More details about the big Symbian^3 UI update surface, coming after the summer

A slide about the new Symbian^3 user interface that will be coming to phones like the Nokia N8 and E7, slipped through the cracks. We've seen the image before, when Nokia's Jo Harlow did a presentation in China that Nokia will continue to improve on Symbian, but below is the other slide leaked with more explanation about it.

In addition, Nokia Benelux director Marc Driessen has confirmed that two big updates will be hitting Symbian^3 phones this year. The first one is most likely similar to the PR2 update for Nokia N8 we posted about, which will patch up the most lacking areas of the Symbian experience, by ringing in a new browser and virtual portrait QWERTY keyboard. This one should appear before the summer, for Nokia N8 and E7 first, possibly for the Nokia C7 as well. The leaked Nokia E6-00 was already pictured with the new update. Here's a video preview of the first Symbian^3 PR2 QWERT update beta for the Nokia N8:



The summer months will be busy for Nokia, as in the fall it will roll out the total overhaul of the Symbian user interface, which has drawn so much criticism lately, and cited as the main reason people are scoffing at Nokia's smartphones in the times of Android and iOS. The new interface will make the menus less deep, introduce flexible widgets which can be sized differently and placed any position on numerous home screens, plus a "thin pull-down Statusbar" and a simplified navigational bar at the bottom. Nothing Android and Samsung's bada don't have, for instance, but there will be new icon graphics as well, which look pretty cool.


Overall, these changes are exactly what the doctor ordered for Symbian, and if it wasn't for the focus shifting entirely to Nokia Windows Phone now, the big UI update would have received more media attention. Nokia's Symbian^3 device owners are certainly jumping with joy now, though, despite they have to wait a few more months for it.

source: AllAboutPhones (translated from Dutch)