I’ve always been a fan of Symbian (well, more specifically, of UIQ), and long-time readers will know I’m putting a lot of faith in the fact that the next version of it, the one being built by the Symbian Foundation (which I shall hereafter call uber-Symbian), will rock. However, I have my reservations about the current S60 Touch interface, as seen on phones like the Nokia N97, since it still seems a bit, well, old school Nokia-ish.
According to IntoMobile, however, that will change, because the current version of Symbian was only ever intended to be a stopgap solution. The new, improved, uber-Symbian will have a brand new interface, and not merely be a slavish, touch-based copy of old school S60.
The thing that gives S60 its current flavour is a set of UI widgets that fall under the heading of ‘Avkon’. That’s what gives current-Symbian its look and feel. What’s being proposed, though, is that Avkon be taken somewhere nice and quiet, and summarily executed. What’s all set to replace it is ‘Orbit’, a completely new set of front-end widgets, and DirectUI, a brand new, top level interface, that’ll be all about gesture controls, and apparently, wouldn’t be very old school Nokia-ish.
So, what are the pros and cons of doing that? Well, on the upside, it’ll be much prettier, it’ll be all new and shiny, they can make it much more efficient than S60 ever was, and it completely removes the cost (which would be high) of trying to maintain the old Avkon/S60 interface. The downside is that none of the old S60 apps will work on the new Symbian platform, without being completely recoded. But hey, if they make it more efficient and easier to create code, that’s not actually that much of a downside, is it?
We’ve already seen what great Symbian interfaces can be like, thanks to the Samsung i8910 HD and Sony Ericsson Satio (which’ve both got their own gorgeous interfaces on top of current-Symbian); now imagine uber-Symbian being a whole OS, not just a front-end, as nice as they are.
And then, for good measure, imagine how much nicer a custom UI would be on top of uber-Symbian…
Of course, none of this is going to happen before at least 2010, so there’s still life in current-Symbian, yet, and no decisions been officially made on whether they’ll bin it in favour of uber-Symbian. However, I’d say don’t be surprised when it does happen…
More news as it happens! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the world of mobile phones!
