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Symbian^4 user interface aims to take on iPhone but underwhelms on video

Categories: Nokia, Symbian, Videos
By: , IntoMobile
Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 2:43 PM

By now it’s clear that Nokia needs to really up their game when it comes to creating a touchscreen user experience that can compete with every one of the big smartphone platforms out there (iPhone, Android, webOS, Windows Phone 7). Their solution? Why, Symbian^4, of course. What you see here are a couple “first glimpse” preview videos of the still-in-development Symbian^4 user interface that Nokia is hoping will compete with the iPhone. If this were a few years ago, we’d be all for Nokia’s upcoming Symbian offering. But, it’s not, so we aren’t.

The Finnish phone maker is still without rival in the mobile space, what with their 45%+ share of the global cellphone market, but they’re losing market share on a quarterly basis. Part of the problem is Nokia’s lack of a smartphone OS capable of slugging it out with finger-friendly offerings from iPhone, Android and webOS. Symbian4 is supposed to change all that.

While Symbian^3 is on the way to market in the near term, Symbian4 will succeed the platform as a complete UI rebuild. It’s the future of Nokia, and it’s going to spearhead the next-generation of Nokia touchscreen phones, so it’s really important that it’s up to snuff.

So, the question is – doses Symbian^4 have what it takes to make a difference? Take a look at the videos and let us know what you think.

[Via: FierceWireless]

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About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • Chris P

    It looks like a copy of touch wiz (or whatever Samsung crap skin is). If thats any inkling of what Symbian 4 will be like = bye bye Nokia. (Pray that Meego is incredible).

  • Luke

    I hope that is far from the final product. That is horrible, as Chris said, bye bye Nokia. They have high paid developers and that is the best they can come up with? Is Nokia even trying to compete?

  • Very Concerned

    With Symbian^4 looking so 2009 and with the upcoming code breaks coming (i.e. no existing app can run on Symbian^4), my question to Nokia is WHY BOTHER? Just keep making improvements to Symbian^3, stop breaking things for developers and make the transition over to MeeGo.

    I don’t understand why they keep trying to flog a dead horse?!