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GSM Arena’s Symbian Belle Review: Just what the doctor ordered.

| September 12, 2011 | 19 Replies
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DM tipped this in on Saturday, but I thought it might be better seen on a weekday when more folks can check it out.

It’s GSM Arena’s review of Symbian Belle.  It’s one page only but it is a pretty big page.

GSMArena Belle Review

Belle is where a lot of the visual changes to Symbian takes place and GSM Arena says it’s

“Just what the doctor ordered”.

 

  • They like that by default, the apps are flat and visible. No digging around stupid folders, though you can add and organize your own apps with folders later. This is MUCH better IMO too as often apps can be put in inconsistent folders and you dont know how deep you have to dig to get to a particular app.
  • Alphabetical organization for app imo is nice
  • Would be nice if you could drop items into folders, rather than having to go through options and manually selecting move and selecting required folder.
  • Inconsistency with arrangement in Menu/homescreen.
  • Shuffled browser meant improved usability for the GSM Arena folks.
  • Much easier to manage tabs (not the obtuse way Anna does it)
  • Flash lite adequate most of the time but there are cases when it doesn’t cut it.
  • Nice changes to music player, much more polish
  • NFC is where Belle is great at.
  • Belle is Best Symbian to date
Where work is needed:
  • More consistency – eg. homescreen/menu rearrangement
  • UI for multitasking makes it difficult for heavy multitaskers what with just 3 apps in view (see, this is why I despise this cumbersome card like interface. Give me Maemo 5 grids dammit!)
  • Full Flash Support!
Conclusion
“Symbian Belle brings the Symbian closer to Android and iOS than it’s ever been”
  • One problem Belle can’t solve is Apps – App selection drives people to smartphones.
  • They feel Ovi store may never catch up as devs moving away from platform. (Well, users are definitely growing. They’ve got half the downloads per day as Android already and over 1/3 of iOS with a fraction of the catalogue. Nokia’s not limited to Symbian either. There’s S40 apps and a whole new wave of Swipe for S40 perhaps (as Marko hinted). The Ovi Store can be lucrative, with 2.5x downloads per app than App Store. That’s not simply because they don’t have as much apps, but more because they don’t have as much BUT they have many, MANY users still willing to download) WP7 is attracting developers.
  • “Belle puts Symbian back into the ring as a serious contender by plugging a lot of the many holes in usability of the OS.”
Source: GSMArena 
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Category: Nokia, Symbian

About the Author ()

Hey, thanks for reading my post. My name is Jay and I'm a medical student at the University of Manchester. When I can, I blog here at mynokiablog.com and tweet now and again @jaymontano. We also have a twitter and facebook accounts @mynokiablog and  Facebook.com/mynokiablog. Check out the tips, guides and rules for commenting >>click<< Contact us at tips(@)mynokiablog.com or email me directly on jay[at]mynokiablog.com
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