Hot rumor: The Nokia N8 with Symbian^3

I think SF^3 is more than just an UI layer, isn't? And isn't Qt primarily about the applications and UI layer, and not so much about the deeper level OS stuff (sorry for using layman, probably wrong terminology :) ). I may quite well be completely wrong. :)

So, again, assuming I have at least a crumble of that right, I think the work done on SF^3 is likely to make a contribution to the SF^4 as well. In other words, the two teams (if there are two completely separate teams...) are not building completely unrelated, competing products. The OS part (as opposed to the UI part) SF^3 is the foundation on which the SF^4 is built. And I would be surprised if at least some UI parts of SF^3 would not repeated in SF^4 (even if implemented throught Qt in SF^4).
 
I hear you, but I'm not sure I'm understanding. Are you saying, wait, because S^3 on the N8 is going to be radically different than the device that Mobile Review, uh, reviewed?

I do agree about feature spec list porn; if a device is a pain to use, all the features in the world don't matter. Windows Mobile 6.xx and Symbian S60v5, I'm looking at YOU.
 
The review in, in short, about the N8 with Symbian 3 is.....'meh'.

Oof. That's brutal.

I can also see from the photos that S^3 doesn't look all that different than S60v5 on my Omnia. There's no 'wow'. In a supposed coming flagship, and with the competition that's out there (Apple/Android/Blackberry/Microsoft), it'll be devastating for the company.

I still can't get my brain around the fact that a multi billion dollar company the size of Nokia, with their cash resources, can't at least match Microsoft in a new mobile OS. I mean, Microsoft, who are all thumbs when it comes to mobile.

Just thought of something: is this review, and others like it that may be out there, possibly the reason for the delay of S^3 announced last week?
 
No one knows what's coming in S^4, they don't even know what it's going to look like in the end. Plus, they are working on S^3 (time wasted, again), which will then be ported/re-written to work on S^4.
Qt has been out for some time, but no one is developing for the Symbian platform as they are waiting for S^4 since it will be completely done/native in Qt. Why start working on an app before the platform/version is out when you don't even know if it will grab attention from a lot of consumers (ie iPhone).
 
Wirelessly posted (nokia n97: Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.4; Series60/5.0 NokiaN97-3/21.2.045; Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1) AppleWebKit/525 (KHTML, like Gecko) BrowserNG/7.1.4)

There was a little over a market quarter between the release of the N97 and the second firmware (which was miles better than the first, though not perfect). Let's wait to see how s^3 works on first run before declaring that a device-delayed is not worth keeping a fan-board's time and conversation.
 
That appears to be Nokia's stock and trade for the last decade with a zillion variants of the N95 slider design. I was (and am) most disappointed that the N900 didnt' use the N97's slider design, though, especially with the bigger screen (which along with a 4-row keyboard and D-pad would be ideal for me)
 
So either:
1) The Symbian Foundation has accepted Nokia's proposal on that concept and have built on that to make S^3 look like that; or

2) Nokia will use that UI/UX on top of whatever the Symbian Foundation decides to make the official UI/UX. So Nokia could be like HTC and use their concept to use it on top of the OS? (ie Sense on top of WinMo)?

So the Symbian Foundation actually has time to be whipping two different UIs/Uxs at the same time (S^3 and S^4)? Wasted time and effort imo. They should just be focusing on S^4 and get it out, and forget about S^3, but that's just me.
 
I see it as the start of QT for apps and a much more powerful hardware start level. QT apps for Symbian^3 will be easy to use on Symbian^4 while existing s60v5 apps will also work on Symbian^3 so no need to worry about if the developer will upgrade the app.
 
Even as a current Nokia owner, I've lost faith in their ability to launch flagships. I mean they did botch their last FOUR (!!!) flagships; why should I believe them now?

Even though the Evo is on Sprint and it's CDMA, hardware spec wise, it's the best phone/gadget that's out there.

Coincidentally, CNBC is on right now, reporting from the floor of CTIA. Michelle Russo Cabrerra is holding up both the Evo and the Samsung Galaxy S, also an Android phone.
 
I always felt that there wasn't really anything wrong with Symbian itself. I still love it. But the way they tacked touch support onto S60 was just awful and left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. At its core, it still works great and they've seemed to have addressed some of the nagging problems (removed 350 user prompts (!), single-tap throughout the UI, HD support, new graphics, Flash widgets, etc) but unlike the N97, I'm going to let someone else be an early adopter before I look into this device.

And I hope to all that is good in this world that they have a new on-screen QWERTY for Symbian^3
 
However, that's if S^3 grabs the attention of developers. Although, I doubt developers will jump to S^3. S^4 is what they (the few maybe) are waiting for to see if it really is worth developing for. Also, are there any QT apps already in use for S60 devices? or are there more Symbian ones?
 
You still think that what they are doing for the SF^3 has no use and nothing to do whatsoever with SF^4, and they could easily just go straight to SF^4 in a matter of months and have SF^4 devices in the market by Q4, but they don't because.. err... I don't know, they want to give the competition more time or something?!?!?! :D :D :D :D I still find your theory VERY interesting indeed.

AFAIK, while not yet complete, Qt versions and "tools" are being rolled out and developers _should_ be able to start developing on Qt before SF^4 is out/in devices. Btw, I think I read somewhere that other development platforms continue to be available besides Qt.

Ps. Some Nokia Qt UI extensions running on N900. Note that the titlebar layout seems to be the same as in the SF^3 concept screenshots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfdsfLh6b6A&feature=player_embedded

Oh my god, this bit in the Guardian story is just ****ing priceless:

"It has been forced to make Symbian, its own software platform, free to developers and handset manufacturers, as Android is, and last month took the desperate decision to give users of its smartphones free access to its satnav services to make its devices as attractive as the iPhone. Only three years ago it spent ?6.5bn on the map firm Navteq but it is now effectively giving that intellectual property away as it tries to protect its market share."

:lolup:
 
LOLZ, didn't I tell you that Symbian^3 is just a hardened Symbian^1. That is probably the reason why its being delayed. No room for error.. Hardened means hardened. So damn right it has to be stable.

SymbianFoundationRoadmap.jpg


Wow.. I guess you were really looking fwd for something groundbreaking. :hehehe:
 
826.4-846.6: band V
1712.4-1752.6: band IV AWS
1852.4-1907.6: band II

These bands appear on a single RM model; on the other hand, different region/band matrix has different RM number, even the model is the same.
For example, 5230
RM-587: band I/VIII
RM-593: band IV/V
RM-594: band II/V
 
Back
Top