Symbian Foundation: Help us help you

By on Jul 27, 2009 at 5:21 PM
Software July 27, 2009

Making a mobile OS “open” is one thing, but this is unlike anything we’ve seen to date. The Symbian Foundation — the newly formed group charged with bringing Nokia’s ever-popular OS into the 21st century — needs your help. Finding a way to update that aged UI is a bit trying we presume (though we wouldn’t mind seeing TAT finally give it a shot) so Scott Weiss, the Symbian Foundation’s UI Technology Manager, has officially opened the UI conversation to the world. The newly launched “Symbian UI Brainstorm” blog asks users to email suggestions that will possibly be transformed into sketches and discussed on the blog. Symbian fans and critics alike have become increasingly vocal with regards to the S60 UI so this could be the perfect opportunity to be heard by the one man who actually cares what they have to say. And who knows? Your great idea might become a reality some day — as part of Symbian^7 or ^8, perhaps. Ok Symbian fans, hit the read link and get to work.

[Via IntoMobile]

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11 Comments

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  • http://(null) alen

    And discussion about the Linux ui turned out so well compared to the tyranny of steve

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: New York United States

  • Sonya

    That’s pretty sweet. Wish windows mobile would do this.

  • jpg

    hm… i wish i had something useful to add or help with. for me though, one thing i would like to get away from is icons for applications and stuff. this would be fairly difficult i think, but i don’t know, having applications accessible through blocks and such seems clunky. a “list” view is clunky too. motorola’s “spinner” view on its newer phones is a bit cooler, but still it’s kind of blah. any thoughts?

  • Jarred

    A native threaded SMS app, BUILT IN TO S60.

  • http://Davidthande.blogspot.com David Thandeâ„¢

    Rim take notes…..if something doesn’t change this will be my last Berry.

    Tuh tuh Tour

  • ThisGuy

    consistency with in the whole OS. If the web browser has kinetic scrolling, the entire UI should have kinetic scrolling. This is rather bothersome on the N97….why should I use a scroll on the right to scroll up and down, when I dont have to on the web browser.

    screen transitions! screen transitions! screen transitions!

    cool icons, or the ability to input your own icons for applications.

  • celz

    how bout bring it to north america

  • Mike

    Do we really need this? I mean, we’ve now got three modern mobile operating systems (iPhone, Android, WebOS) in production, and two more backed up up by strong corporate support (WinMo and Blackberry), and a potential new one (Zune Phone/Pink) coming shortly.

    Do we still need the Symbian OS? Does essentially starting over with it offer any inherent advantage over Android – and I mention Android because it’s the only other one that’s open source? Maybe I’m being US-centric, but wouldn’t it be easier for Nokia to throw it’s weight behind Android, and leverage the work already done there, rather than try to bring a sixth mobile OS forward? I know they sank a lot of money into buying it, but maybe they should just let that sunk cost power their dumbphones, and low-end smartphones?

  • http://www.symbian-freak.com christexaport

    @ Mike, you ARE being very US centric! Symbian is powering HALF the world’s smartphones! Those 3 “modern” OSes don’t have that combined! And despite the UI, the OS is mature and robust. A UI refresh is coming in about 18 months. America’s immature and less advanced market doesn’t use devices like the rest of the world, so we don’t get it yet, but in a few years, you’ll know just how silly you sound. The Symbian OS is used by Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, and others globally. Now despite the cool points Apple and RIM get for popularity and buzz, that group of manufacturers represents the bulk of the world’s mobile sales. Symbian is the best selling OS EVERYWHERE but America, and its got 10 years of development. Using the “modern” OS would severely hamper usage for most users. Symbian is actually the most modern OS, just its UI layer is old. They waited to change it AFTER they added touch capabilities to keep the UI similar and familiar to its users. All us Symbian Freaks know we get a new UI next winter. I bet you’ll think differently then. Symbian OS has API’s like a desktop OS, bro. You should try using it more, you’d know.know.

  • http://www.myspace.com/tdotkingoftheblock T-Dot

    iphoneish ui enhancements (screens sliding, kinetic scrolling, zoom in/out effects), android-like “desktop” experience and capabilities, s60 operability and functionality, and the necessary hardware to run on (528 mhz processor on n97? FAIL)..can we say snapdragon?

  • Hary

    Guys, give your suggestions on the brainstorm website not here. That will be more helpful than posting on BGR.

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