Nokia is using the latest open-source Symbian operating system for its new N8 smartphone. The Symbian Foundation praised Symbian^3 on Nokia's N8, but an analyst said S^3 has a interface similar to Nokia's S60 touchscreen smartphones without the problems. The latest Symbian OS is faster and supports gestures and HDMI connections to TVs.
Research In Motion is aiming to steal the smartphone spotlight with its device and operating-system Relevant Products/Services announcements at the BlackBerry WES 2010 conference Relevant Products/Services in Orlando this week, but the Symbian Foundation is working to turn some heads with a strategic announcement of its own.
On Tuesday, the foundation announced that Nokia has chosen Symbian^3 to power its new Nokia N8 smartphone. That makes Nokia the first handset manufacturer to tap S^3, Symbian's first platform release following its transition to open source in February.
Lee Williams, executive director of the foundation, said the Nokia N8 is an example of what's possible with the latest version of the Symbian platform. But Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis, isn't overly excited about the new operating system.
"Symbian 3 is fundamentally the same user interface that Nokia's S60 touchscreen phones offered, only it works. There isn't the inconsistency and the lagging," Greengart said. "Today's S60 touchscreen phones can drive you mad. Sometimes you need to press once and sometimes you have to press twice."
Getting to Know S^3
The S^3 offers usability and interface advances, faster networking Relevant Products/Services, acceleration for 2-D and 3-D graphics in games and applications, HDMI support, music-store integration Relevant Products/Services, an improved user interface with easier navigation and multi-touch gesture support, a feature-rich home screen, and the ability to run even more applications simultaneously.
Improvements to the user interface include direct "single tap" interaction that aims to make it much easier to complete common tasks. Multi-touch support for gestures such as pinch-to-zoom forms the foundation of a gesture framework that Symbian said can be extended and leveraged by developers.
The home screen offers support for multiple pages of widgets and a flick gesture to move between them. And one-click connectivity Relevant Products/Services for all applications works to simplify the process of connecting to the Internet.
HDMI support lets users plug their phone into a TV and watch a high-definition movie at 1080p quality without a Blu-ray player. And the music-store integration in the radio enables users to identify a song and learn more about it, while a "buy now" button links with the user's chosen music store for a quick purchase.
Behind Competitors
Symbian said the Nokia N8 takes full advantage of the S^3 platform with multiple, personalized home screens, a faster and more responsive user interface, and more efficient memory management to offer faster multitasking . But Greengart said it still doesn't compare to the leading competitors.
"The S^3 offers a familiar experience for someone who has grown up with the S60 on other Nokia phones, but the S^3 works more effectively for touchscreens," Greengart said. "The S^3 doesn't catch Nokia up to its rivals in terms of providing a user experience that was designed from the outset for touch. And in that respect it still badly lags Apple, Palm and Nokia."
And of course, there was Sony's trump card.The Blu-Ray playing Playstation3 may have underperformed commercially as a gaming console, but in the past 18 months they have managed to get six million of them into our living rooms.
