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Nokia's new N8 smartphone is the first model to use the company's upgraded Symbian 3 operating system. (Nokia) Nokia Corp. upped the ante in the smartphone war Tuesday by releasing details of its new touch-screen N8 model, the first phone to use the company's updated Symbian 3 operating system.
The Finnish company previewed the N8 — which includes a 12-megapixel camera, 16-gigabytes of built-in storage, and a more streamlined menu interface — the same day Research In Motion offered a glimpse of its next-generation BlackBerry operating system at the company's annual showcase in Orlando, Fla.
RIM also announced this week that it would be releasing two new BlackBerry models — a 3G version of its popular BlackBerry Pearl smartphone and a new Bold model that supports code division multiple access networks, making it more available to customers in the U.S.
Nokia, the global market leader in smartphones, will launch the N8 in the next calendar quarter. The model is expected to retail for just under $500.
The N8 is the first smartphone to use the Symbian 3 operating system, which Nokia rejigged amid criticisms that Apple's iPhone and Google's Android smartphones had developed superior, more user-friendly touch-screen interfaces.
Nokia, which acquired the software company behind Symbian in 2008, maintained its status as the biggest smartphone company in the world last year with about 47 per cent of the global market share, according to Gartner, Inc., an international technology advisory company.
But the company lost 5.5 percentage points of the market share from 2008, mostly to Google and Apple, which gained 3.5 and 6.2 percentage points respectively.
The N8 eclipses Nokia's previous touch-screen models by featuring multiple home screens and widgets, improved scrolling, HDMI support and faster processing.
Symbian 3 is also open-source, which means any software developer or individual can create new applications for the N8.
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Bob McDonald's Blog
Government to shut down unique fresh water research area May. 25, 2012 12:31 PM The Experimental Lakes Area research facility in Northern Ontario is being closed down after 44 years of providing invaluable data to scientists in Canada and internationally, a decision that has stunned researchers and environmental groups.
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