Nokia Conversations says Belle is coming soon, N8 shipping with belle, confirms February 2012 for existing devices.
The official Nokia Blog, Nokia Conversations has confirmed dates for Symbian Belle. First saying a vague coming soon but then specifying dates of February 2012 for existing devices.
Existing devices still being shipped are now coming with Belle.
The enhanced versions of Nokia N8, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6-01 have now started their journey from the factories to the shops with Nokia Belle preinstalled, arriving first in China, then around the world.
For those already owning a Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia E6, Nokia X7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia C7, and Nokia Oro, the wait for Nokia Belle is almost over. Starting in February 2012, Nokia will release the all new Nokia Belle software update to existing customers and you’ll be able to download it right on to your phone, bringing a whole heap of improved features.
Source: Nokia Conversations
Cheers manpreet, sagar, N9 user, domdomd gopinath, Jim, Iain, Ruktpur and others for the tip!
Hope everyone’s well, in a rush right now finishing the Christmas shop. Just took a break as we’ve had lots of repeat emails to write about this 
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so the discontinuation of the N8 was only temporary? whew!
when was N8 discontinued??? you are wrong…
That’s what it seemed like because all of a sudden, the US retailers were trying to get rid of their Nokia N8′s and weren’t restocking them.
What this all means February 2012 = February 29th 11:59PM, 2012, and even then probably only in certain countries. As someone already said, U.S. will get it much later if even in 2012.
On the other hand most markeds get many things years after the US…
Symbian is dead. Swept under the carpet … Welcome to the new “Nokia Belle” =(
Nokia belle? I liked ‘Symbian’ more. oh well, maybe that will put an end to all the hate.
Wow. I do really wonder about the ‘enhanced’ version of the n8. NFC? plus some more? Gee I hope I can swap my n8 with this ‘newer’ version! ☻
It refers to the Belle onboard, that’s all.
It has already been released as Symbian Belle on three devices.
Nokia Belle is better than Symbian i think. For one, most people who hate S^3 without using it hate it just because it’s called Symbian – it reminds them of older phones. So it definitely helps rebrand the system. And secondly, people who don’t know what Symbian is or about OS development will only associate it with Nokia. So from a brand perspective, it works better.
“What platform is it on?”
“Nokia Belle”
Sounds better than “this runs Symbian”
I agree. I hate it (but I have more than 2 years of experience with Sybmian) and removing that from the name makes me think that the lag and constant mini-freezes are over (like a placebo).
Agree also. Been a Symbian user for best part of the last decade and people just laughed when I said my C7 ran Symbian.
Recently flashed the leaked Belle to mine and what a change Belle has brought. Seems much snappier, alot more aesthetically pleasing and removes the old drollness Symbian is associated with.
No doubt MS will have had a hand in delaying Belle’s release because the RC’s that have been leaked since August clearly show Belle is there about and this all seems a ploy to shift the newer Belle handsets or get existing Symbian users to hop over to WP7 – I for one won’t be now I have Belle on mine, loving it to bits!
lucky you, my n8 belle cant handle a microsd at all without hanging. still its a practically new phone
How about Nokia E7?? will there be a new E7 shipped with Nokia Belle pre-installed???
They said existing devices will be updated in February 2012. Si even though they might not be shipped with it, you can update it down the road.
I also noticed this… This very likely means that the E7 is no longer produced… Or in other words he is dead…
RIP the E7 … Have to say that I love mine, its beautiful 4 inches screen and confortable keyboard…
Why does the picture of an N8 have a NFC widget? Nokia don’t even know which phones have NFC and which don’t!
where did you see an N8?
LOL
I’m not sure… LMAO never mind
pssttt… I saw it, too.
Good move. Make the focus about the UI and the Qt ecosystem instead.
Guess this means more like March/April for the US …
thank god Nokia has been pumping out Leaks…..i would have gone nuts if i was still stuck with anna…..i don’t even wan to look at anna anymore after using belle
Has anyone seen any evidence of any of the “now shipping with Belle” devices? Would be interesting to know what firmware they’re running and if I am already on a production “leaked” firmware and won’t have to flash again when the real one comes out (or may simply have to upgrade)
P.S. I am on 111.30.607 on an E7-00
I hear replacement devices have the latest Belle, but no actual confirmation from anyone.
can you give an info about your e7 with belle. I would love to have it on my E7.
My N8 has v.111.30.607
Here it is.
http://forum.dailymobile.se/index.php?topic=55271.0
It’s a chinese variant, but has English as an optional language.
Very smooth and functional. The only thing I found missing till now is Geotagging photos.
Anyone got a link to an original 111.30.609 – I know a modified version of this came out the other day, but anyone know of unmodified plain .609 firmware (for an N8), please?
now how do we pin this on elop? it must be his fault of course.
Of course it is. He kicked thousands of Symbian developers. Without Elop, we would have N8′s sucessor that has Carla in it, and we would be waiting for Donna.
Of course. The impressive pace at which things have been moving in Symbian would have continued in this counterfactual scenario.
Its like they live in a different world.
Haha, I like this little thread. I’m a Symbian fan, but it’s great seeing some common sense. (It actually seems as if Symbian is flourishing after Feb 11…)
Yup, we are up two versions now + leaks.
well as far as i remember the big changes in symbian where under the hood. an this changes made belle etc. possible.
Obama kicked thousands of Symbian developers
Well the basic idea of name change is simple that the Belle OS is more a combination of QT and Symbian. QT is integrated in to symbian and it is not right to call it symbian anymore.
They could have named it something new but that would confuse people so name it Nokia BELLE which is a wise decision and also goes with the Nokia`s own OS branding.
Will be very interesting to see Clara and Donna when they arrive next. By the time Clara arrives people will forget Symbian and its good stategy to push Nokia OS with QT integrated. It will be hard marketing but people who dont know symbian or think symbian is dead, Nokia Belle, Nokia Clara and Nokia Donna are interesting change.
I own a 701 and it is amazing, you will not know u are using a Symbian OS.
You keep forgetting that Qt is just the application framework, and Belle ist not Qt. The Core apps are all using a lighter variant of AVKON with a QML Components theme, and the network stacks and the nanokernel below will always remain Symbian
Qt ain’t going this deep.
I am really sad because when symbian.org was still public, you could see the multicore support builds and free scaling resolution ready back in 2010. Where is that Elop?!
It still is technically Symbian, but the UI stack is completely different (and here’s to getting rid of the horrid AVKON in the next versions) and given that users usually associate an OS with it’s UI Nokia could just remove the Symbian name from the picture completely.
Something like Windows CE / Windows Mobile / Windows Phone transition (tho they did leave the Windows branding which I think hurts more than it helps) – it’s the same ol’ Windows CE but with different UI/app stacks.
I believe Avkon is still in there, for backward compatibility.
I know, but it’s time to stop with it, and I’m quite sure it will disappear in the upcoming versions once a sufficient portion of apps, both Nokia’s and 3rd party, remove their ties to the AVKON.
AVKON is just not compatible with modern interfaces and user interactions – it’s way too rigid to start with and it’s not exactly as lightweight as it was in the old days (along with a couple of other Nokia’s frameworks) – I guess, or rather hope that the current Qt/QML/AVKON mix is just a stopgap until removing it completely… That is, of course, if the development on Symbian continues…
I have been looking forward to getting Belle on my E7 for what seems like an eternity. Q4 was the first date mentioned officially or unofficially. Now numerous ‘coming soon’ articles later it’s still coming soon.
don’t get me wrong I am grateful to be getting a major update to my Nokia E7 especially considering how good Belle looks but hopes are constantly being raised and dashed.
Coming soon in my books generally means next week or the week after not in 2 months!
I wouldn’t mind if the start of February is the actual roll out date but all these its coming soon articles are starting to annoy me.
I thought shipping times where supposed to have improved…
It’s done we already know that thanks to leaked rom’s and shipping Nokia E7, N8 Belle devices.
Come on Nokia just release it…
I hate it that they keep on declaring that it will come soon. Feb will still make us wait quite awhile. I really think they delayed it on purpose to make us buy the new belle handsets.
Really doubt that, honestly. At this point it is in Nokia’s urgent interest to keep every single existing customer onboard. Any intentional delay would just risk more and more people swithcing to Android in most of the key Symbian markets and price points. The Belle devices out now offer relatively little reason for anyone with say the C7 or the N8 to buy the 603, 700 or 701 and WP Lumias are not out in most of those markets either.
@Viipottaja…A personal ‘Thank You’ for being one of the very few voices of logic, balance, and reason on this site
+1 cheers to that.
+1
Thanks guys. Glad to hear at least some people are not thinking “oh man, wish that guy would just go away already!”
Happy Holidays All!
too late for that. customers already left, their marketshare decreased to about one third of what it used to be at the begining of 2011, all because of that stupid fuc…… if I say his name i will be called a troll. damn u Elop two thirds in one year.
Just to note that at least according to Gartner data the smartphone market share has dropped “only” (in quotation marks as the drop is still very big) from 27.4% in Q1 to 16.9% in Q3 (i.e. “only” about 1/3rd or 38% drop, not 2/3rd or 66%).
Since Nokia did sell to end users (according to Gartner again) almost 20 million new Symbians in Q3, not to mention the existing userbase, I would still think getting Belle out to them is much more in their interest than intentionally delaying it.
droped 1/3 in Q3, i was referring to the whole year including Q2 and the anticipated Q4.
b4 the Feb announcement, Nokia was indeed loosing marketshare (just to be fair), but nontheless, it was growing and making profits. it was about as big as apple and samsung combined in smartphones.
bringing Belle asap is sure to be in Nokia’s best interest, but mu point is that the big damage has been made already.
yeah that sucks. at least the official Belle will appear on navifirm real soon now that there are shipping devices en route. Good for all that are prepared to flash themselves.
btw, this N8 is my last Nokia device. will be jumping on the android bandwagon after this. want a linux device and Meego/harmattan would be the holy grail but android is close enough considering the alternatives. Dont get me started on the wp metro ui crap. looks so ugly my eyes bleed. Dosen’t matter how good the paid ms astroturfers are trying make it sound. So angry with nokia for not stiking with its guns and then chose that crap when they where on the brink to release all the stuff they been working on for years.
btw2, writing this on my new galaxy tab 10.1 with android 3.1 and there are a lot of idiotic stuff this side ofthe fence too so dont think the grass is magically greener on the other side. Makes you appriciate a lot of things Nokia does that we have been taking for granted. Will flash it with ics as soon as cyanogenMod puts out a release. sorry for all the speeling errors. i dont have the patience to fix them on this touch kb.
@Kemi is it Oluwakemi or Omokemi?
Android is fancy until it bugs down. I’ve tried it and there’s a lot of basic apps (built into Nokia) that are still missing in Android or you have to purchase these Apps.
As for N8 being your last Nokia phone, never say never.
I am using E7 and N9 btw and I must say N9 is the best Nokia phone Ive used till date. It is missing some apps but majority of the “Essential Apps” are present.
That’s the biggest qualm I have with Elop – he’s pushing me towards Android, and boy do I hate it! WP7+ certainly ain’t for me (if I was to go down that sorrow path I’d rather take an iOS device) and the horrid UI is the least of its problems; after Maemo/MeeGo I really can’t go back to Symbian no matter what Carla and Donna might bring; thus I’m left out to seek a refuge in the system I wholeheartedly hate in the hope that I’ll be able to customize it enough to at least somewhat fulfill my needs…
It’s a crying shame to abandon the most potent system in the market, but we all know that Microsoft and (F)OSS, and especially Linux, don’t mix. I curse Elop for setting the priorities the way he did, but I guess there is nothing we can do about it.
I guess Tizen might have some future, but it looks like they’ll be pushing it to use HTML5 as sole development language, and no sane person would want to develop anything serious in the POS called JavaScript, never mind the lack of native code execution…
/rant off
dude i have had an android before and after a few months it slowed down and started to suck. Windows phone on the other hand hasnt really bogged down like android. i dont know about symbian cause i have owned a new one in a while but dont put down wp so easily. i thought the interface was weird at first but ended up lovign it.
I would agree the sooner the better. Most people are in contracts for 12-24 months so they are stuck with their Symbian 3 devices for a while yet.
This update will hopefully keep them being Nokia’s future customers.
We all have to wait any how…
official delay.
They say next year mean january and then feb.
Maybe same date with when elpo saying symbian is dead.
soon nokia always saying soon, 2months is not too soon…
so the release name on the phone will be nokia bele?
I think it is wise for them to release update later than preinstalled devices. When they released Symbian Anna update for N8, C6-01, etc., a lot of deviced stopped working or become in serious mess after installing the update. They really had no idea on how to release an update for existing devices.
The really interesting train of thought on this whole Nokia Belle, Carla, Donna etc… thing is that now that the NAME Symbian is gone, does that mean that Mr Elop was referring to this upcoming change in branding that is underway rather then the total discontinuation of handsets running anything other then Windows Phone in North America when he said there would be no more Symbian Phones in North America?
As unique as Windows Phone is, it’s not for me for all the same reasons iOS is not for me. I don’t like a closed ecosystem where I have to rely on only one method to move content, no freedom to share content the way I choose and no ability to access the content on my phone the way I choose.
That’s why I like Symbian. It’s the opposite of the iOS and Windows Phone’s without all the fragmentation of Android – though Google is making strides in this area. The problem with Google making strides to reduce fragmentation in Android is that it spells doom for Microsoft’s efforts as iOS is established and entrenched in the market that Windows Phone has a chance at taking and the Market for people who love freedom in their OS of choice (like the 200+ million Symbian Users) will flock to Android. The only wild card is RIM, and they are asleep at the wheel even though their stuff with QNX has a hell of allot of potential but it just may be to little to late by Q4 next year.
Windows Phone wants to have an ecosystem like iOS, but iOS will never again be the dominant player in the Market. It will always hang on to it’s share, but growth has slowed to a crawl. Android growth continues at an earth shattering pace. Windows Phone hasn’t even overtaken Windows Mobile in the Market in it’s first year. Every major OEM releases Windows Phone devices as an afterthought except Nokia, and with the partnership between Microsoft and Nokia being what it is, that will forever be the case. Windows Phone, will become practically synonymous with Nokia and Nokia alone because while Mr Elop likes to preach that Nokia is not looking to compete with other Windows Phone manufacturers, those other Windows Phone Manufacturers do not share his sentiment.
I really hope that Nokia is going to continue to release great hardware with Accenture Symbian on it the world over
Just on the “Symbian in NAM” point: no, my guess the branding change does not change anything in this regard – you will not see Nokia Belles/Carlas etc. in NAM or at least in the US. I guess there is a miniscule chance of them in Canada and Mexico (of course, grey importers will import to all markets)
Why should Nokia keep loosing money with their own Symbian OS?
No doubts that Symbian was a great OS with features that even the best phones of nowadays lack (true multitasking capabilities, for example), but lets face it, the OS was not prepared for touch devices, so comparing it to other OSs, it looks outdated and not as user friendly, even if it has more features than the others.
The first version of Symbian that can be considered good since the touch phones appeared in the market is Belle, but it came too late. Belle is what Nokia should have had in their phones by 2008… but 2012?? It’s too late and people nowadays don’t like to wait, so they moved to other OSs. They don’t care if nowadays Symbian is better, for them the name symbian = old, bad, no apps, etc.
So Nokia had to change, because if they didn’t, not only the name of Symbian would mean “old”, “bad” or “no apps”, but the name of Nokia itself would start meaning that too. That would be the end of the line for Nokia.
But fortunatly they changed. They had 3 option. Their own NEW OS: MeeGo, Android or WP7.
Most people don’t understand why didn’t go for MeeGo if it is so good. Well, how much would it cost Nokia to advertise a hole new mobile OS from the nothing? Millions! And what if it didn’t work? It would be the end of Nokia too!
Then Android. Thank god they didn’t go Android. Android experience can be great or a complete sh*t, deppending on what device you are using. It’s a very big fragmented experience. Does Nokia really want that? I don’t think so. Nokia knew they had to change their image. No more confusions about the quality of their products, so they have to stick to an OS that is always good, no matter in what device you are using it. Android doesn’t delliver that. Also Google would never help Nokia as much as M$ did (giving millions for marketing = less risk for Nokia) because they simply didn’t need to. They have their successful OS, if Nokia wants to use it, fine, if not, fine as well, they will keep selling millions.
So WP7 was the only way out. M$ has the money to help Nokia and Nokia has the hardware to help M$. It’s simple. People might not be totally happy yet. I’m not too. Lumia 800 still lacks a lot of nice stuff that I want to see on my next phone (after N8): better camera, front facing camera, bigger screen, dual core, SD cards slot, HDMI in, etc… but I hope it will keep improving.
“Why should Nokia keep loosing money with their own Symbian OS?”
They started losing money in Q2 2011, as luck would have it, after “The Announcement”.
(…)
“But fortunatly they changed. They had 3 option. Their own NEW OS: MeeGo, Android or WP7.”
They also had the option on using Meego and Symbian under the Qt Platform umbrella.
“Most people don’t understand why didn’t go for MeeGo if it is so good. Well, how much would it cost Nokia to advertise a hole new mobile OS from the nothing? Millions! And what if it didn’t work? It would be the end of Nokia too!”
The handset division posted 3.3 billion € profit last year. Nokia wasn’t exactly strapped for cash. And still isn’t.
“So WP7 was the only way out.”
I disagree. As I said, Nokia isn’t exactly strapped for cash and Nokia was profitable, until Q1 2011, that is.
Loosing money? Their profits from Symbian devices were rising steadily ’til Q2 this year when everything plummeted due to an Ratner that Elop pulled with that ‘burning platforms’ memo filled with lies, and then later an Osborne when he publicly announced they are giving the sack to Symbian (and then when profits plummeted he had to get out to say that it will be supported at least ’til 2016)…
I have no problem with you liking the WP7, nor the direction Nokia is heading to, but before spewing uninformed FUD and reinterpreting the ‘burning platforms’ memo, please get your facts straight.
“Well, how much would it cost Nokia to advertise a hole new mobile OS from the nothing? Millions! And what if it didn’t work? It would be the end of Nokia too!”
Only on advertising $130 millions, to be exact. See WP7 campaign. As to what will happen if it doesn’t work – it seems we might find out that by empirical test too. Again, see WP7.
Funny that they call it Nokia Belle and not Symbian belle? SYMBIAN HAS DIED :O
Long Live Symbian!
They probably did it so that people won’t type “Symbian” into Google and get a bunch of Symbian Sucks webpages anymore
fuck elop! Nokia is damn too slow when it comes to pushing updates!!!, s3 is already dead! Lng live Nokia belle, Name like symbian belle should be ruled out of da game just bcos “symbian” is already dead.
NEWSFLASH. Nokia has always been slow to update their software.
NEWSFLASH. Belle should have appeared in 2010.
NEWSFLASH. Belle should have appeared in 2009.
NEWSFLASH. Nokia made something amazing already called Maemo 5. in 2009. Why leave Symbian out of the new cool touch niceness?
NEWSFLASH. Development and changes in Symbian have always been slow. Why do you think the first touch devices were so bad? Why do you think S^3 was still not up to the touch friendliness of competitors? Because ELOP snuck in in 2007? Of course?!
On the positive, the right changes though late, have appeared with Belle. It’s not completely right (browser still not up to scratch) but it’s getting there. A lot more positive changes/improvements have happened in the past 12 months more than any other time for Symbian, no?
I’m just not sure I you know why Maemo 5(wich you love so much) didn’t get a bigger role in Nokia and that’s why I want to civilize you(or/and others, if you already knew it). Finnish Talous Elämä(=Business life, IMO best financial magazine in Finland) wrote, that Maemo 5 was seen as a threat for Symbian inside Nokia. There was a team for Maemo, but a lot bigger team around Symbian and Symbian people won – Maemo made it self only to N900 and Symbians place in Nokia was secured. Silly and stupid, but it happened.
So, no Q4 Belle for N8. Im still happy to hear offically, that it is coming in two months
I will have almost new phone then! Symbian Anna is working nicely until that.
Inside comming two months = new WP phones and Belle
Ah too true, yes.
http://mynokiablog.com/2011/08/21/ari-jaaksi-symbian-religion-biggest-concern-on-maemo-was-not-how-good-it-was-but-how-it-would-affect-symbian/
It’s a shame that Symbian’s own strength is essentially what killed it. Well that and shitty management that could not let Maemo be where it needed to be. They could have spend mere billions to get Maemo everywhere and they’d still have good control of Symbian AND the new high end Maemo. But they stuck with what they saw was safe and cannibalised Maemo efforts.
It is amazing what such a tiny team accomplished to bring out Maemo 5, and what several thousand did to get Symbian where it was lagging behind in usability.
It makes me so ANGRY. So much more ANGRY that Maemo was sidelined and diverted for MeeGo. It makes me Angry that nokia was unable to deliver the right resources to let Maemo prosper quickly enough.
Anyone who has used Maemo 5 saw the incredible power within. The browser was out of this world when it was released. Imagine how amazing it could have been if it received the same attention Symbian did? If it was not delayed to become MeeGo?
FFS. I don’t want to rant to much I might end up making a mammoth ranty post.
It feels good, doesn’t it?
What Ari said didn’t really hit home to me until I saw the incessant trolling by the Symbian community RIGHT HERE, completely proving his point!
There was another really good article somewhere that went through all the internal politics in depth. Can’t remember where that was, I think it was a business magazine.
Eyes wide shut!
“What Ari said didn’t really hit home to me until I saw the incessant trolling by the Symbian community RIGHT HERE, completely proving his point!”
Please explain:
how the “trolling by the Symbian community” is different from any other community supporting its OS of choice? Especially if said OS is sidelined for a foreign OS that was, and I think still is, struggling mightily on the market?
what is the link between users defending an OS and internal politics at Nokia?
how is “The Ecosystem” religion at Nokia is better?
For the record, I think that Meego was a colossal waste of time and effort. My feelings about the WP7 adoption, and especially the way it has been handled, are known by the regulars.
yasu, we appreciate you coming out directly and saying you were against MeeGo
But please, open up a little to other options now that Symbian is officially on the way out
“yasu, we appreciate you coming out directly and saying you were against MeeGo”
Just to clarify, Meego was a waste, Maemo was perfectly viable. I may still buy an N9 as a souvenir of the time were Nokia was its own company.
“But please, open up a little to other options now that Symbian is officially on the way out”
We’ll see about Symbian’s future.
When the times comes for me to buy another phone, and there are no suitable Symbian handset, I’ll switch to the next best thing for my purposes, an Android one.
The fact that it’s Elop’s enemy platform will ease the transition.
you can be confident in that you are part of the symbian team that helped bury meego
“you can be confident in that you are part of the symbian team that helped bury meego”
How so? I make the decisions at Nokia?
Waaooo impressed by the number of comments and the quality, vision, depth, intelligence in them…
Waaooo Jay what a community you have created !!!
Waaooo how smart are Nokia fans !!
I think the majority of the people here are just fed up with waiting for the software update. Announcing the end of symbian and meego didn’t help, nokia conversations blog only posts lumia related articles like 99% of the time, and further delays for the belle update are pushing loyal symbian users to the edge. Yes, a lot of the comments here are emotional rants but nokia users are entitled to that as it shows how the consumers are being treated.
Nokia Conversations posted constantly about the new Anna devices, and then about the new Belle devices, and then about the N9 and now the newest launch is Lumia (which is also the big turn around) so perhaps understandably then more articles form nok conv are Lumia. Though they should still try to include S30/S40/S60/S^3/MeeGo whilst keeping consistent about their new strategy.
I think the layout of NokConv needs to be improved. It’s just one massive story and it will be hard to see all the other non lumia posts.
nokconv recent posts were all about the lumia phones. Yes I was able to read the ones with the anna and belle devices and the n9. Agree with you with the layout, you have to dig deep now to find non lumia related stuff.
Agreed, I have very mixed feelings for Conversations.
Don’t hate me for saying this, but I think it’s time to get some Mad Men involved (nyc madison avenue advertising agencies).
By the way, I don’t know who was responsible for it, but I thought the Lumia Live projection in London was awesome