And now it’s completely official: the new and freshened up version of Symbian we saw leak out over the weekend is indeed coming to Nokia’s latest batch of handsets. The N8, E7, C7 and C6-01, the phones that ran what was formerly generally known as Symbian^3, will all be getting it “over the approaching months,” while the newly announced X7 and E6 devices will ship with it preloaded. The change list includes real homescreen scrolling, an overhauled browser, and yes, even a QWERTY onscreen keyboard in portrait orientation. There’s also new iconography and heavily refreshed Ovi Maps, which now include predictive search. Nokia is resolute in its belief that Ovi Maps is the simplest mapping solution available on the market, and Microsoft’s decision to integrate it into Bing would suggest that’s true.
The “Anna” Symbian update would be the first of a sequence and has been driven almost entirely by consumer feedback. Nokia also shared some Ovi Store stats with us. There are actually five million downloads per day occurring from the corporate’s app repository, which now includes greater than 40,000 apps in total. 158 developers have passed 1,000,000 downloads each. Full PR after the break.
Nokia E6 extends business mobility range and Nokia X7 introduces a brand new entertainment device for mobile gamers, both using the newest update of Symbian software
Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced the Nokia E6 and the Nokia X7, two new smartphones geared toward business people and entertainment enthusiasts respectively. The 2 devices are the 1st Nokia smartphones to contain the updated Symbian software, with new icons and value enhancements consisting of improved text input, a faster browser and refreshed Ovi Maps.
“We’re further strengthening Nokia’s smartphone portfolio with these two new devices, either one of which provide a more beautiful and intuitive user experience that would soon even be available for the Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6-01,” said Jo Harlow, head of Nokia’s Smart Devices business. “With these new products and more Symbian devices and user enhancements coming within the near future, we’re confident we will keep existing Nokia smartphone customers engaged, in addition to attract new first-time and competitor smartphone users.”
Following on from Nokia’s highly successful Nokia E71 and Nokia E72 devices, the Nokia E6 is a graceful business smartphone with a whole QWERTY keypad and a high resolution touch display. Designed using premium materials corresponding to glass and chrome steel, the device is available in a compact size that makes it easy to take advantage of with either one hand or two. The Nokia E6 offers exceptional battery life and the most effective out-of-the-box Microsoft messaging experience on a business smartphone, including access to Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Communicator Mobile and Microsoft SharePoint.
The Nokia X7 is an entertainment-focused smartphone with a massive 4″ display ideal for gaming, and an 8 Megapixel camera for capturing pictures and HD-quality video. A distinctively designed device, the Nokia X7 is produced from a mixture of seamless stainless-steel and glass – delivering a pretty good and sturdy feel within the hand. The Nokia X7 comes preloaded with the preferred Galaxy on Fire and Asphalt 5 HD games.
The Nokia E6 and Nokia X7 also are the primary smartphones to contain the whole update of the Symbian software user experience. This update offers a number of usability enhancements, including fresh, new icons, improved text input, a faster internet browsing experience and a refreshed Ovi Maps application with improved search and new public transport routes. The renewed software also offers a powerful set of latest features geared toward business users exceptionally, including true enterprise grade security with hardware accelerated encryption, and new e-mail features resembling full meeting request support.
In coming months the software update, that’s nick-named Symbian Anna, can also be available as standard on newly shipping Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6-01 devices, in addition to available to download on previously purchased models of these same smartphones.
For developers, Symbian Anna greatly enhances the user experience on Nokia smartphones and makes the Qt business opportunity with Nokia even greater. Read more at: http://blogs.forum.nokia.com/blog/nokia-developer-news/
For more details at the Nokia X7 and Nokia E6, please visit: http://events.nokia.com/discover-symbian
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