Nokia Unveils New Devices with Symbian Belle
Nokia updated its Symbian^3 operating system with the release of Symbian Belle. It also launched three phones, the Nokia 701, Nokia 700 and Nokia 600. Join us as we find out what's new.
Symbian^3 Gets A Refresh
It was barely four months ago when we had our hands-on with Symbian Anna, the first of many updates to the Symbian^3 operating system (OS). Currently, there are only two handsets, the and , that run Symbian Anna out of the box. The other Nokia handsets (N8, E7, C7 and C6-01) will be getting over-the-air (OTA) updates to Symbian Anna in the coming weeks. While Symbian Anna features some changes such as a better touch-optimized user interface and a faster web browser, it is not the major overhaul of Symbian^3 that many expected it to be.
Earlier on, we reported a leaked video of a Nokia N8 running on Symbian Belle. True to what we've been hearing on the internet grapevine, Nokia officially announced its next Symbian update on 24th August at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Dubbed as Symbian Belle, we had some hands-on time with the updated Symbian^3 OS, and spotted its upcoming Symbian Belle phones, Nokia 701, Nokia 700 and Nokia 600. Here's our initial impressions of Symbian Belle and a hands-on with the three new Symbian Belle phones.
Colin Giles, Executive Vice President, Sales, was present at the event to introduce the new Symbian Belle phones.
Unveiled at the event were the Nokia 700, Nokia 701 and Nokia 600 (left to right). Each device has a special characteristic: Nokia 701 being the smallest (in terms of volume), Nokia 701 having the brightest screen, and Nokia 600 being the loudest.
Nokia Catches Up with Symbian Belle
With Symbian Belle, Nokia has finally caught up with its competitors in terms of the user interface and features. It is a much-need boost to the Symbian^3 OS in an increasingly competitive environment which sees a strong emphasis on software. Symbian Belle brings along six new features which are six home screens, a new pull-down notification bar, a menu bar at the bottom of the screen, interactive live widgets and near-field communication (NFC) support.
With Symbian Belle, you have up to six home screens to place your favorite apps, shortcuts and widgets. This is one more than what Symbian Anna offers and is also on-par with most Android smartphones.
If you are an Android user, you will be familiar with the notification system on Symbian Belle. You just need to drag from the top of the screen to reveal a drop-down notification bar.
Symbian Belle gets "smarter" with a new adaptive menu bar at the bottom of the screen. Depending on what you are doing on the phone, the menu bar changes accordingly. Seen here are the three different menu bar options on the Nokia 701, 600 and 700 (left to right).
Not only do you have six home screens, you also have more interactive live widgets of different sizes to play with. For example, you can place the music player widget (left), clock widget (center) and calender widget (right) on your home screen,
First seen on the Nokia N9, all three new Symbian Belle phones have support for NFC. It allows you to share pictures and pair with compatible accessories easily with a single tap.
Overall, the user experience of Symbian Belle was a positive one. We liked the notification drop-down bar which mimics that of Google Android. The addition of interactive live widgets modernized the otherwise dated Symbian^3 OS. Interface transitions were smooth largely due to the 1GHz processor. Compared to the 680MHz processor in the E6 and X7 when Symbian Anna debuted, the new Symbian^3 OS update is a step in the right direction for Nokia.
Nokia's Plans for Symbian in the Near Future
During the event, we had the opportunity to have an interview session with Illari Nurimi, Vice President, Product Marketing Smart Devices, and Mark Selby, Vice President, Industry Collaboration. We prepared two key questions for the interview regarding the future of Symbian OS.
When asked about the direction of the Symbian OS in the near future with Windows Phone 7 Mango devices expected to arrive by end of 2011, Illari commented that Nokia remains committed to the Symbian OS as it is important for the company in the coming quarters and years ahead. Nokia stands firmly in its belief that consumers should be given more choices as different people have different needs when purchasing a phone. As such, be expected to see Nokia releasing more Symbian devices in the future. Mark reiterated the same point by stating that Nokia has been delivering multiple OSes for years (S40, S60, MeeGo) and is still comfortable with the concept of having different OSes in the market at the same time.
This led to our next question, which is about the possibility that Nokia will face fragmentation within the Symbian OS. This is against the backdrop of current Symbian devices getting the update to Symbian Anna and Nokia unveiling Symbian Belle today. Illari responded by saying that Symbian devices will get constant updates to the latest OSes as long as their hardware allow and their test trials permit. As of now, they are conducting trials of Symbian Belle on current Symbian devices such as the E6 to determine if an optimal user experience could be offered. If everything goes smoothly, we can expect the Symbian Belle update to arrive before the end of the year.
Nokia 701 - The Brightest
Nokia claims that the Nokia 701 handset has the brightest display ever on a smartphone ever because of its 3.5-inch LCD ClearBlack display which can produce up to 1000 nits of brightness. During our hands-on, the Nokia 701 certainly stood out from the trio of handsets with its bright screen. As part of the company's belief in providing consumers with more choices and its commitment to continue innovating on the Symbian platform, the Nokia 701 is positioned as a device for users who want to be able to use their phones everywhere, regardless whether it is indoors or outdoors. The Nokia 701 also takes a leaf off the design of the C7 in its physical appearance. It runs on a 1GHz single-core processor and has a 3.5-inch display, the largest among the trio of handsets unveiled today.
The main feature of Nokia 701 is its display, which Nokia claims is the brightest ever on a smartphone.
The design of the Nokia 701 looks very similar to the Nokia C7. In terms of handling, it felt great in the hands with a decent weight of 131g.
Measuring at a mere 11mm in thickness, the Nokia 701 is actually quite slim for the specs and features it has.
The Nokia 701 packs a 8-megapixel full focus rear camera with dual-LED flash.
 | Key highlights of the Nokia 701
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Nokia 700 - The Smallest
As mentioned earlier, each of the three new Symbian Belle devices represents a unique set of priorities and needs that consumers have. For the Nokia 700, Nokia claims that it is the "smallest" smartphone in term of volume. It also comes with a sleek profile of 9.7mm and weighs just 96g. While Nokia acknowledges the fact that competitors are coming up with models of bigger screen sizes and form factors, they believe that there is still demand for a lightweight and portable handset with the features of modern smartphones among consumers. According to the company, there is also an extensive use of eco-friendly materials in making every 701 handset, making it the most eco-friendly Nokia smartphone.
Nokia 700 claims to be the "smallest" smartphone in the market at the moment. It depends on how you interpret the statement. Nokia interprets it in terms of volume, putting the 700 at 50 cubic centimeters.
Weighing just 96g and measuring 9.7mm thin, the Nokia 700 is indeed one of the most compact phones around.
We like the clean design of the Nokia 700; simple yet elegantly crafted.
Unlike the Nokia 701, the Nokia 700 comes with a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash.
 | Key highlights of the Nokia 700
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Nokia 600
Last but not least, the most affordable of the Symbian Belle phones unveiled today is the Nokia 600. Its unique proposition is its loudness, Nokia claims to be the loudest in the market today. According to Nokia, the handset houses an incredible loudspeaker unit. After testing it out, we were more disturbed than impressed. When used for what it is meant for (conversations in private spaces such as in cars and in your own room), it is handy to be able to hear the other party loud and clear. We also foresee it being used in chalets or private parties. However, if it is misused in places such as public trains, it can be quite a nuisance.
You certainly do not want the whole world to hear your private conversations or playlists in public areas with the Nokia 600.
We felt that the in-built loudspeaker unit of the Nokia 600 may have contributed to the 13mm thickness of the device.
We foresee a problem when using the Nokia 600 - the speaker is located on the bottom at the back of the device. To unleash the full power of the speaker unit, you have to place the Nokia 600 face front on the surface.
Estimated to be priced at USD260, the Nokia 600 is the most affordable Symbian Belle phone. For its price, you get a decent smartphone. We guess it will be a hit with teens.
 | Key highlights of the Nokia 600
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