We've been
pretty hard on Nokia with regard to its miserable S60 5th (aka, Symbian^1) user experience as compared to the competition. Fortunately, Nokia's bound and determined to freshen things up in 2010 with
two major updates scheduled for the first and second halves of the year. At the moment, Symbian^3 (that's Symbian three) is expected first with Symbian^4 coming before the end of the year (functionally complete in Q3 with S^4 devices shipping in early 2011 according to the symbian.org wiki page). What we've got above then, is a UI Concept proposal for the latter. As you can tell from the pics, Symbian^4 promises to deliver an entirely new user interface: navigation is streamlined and platform apps will be reorganized and redesigned to leverage next gen graphics meant to deliver visually appealing transparencies and transitions on Symbian devices. The experience is based on Direct UI and built upon
Qt and Orbit -- a strategy that Nokia hopes will lure developers to the table by making apps easy to build and update with broad scalability across Nokia's entire lineup of handsets. Note that the concept is open for discussion (and thus change) so voice your opinion now. And no, responding "N900 FTW" doesn't count. One more image after the break.
posted January 15th 2010 5:50AM
Still not really feeling that font..
@geekthree Me neither, it needs to go
@geekthree
Yeah me neither. webOS seems to have won the font war. Android's a bit ugly too, but not as ugly as Symbian's.
@geekthree Indeed.
@geekthree
Isn't that the Nokia corporate typeface? Can't see that changing anytime soon!
@Malcolm
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, change the font!
@RokenR
Any user can change the default font in Symbian, if you don't like it you don't have to use it.
@TareG
it's not as bad as the BlackBerry one.
But i agree the webOS has the best font & graphics combo
@geekthree Signed in specifically to mention that - maybe I'm petty, but it really badly dates the whole OS/phone.
@geekthree: Agreed, even the sample pics. The whole package looks like grandma's and I am commenting on this from the point of view as a graphic designer. Lousy theme, sucky font, wanted to look me too, but failed miserably.
@geekthree
Yes! I hate that font!
@geekthree
Eh, I love the font. It's like a sans-serif version of Didot. Stroke contrast makes me drool, especially combined with condensed proportions.
I love the font. It makes me feel tall.
@Marmite Turkey Nah, it's not that petty...at least not to me. It's not just the font itself, it's the way the text is placed on Nokia devices' OSes; the way text is squashed right up to the sides with huge empty gaps just looks weird when there's so much space to play with.
I would have thought that Nokia would have commisioned a slightly less narrow version of their trademark font to take advantage of bigger screens and higher pixel density.
@geekthree
I'm not really feeling quite a few elements of the UI. I understand they're trying to stick with the "feel" of Symbian, but they really can - and should do more. UI is a factor that can really make or break an OS.
Just look at the iPhone, it lacks quite a few features that Nokia customers have taken for granted over the years, but it still managed to become one of the most popular smart phones because of it's OS.
The fact that its coming out in 2011 doesn't help either. In my humble opinion I think that the UI of the current iterations of the iPhone OS, WebOS, Android and Blackberry are all far superior to what Nokia hopes to offer in the future.
Come on Nokia, lets see some of that acclaimed Finnish design.
@celloids I bet your grandma can't produce such a firework animated display like that on the wallpaper screenshot. As for the symbian 2011 experience, this GUI is already been infused on the N900: http://bit.ly/nokia-900-full-specs-details-best-or-worst
Can't wait for engadget to have this review.
N900 FTW! Oh, I'm sorry. I'm one of those commenter's, that like to comment posts before even reading them.
N900 FTW anyway.
Nokia, just keep making awesome mobiles, every update on your software will be appreciated.
Last time I bought a Nokia I ended up with a E71... I can't complain about anything.
...and the pics above are looking good indeed!
@(Unverified) Are you out of your freaking mind! Nokia haven't made a decent handset in years, and have a really lacklustre and behind the times OS doesn't help matters either. Their poor handsets and even poorer OS is exactly why I and many others are deserting Nokia in droves, particularly after the disaster that is the N97.
@(Unverified) I loved my E71. I'll admit the N97 has more than its share of problems, but it's salvageable if you have a specific reason to like it.
@(Unverified)
Nokia makes great cellphones, but their touch-enabled phones are not nowhere near top-notch.
@bureX
N900 is a Nokia touch based phone. And at least for me, it is not near the top, it is at the top. The browser is definitely best out there and the potential of the HW & SW stack combo on N900 is enormous. I love the openness and customizability.
(in short: N900 FTW :)
@thewinchester
Bollocks. The N86 is awesome. The N900 is awesome and for there isn't a better cost concious option than the 5800 out there.
As for 'desertion in droves', how does that reconcile with the increase in smartphone sales they've had in 2009?
2011 ???? By which point the competitions UIs will be capable of time-travel.
@Andrew Jones Someone from 1982 would have thought cars will be fying by 2011
@Andrew Jones
thats hilarious. but no really i have an app that can take me 5 mins into the future and it only costs .99
@symmitry Does the said future involve multitasking?
@symmitry
does the app involve waiting for 5 minutes?
@Andrew Jones Yup. With some jailbreaking and SSH it could.
@symmitry
I have the same app it enables me to see the outcome of my witty chat up lines when out with the boys. Much money on dry cleaning and reconstructive surgery has been saved I tell yah
@(Unverified)
You beat me to it.
Looks already dated. As in, 2008.
@gerrrg
Actually, you're so 2000-n-late.
1,2,3,4,5,6 comments with nobody pointing to the OBVIOUS ANDROID RIPOFF?
@TareG
Seriously, are you being sarcastic?
@Herbaceous Border Patrol
i actually agree with him, the bottom icon is exactly like on android 2.1.
They could have found a different aproach to that.
And honestly why is this due in 2011? it doesnt seem that much of a makeover. HTC would have made this in a few months, and on both WinMo & Android platforms. Hopefully it's an OS from scratch and not just a skin.
@BogdanGC
Either you're stupid or havn't seen a S60v5 device
http://nokia5800.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/nokia_5800_homescreen_e-mail.jpg
that is from 2008
Symbian should have been retired long ago.
Nokia should be embarrased to have released the N97
with Symbian.
Buggy, ancient and very overated.
@Bigdaddyspankybottom Couldn't agree more.
@Bigdaddyspankybottom
Buggy, outdated, but still can work on tons of set of different hardware, small, and could multi-task even before you knew how to read (and obviously long before any other company ever thought about enabling such abilities).
In addition, Nokia's Symbian version is called S60. Its heavily based on the "original" Symbian, but still its not the same thing. The newer versions (Symbian^2 and upwards) is the original Symbian - so in a way, Nokia will now use a different operating system in its phones, REALLY open-sourced (and not all that Android's "kinda-open-sourced" crap) and probably way better than what you've come to know so far.
Time will tell...
@Bigdaddyspankybottom
Symbian is still the best smart phone OS for non touch screen devices.
@galois
i thought Blackberry was!?
@efekt except no multitasking "Nokia have also been upfront about what elements of S^4 UI design overlap with rival platforms, and how they differ. In their User Interface Concept Proposal (v.2) [DOC link], they compare it to Android’s moveable homescreen (though Symbian Foundation has “independent unique pages” rather than one multi-panel screen), the way Palm’s webOS does away with Exit commands (but Symbian will save exit state and release phone memory rather than keep the app running in the background)"
There on on a slippery shit slope and sliding down into the lagoon of poo!
How remarkably unimpressive!
Good luck to them. Competition is a good thing. The challenge will be if they can deliver these new phones at an affordable price to the North American market. That probably means they'll have to partner up with a carrier to subsidize the handset. Something they haven't done yet for whatever reason.
The iPhone is the lust device of the average cell user. The Droid & Nexus are the lust device of the uber geek (I'm one. I consider that a good thing btw) ... What's left for Nokia and Palm for that matter? Both are so far behind on the app market front (webOS and the upcoming S3/4 which aren't even out yet)... and neither actually have anything coming out tomorrow to challenge the iPhone or the array of Android units.
Nothing that Josh can put his hands on and complain about lol. Nothing to show off on late night with Jimmy Fallon. By then, the iPhone 4 will be out and the new Android 3ghz dual core super-tastic McNexusperia will be out.
Like I said. Good luck.
Hope it will be really 'Smart'.
I'll never understand how this big market dominating corporation misses trend completely obvious to the rest of the world thing works.
How long is it since the iPhone was released/unveiled? Almost three years? What did they think back than? 'Ohhoho, it's way too damn intuitive to control, there's no challenge any more with this! And who would want a phone without a stylus, I mean, a stylus you can use for sooo many things, it may even save your life one day!'
And what did they think in the fall of 2008 when the G1 came out? Stupid Google gies, in about a year we will have an almost totally unchanged version of our dated looking slow and sluggish symbian OS out. Then they will be sorrow for entering our market!
I mean, wtf.
@astrath Exactly.
transparencies and transitions? Way to go guys. Sounds like Microsoft right before they launched Vista.