The Symbian Foundation is in the process of transforming the Symbian OS. Nokia has given the world its first glimpse of what the user interface for next version of this operating system is going to look like.
Symbian is in the process of a major transition. Until now, it has provided the back-end software to run phones, and a variety of user interfaces were then layered on top, like S60, S40, UIQ, etc. That's changing, and next version will have its own user interface, drawn from the current ones.
Version 3 is expected to debut next year, but Nokia started showing it off this week.
What's New?
Symbian^3 will clearly show its evolution from S60, but there are changes. The most noticeable of these is support for addition homepages which the user can scroll through with a flick of their finger. These will hold the links and widgets the user has chosen.
Some changes are less obvious. Nokia promises it will support the capacitive touchscreens that are rapidly replacing resistive ones, for example, and multi-touch is also being added.
In addition, a great deal of work is going into simplifying the user interface, making Symbian^3 easier for new users to learn.
Nokia's Role
Nokia is the largest user of the Symbian OS, and a majority of the phones it makes run this operating system.
Still, other companies use it too -- like Ericsson -- and so the theoretically independent Symbian Foundation handles development.
Source: Nokia
