The Nokia N8 and Symbian

27/4/2010

Nokia’s have lost the shine somewhat of late. Remember in the 90’s when everyone that was anyone had to have the large 2110 – you couldn’t afford the calls but at least you could play Snake all day. Then there was the 8110 that helped Neo fly in and out of the Matrix.

But then the iPhone came along and ruined the party. Since then, try as they might, Nokia just haven’t been able to get back on top. To add salt to the wound, a myriad of other manufacturers have got in on the game and have made Nokia’s struggle that much harder.

Now Nokia is back on the offensive. The Symbian platform has gone open source, and Nokia are the first to announce the first phone on the platform called the flagship N8. And it’s features are pretty impressive on paper – 12 megapixel camera, HD camera with record and edit functionality, and the ability to watch web TV services.

There’s something in it for Symbian too – it’s the first chance for it to pit the platform against both Google’s Android platform as well as Apple’s iPhone. Features like multi-touch and multi-tasking will be welcome news for users that are already familiar with similar functionality on Windows Smartphones.

Nokia does need to get it’s skates on though. The Symbian foundation is made up of other leading mobile phone manufacturers like Motorola and Samsung, and so we can expect to see these camps releasing phones soon too.

Expect to see the phone in the third quarter of 2010.