separated from PalmOS, which was sold last year and thus is no longer being actively developed by Palm.
The N95 was a huge success, but true, since then they've had nothing majorly appealing (though their business models, e.g., E72, do quite well I think? They're quite like BlackBerrys) until the N900, which I can't see be hugely successful... Shame, really.
I think Nokia are just holding on to the low-end of the market, and also in developing countries, where they have a huge impact.