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
Ohhh i thought Nokia died due to lack of innovation.
I like how 3 static screen caps are enough for the Internets to make conclusive statements either defending or decrying the UI. Conveniently the Internets also doesn't seem to understand the difference between Symbian and S60, but whatever...
@inept : LOL, and another Engadget photoshop finds a permenant home.
Wow this UI is groundbreaking...JK -- lame!
This is what it should have looked like 2 years ago, now we should be seeing it made even better, sucks to be 2-3 years behind, Symbian.
the font is fantastic.
reminds me the 3310 :D
Symbian is awesome.
I'm still kicking myself for not getting an E90 last year.
@jgp
Wait...it's 2010 now. So...yeah...meant the year before last.
The more I read the proposal, and look at these concepts, the more I like it. Please change the color of the signal and battery indicators though. That looks terrible the way it is right now.
I also hope that like the N97, when you tap on the titlebar area and the drop down shows up, there will be useful things shown this time. Things like shortcuts to WiFi, Bluetooth, Profiles, then the usual connectivity, clock, and notifications.
I'm looking forward to a clean consistent look to Symbian. It can't come soon enough though. And, I really don't see what looks so out of date, as some say on here. So because it doesn't have any 3D menu graphics like Android 2.1, its a failure? Yeah, that stuff may be cool looking, but it doesn't add any functionality. It's not all about eye candy.
@LessThanDug
When you're paying a few hundred dollars for a phone and about one hundred bucks per month in a voice/text/data plan, eye candy is appreciated.
@(Unverified) Haha, I'm not so concerned about it. Just give me something that looks good, and I think Symbian looks good, and something with all the functionality I ask for.
i got myself a nokia e71 found it to be a very reliable phone ,i find it no surprise it was ranked the best phone of 2008,but still symbian 4 got ot be something real special as my eyes are straying and watching maome,,ooooo by the way N900 FTW!!!!!!!!
im just buy a n97 y can have the new Symbian??? from an update
Nokia UI's are turning out to be the same Samsung or LG UI's... sigghhh!
They have the one of the best innovators on board, can't believe they are just redefining the edges rather than revamping it on the whole. Look @ BADA for example.
Yawn. It looks like a cross between iPhone OS, Android, and a Dumpster. That top bar is huge and... ugh it looks frustratingly old for something that is coming out in 2011.
crap....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)"
What most people don't realise, it seems, is that no matter what UI is presented by Nokia in the final version, it will be fully customisable. Meaning, thosands of themes that will change the look and feel.
The only thing nokia needs to do is provide a base OS with a functioning UI in a neutral manner.
There are free themes out there now (for symbian phones) that are really, really nice and professionally done. Most people don't realise that people who buy Nokia's are used to being able to customise their phones the way they like. The very basis of Nokia's OS has been one of customisation from fonts all the way to look and feel.
I daresay that MOST people prefer customisation. It doesn't matter what Nokia's UI looks like. It only has to work.