Symbian OS Getting User Interface Overhaul in 2011 – Will It Be Enough To Compete?

Written by Rob Nichols on December 15, 2010 · Filed under Tech 

Despite boasting a great proportion of the smartphone market, particularly in Europe, Nokia and it’s Symbian OS mobile platform is lagging behind somewhat when it comes to quality of user experience compared to the likes of iOS 4, Android 2.2 (Froyo) and Windows Phone 7.

It has understandably been criticised of late and although the latest big update was only recently released, relatively speaking anyway, Nokia is planning another massive overhaul for Symbian coming in stages next year.

2011 is going to be a big year for the mobile tech industry, and with Nokia falling further and further behind, it is perhaps time they perked up and delivered a credible platform. So, even though we had heard pretty loud whispers of a large update to Symbian, details were fairly few and far between, but more specific plans were unveiled at a Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing this week.

Firstly, we can look forward to a brand new browser in Symbian coming in the first quarter, which will fully support HTML5, a welcome addition for Symbian users as the current web browser seems quite dated when compared to what is available on rival platforms.

Later on in the year though, it starts to get a little more interesting, with Nokia planning a full overhaul of the user interface. By the end of Q3 we can expect a more flexible home screen and a much more streamlined software update experience.

Of course, in February it is the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, a perfect time for Nokia to unveil even more details on top of the few we have here, but all in all it could be an exciting year ahead for Symbian and it’s wide user base, although I think we will all agree that it has a lot of catching up to do with the likes of Android and iOS, and then with Windows Phone 7 entering the fray this year, it is only going to get tougher in the year ahead.

Do you use a Symbian OS-based device such as a Nokia mobile phone? Or have you moved away to one of the major rival mobile platforms? Is there anything that would make you move to a Symbian-based phone now?

Via – Engadget