Nokia took the wraps off
three latest Symbian Belle devices -- Nokia 600, Nokia 700 and Nokia
701 -- all of which support NFC technology. Apart from demonstrating the
benefits of NFC -- which according to Nokia is going to be the next best feature that smartphones will tout -- the launch event
also focused on Ra.One, Shahrukh Khan’s upcoming Bollywood movie, and
its partnership with Nokia to provide exclusive NFC-enabled content
(music, photos, movie clips, etc) on all three Symbian Belle devices.
Here are three things we learned about Symbian Belle at the Nokia event last evening:
1) Symbian finally comes of age: Having
spent a bit of hands-on time with all three mobile devices -- Nokia
600, Nokia 700, and Nokia 701 -- we can finally say that with Symbian
Belle, Nokia has finally brought the Symbian OS almost at par with
competing mobile OSes viz. Android and iOS.
Symbian Belle sports live widgets in
different sizes, up to six home screens personalized with a unique
wallpaper, and a pull-down notification bar (like in Android and iOS)
for different status indicators. Symbian Belle ditches folders to give a
flat menu structure, giving you access to all the installed apps in one
scrollable screen window. And of course, NFC is deeply integrated
within Symbian Belle like no previous Symbian OS.
So we have an aging OS which we thought
would be shelved after Nokia’s tie-up with Microsoft regarding WP7, but
with Symbian Belle (and past developments) Nokia isn’t discarding the OS
just yet. Not by a long way. In fact, Nokia is committed to Symbian
development till 2016, according to one representative.
2) NFC revisited: NFC isn’t new
as a technology, but its deployment with Nokia and Ra.One is definitely
interesting. While globally NFC is still struggling to deliver on its
promise of mobile phones as payment gateways, India and its obsession
with Bollywood and mobile phones presents a unique opportunity to gauge
market response. Depending on the success of this venture, business
models will evolve.
To that effect, Ra.One is slated to
become the first Indian movie to be marketed through NFC. Get ready to
encounter “smart” posters of the movie in cinema halls that let you
access free wallpapers, photos and music associated with the movie. All
this with just a simple tap of your Nokia Symbian Belle enabled mobile
device on the designated poster.
Of course, on a personal level, with two
Nokia NFC enabled phones, a mere tap is enough to exchange music,
video, photos, notes, etc, between the devices in an extremely simple
manner. You can play music wirelessly over NFC enabled speakers within
seconds, and do much more. NFC’s simpler than Bluetooth and works like a
charm, as we found out. In fact, Nokia went on record to say that all
future Symbian devices will have built-in NFC support, a de-facto
feature.
3) Microsoft Apps - check:
Symbian Belle is also slated to become the first non-Microsoft mobile OS
to feature native support to apps like Microsoft Word, Excel and
Powerpoint -- till now they are only exclusive to the Windows platform.
Available by the end of this year,
Microsoft Apps will bring collaboration and productivity tools including
Microsoft Lync 2010 Mobile, Microsoft OneNote, Microsoft PowerPoint
Broadcast and Microsoft Document Connection (which provides Microsoft
SharePoint access) to Symbian Belle. A subsequent update in the first
half of 2012 will introduce Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint as
native applications on the platform.
Microsoft Apps will be delivered via
software update over the air or via PC download and will function on the
Nokia N8, Nokia C7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia E7, Nokia E6, Nokia X7, Nokia
700, Nokia 701, Nokia 600 and Nokia Oro.
With Microsoft Apps on-board, Symbian
Belle will add a feather to its cap and stake a renewed claim for
business users. Needless to say, this is another example of Nokia’s
commitment to Symbian, and result of the happy arrangement between
Microsoft and Nokia.
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