The Symbian Foundation has posted the first screenshots for Symbian ^ 4, the version of the OS that should be found in terminals by 2011.
A few days ago, a Gartner analyst suggested in a note posted on his blog on Symbian had a real problem concerning the attractiveness and usability of its interface and considered that there was an urgency to correct it.
His discussion focused on Symbian ^ 3, which will be available to start on the smartphone Nokia N8, announced in April but still not sold. This view is consistent with other comments from those who observed the mobile OS at work and often feel that there is improvement from Symbian S60 but not really breaking.
However, Symbian ^ 3 is an intermediate version, the main effort of Nokia on future support for Symbian ^ 4 which will be the finalized version of the open source mobile operating system on which the Finnish group will rely for its smartphones, but will not be available until 2011.
First images of Symbian ^ 4
By providing source code for the home screen Symbian ^ 4, the Symbian Foundation has posted some screenshots giving the first idea of the Symbian ^ 4 interface based on the Qt environment. It shows some cosmetic changes and management optimized for touchscreen use.
Nokia will win big with this mobile OS that will be present on the majority of its future smartphones, while Meego concern the high-end mobile products and probably hybrids.
