Symbian ^3 Reviewed Before It’s Even Finished

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By Phil Barker on June 25,

2010 at 00:00,

symbian-3-review We’ve been waiting for the Nokia N8 and its brand new Symbian ^3 operating system to come along for a little while, but for some it seems the wait has been too long. The first full review of Symbian ^3 has popped up on the web – despite the fact the OS isn’t even finished – and it raises some interesting points. Join us after the break to find out more…

Symbian ^3 carries a lot of expectations, being the operating system of choice for Nokia’s range-topping Nokia N8 smartphone. It’s designed specifically for touchscreen use, and offers a host of benefits over the outgoing Symbian S60 5th Edition OS. We’ve already played with Symbian ^3 ourselves, but with the final product still some way off, we’re a little surprised to see a ‘full review’ of Symbian ^3 on the web.

When we spoke to Nokia at the beginning of last week, and played with the Nokia N8 and Symbian ^3, we were told that the operating system still has a long way to go before it’s production ready.

Mobile Review – the Russian website which first reviewed an allegedly stolen Nokia N8 - has managed to get hold of a pre-production copy of Symbian ^3, and starts off its review of the OS by highlighting its intentions: to describe the “inherent shortcomings of the platform”. With no plans to highlight any of the benefits mentioned at the start, it seems like Symbian ^3 – even in its prototype form – is facing an uphill battle.

Check out our Nokia N8 hands-on preview

With that in mind, it’s a little surprising to see the OS get off to a good start, with the phone book section under scrutiny first. If you want to contact somebody, simply press the button for the alpha-numeric keypad, and start typing their name – which brings up a list of compatible contacts. We were very impressed when we tried it, and Mobile Review concedes “all in all, over our quality time with the system I’ve grown to like this search engine”.

As can be seen from the screen shots of Symbian ^3, Nokia has played it safe when it comes to graphics and the overall design of the menus. Mobile Review criticises the OS for this, but also points out that it’s easy to download 3rd party themes – a benefit of the Open Source nature of Symbian.

Overall, Mobile Review gives a very comprehensive review of its pre-production version of Symbian ^3, but after reading through it, it appears that the biggest issue is the web browser, with the site stating: “Unfortunately, the browser hasn't undergone any significant changes. Many earlier problems were related to the insufficient RAM size, which was increased in the S^3 products yet still isn't enough.”

Mobile Review goes on to spend three paragraphs criticising the web browser – a feature that definitely wouldn’t put us off, as it’s easy to add an aftermarket browser such as Opera.

Benefits grudgingly mentioned by Mobile Review include the speed of the OS, with the website pointing out that “everything appears several times faster, which is a great advantage”. Sounds good to us. Not so to Mobile Review which, despite having presented thousands of words largely without criticism, and having not seen the final product, finishes by pointing out that Symbian ^3 is outdated and inferior.

The pre-production sample of Symbian ^3 we tried out seemed fine, offering quick responses, and a nicer experience than Symbian S60 5th Edition - but we'll be waiting for the full version before we make up our minds.

Via Mobile Review

Tags: Nokia Nokia N8 Symbian ^3

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mjoa

A good comment (not by me) on another blog:
‘[Did] anyone notice, there are lot of differen[ces] between Eldar’s first preview of N8 and second preview.
In first preview he says N8 is even slow compare to Vivaz and Now he is saying N8 is fastest symbian device and only little slow compare to Wave and other Android devices.
In first preview he also give harsh comment that the Amoled used on N8 is same as Nexus one and blame nokia to use cheap display on N8. And Now he is saying the Amoled on N8 is better than Nexus one.

What is this?? Sorry but he is making himself a ‘Big Joke’.’
jb8967

I cannot believe this guy Eldar is taken seriously. I have not found his work product objective and more and more, have come to the conclusion that he has some personal vendetta. If I were Nokia, I would take some time and effort to find out how he manages to gather early pre-production samples. I’ve worked in a multi-national company, with Russian suppliers and Russian affiliates. Frankly, the HQ offices in Moscow were leak prone for years. We simply investigated the problem, fired the personnel, and dissolved the relationships with those suppliers which did not respect the company’s intellectual property or associated confidentiality agreements. This is not about changing a company’s egalitarian culture, it’s about protecting shareholder value. Eldar’s source(s) at Nokia need to be excised. Clearly, the source(s) is involved with someone who appears to have less than objective intentions when it comes to Nokia products. IMO.
Steve

I’m sorry, but I owned an N97 until I decided it would be better used as a door stop (don’t think that I’m joking either – not that it does a very good job of it). Symbian is a terrible operating system at present. So, yes, it has an uphill battle. Especially seeing as looks and feels so similar to S60.

After the N97, and as Symbian already has a strong reputation for being so out of date, I’m skeptical and I don’t blame anyone else for looking at any Symbian phone and not giving it much of a chance until it proves itself otherwise. I feel Nokia has a debt to pay if they want to stick with Symbian, so we, as consumers and unfortunate N97 owners need to demand they pay up in a big way by delivering the best operating system they can. And from the very start we need to make sure that every tiny problem is pointed out so Nokia can fix it before the final release comes.

Maemo is the best operating system that Nokia has had anything to do with, and it looks like Meego will be even better. I believe that’s where the future lies. And that’s where I will be spending my hard earned money. Until I see otherwise, I’ll never touch another Symbian device again. I’m sticking with my N900.
blaaa

i don’t get it, why they say its outdated all the time. The menu’s are colorfull and fresh, and sqarey. just like IPHONE, just like samsungs menu’s. What you don’t get is that its a complete open source, so you can customize your menu’s, homescreen, icons,. and symbian ^3 has some great new things here. iphone aint so much better. its BORING, its like this toy u play alot of aplications on. its icons and the fact that you don’t have homescreen is worse then what symbian has to offer. Symbian is simple and beautifull with its colors, and icons and homescreen abiliies. its not even done yet.