Symbian^4 UI Previewed, Leaves You Feeling Underwhelmed

Nokia owned Symbian have released two new videos giving us a glimpse into what we can expect from the next iteration of their open source mobile operating system.

Fierce Wireless writer Mike Dano had the opportunity to speak to the Symbian Foundation at last week’s Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona and gain a small glimpse into what Nokia hope will rival the next generation of smartphones.

Symbian^4 is a complete reboot from other Symbian software releases running on current generating smartphones. Nokia have completely overhauled the user interface of the smartphone operating system after publicly condemning their flagship device, the N97, for being a “tremendous disappointment” in terms of quality.

Upon viewing the videos (embedded below for your viewing pleasure), the Symbian UI looks functional and seems to behave in much the same way as Android and iPhone OS’s. The operating system has configurable widgets, supports drag and drop of different elements and is generally well organised.

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Granted these are only one minute clips but for an OS that will be shipping early 2011, the operating system barely reaches the benchmark that the iPhone and Android operating system have already set. The OS lacks a certain sense of style and individuality but may just be at an early design stage. I guess we will have to wait to see if the UI changes over the course of the year.

With constant revisions to the Android OS and a new iPhone expected this year, we have to hope that Nokia are to add plenty more bells and whistles to help attract smartphone owners or they could find their market leading share declining even further.

Please Note: The videos below have been rotated vertically from the originals for a clearer perspective of how the software operates: