Symbian Belle introduced by Nokia

24th August 2011

Nokia's Symbian OS adopted a weird naming convention earlier in the year when the platform was taken back into Nokia ownership after a disastrous time as an open source project.

Although Nokia's long term aim is to move high-end smartphones to Windows Phone, Symbian is likely to remain in the line-up for some time in slightly lower-end devices.

Initially launching with the new Nokia 600, 700 and 701 models, Symbian Belle looks like a significant upgrade to the previous version, Symbian Anna. The user interface has been significantly revamped and is much easier for users to use and customise, and NFC support is deeply integrated into the operating system which might well help with NFC adoption rates.

The home screen is beginning to look rather like Android, which is no bad thing when it comes to impressing potential customers. Symbian has a good reputation as being an efficient and stable operating system too, and we have no doubt that Nokia fans will be pleased with the new changes.

Nokia has had a partnership with Microsoft for a long time to bring connectivity features into Symbian devices, and Symbian Belle can now integrate with Microsoft Linc, Sharepoint, OneNote, Exchange and a new system called PowerPoint Broadcaster.

Nokia also say that Symbian Belle will be available for the Nokia 500, N8, E6, E7, X7, C7 and C6-01 at some point in the future, which will be a welcome upgrade.

Symbian is maturing into a very good product, but perhaps it would have been better if Symbian Belle came out a year or two ago instead of today. Symbian Belle is unlikely to get customers switching from iPhones and Androids, but perhaps it will be enough to stem the flow of existing customers to rivals.

Symbian Belle demo video

If you're a Nokia fan, then you might well be interested in Nokia's demonstration video of the new OS.