Nokia announced last week that it will focus entirely on its Qt framework when developing Symbian and MeeGo. The announcement could be particularly important for buyers of current Symbian ^3 smartphones – such as the Nokia N8. Join us after the break to find out why...

Qt is the framework behind Symbian ^3 and MeeGo, and apps developed using Qt can be easily ported between the two operating systems.

Bringing Qt to the front of its plans, Nokia has announced that the development of operating systems will rely heavily on the framework.

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This will see big benefits when Symbian ^4 comes to fruition, with upgrades made available for Symbian ^3 devices such as the Nokia N8.

Quite how big the upgrades will be – will users get the ability to change the look of the operating system, for example – we're not sure, but Nokia stated:

“One benefit of this simplified approach is that planned and future improvements in Symbian will be developed in Qt and will be compatible with the existing Symbian^3 platform release.  This means that Nokia's continued commitment to develop the Symbian platform will benefit not only future users of Symbian-based products, but will result in updates and upgrades for existing Symbian^3 users.”

We're genuinely impressed with Symbian ^3 – give it a chance and it's every bit good enough to take advantage of the Nokia N8's class-leading hardware. With the chance to get Symbian ^4 compatible upgrades, however, it may be even better.