The Nokia CEO Steven Elop doesn’t particularly like Android, and that was a major player in Nokia’s decision to join up with Microsoft and WP7, but as the updates to Symbian start roiling out the OS seems more and more familiar.
Android is a market leader in Smartphone OS’s and it looks set to stay that way for the forcible future. But Nokia seem intent on copying the OS and simulating more of its features on each update to the Symbian OS. The Anna update has just been released to the whole Symbian 3 gang, and the Belle update shouldn’t be too far away, we have some screen shots of the Belle update and the Android like features.
What we have is a new home screen layout, The home screen now consists of six rather than three panes and the widgets that live on those panes will be available in five different sizes. The widgets can be resized too, which gives you even more flexibility.
The main menu has been made flat it scrolls vertically and all the shortcuts are placed on the same screen folders are gone! (Thank God)
Multitasking has changed too, instead of the old task switcher; you can now switch between live images of your open apps. We didn’t see a screenshot of that, though it sounds pretty cool. Symbian also has a new shiny pull down notification bar, which will hols notifications for any apps, and will also have toggles to control data, WI-FI, Bluetooth, and silent mode( they haven’t even hidden the fact this is an Android rip-off).
Belle continues Nokia’s hopes for an NFC-enabled world. Pairing is now ridiculously simple, you tap two NFC enabled devices together (two phones, a phone and a handset) and that’s it. To unpair them, just tap them again. The Belle lock screen has been updated too – the new version lets you add colour wallpaper and missed event notifications.