Nokia gives early glimpse of Symbian S^4
Nokia has been showing off a few screenshots of what the forthcoming S^4 edition of Symbian could look like. The company has issued technical information, too, along with a concept proposal and areasking for feedback from both developers and users.
We don’t know about you, but we’re seeing quite a bit of Android in the pictures. The homescreen with the clock at the top and widget space below is very reminiscent of the default Android homescreen, and the photos app looks a lot like HTC’s Sense photo application. We’re seeing a few splashes of Maemo in there, too.
Among the improvements are a streamlining of the menu system, support for more interestingly-shaped widgets, a central notifications menu, menu bars that recede off the screen when not in use and “more consistency” throughout the UI.
In fact, it sounds like Nokia’s seriously addressing the problems that many reviewers had with the N97 and re-engineering Symbian from the ground up to be a native touchscreen experience, not just a tweaked version of the old Symbian. If that’s the case, then we could be in for a few surprises over the next couple of years in the phone market – don’t write Symbian off just yet.
As we hear more information, we’ll be sure to let you know.
