The Nokia Reader is an application for receiving RSS news feeds on Symbian^3 devices and is part of the Ovi Notifications Support Package (ONSP). It just received an update, which improves overall performance and fixes the bugs in the previous version.

 

The list of improvements include connectivity, a bug that forced the user to re-enter his/hers Nokia Account credentials and force stop issues, which needed a reinstall of the previous version. A good RSS reader is very important for some people as it condenses the information from many websites into a stream of neat headlines in an organized fashion.

 

 

Some images posted on the Nokia Germany website just lifted the curtain on one of the features to come in the next Symbian^3 update. What we are seeing is the free-form widgets that were initially rumored to come with the PR 2.0 Anna update, but apparently did not make it.

Until now the Symbian^3 widgets had a fixed size and you could only fit a preset number of them on the screen. However when free-form widgets become available you will be able to reduce those you need less often in size to make room for the more important ones.

 

Now there’s an outside chance that someone in the Nokia Germany PR department just went too creative on those images, but we really doubt that this is the case. After all, what would be the point in simulating such a minor feature if you do not plan on ever releasing. It will not attract any new customers and it might earn you some bad publicity.

 

 

So its a pretty safe bet that Symbian users will be able to resize their widgets once the next update becomes available. Dubbed PR 3.0 Belle, this upcoming update is expected to hit in the fall, but given that we’re still waiting for the mass availability of the Anna, we wouldn’t bet our salaries on that.

 

A big part of the Symbian^3 Anna update that Nokia unveiled on Money was the new web browser that reportedly brings improvements in both performance and usability. And the company seems pretty eager to show that it has done a good job with it, dedicating a whole post on its blog to revealing its strong points.

 

In unison with the rest of the refreshed interface, the new web browser has been equipped with a streamlined UI that has seen the removal of the double rows of icons at the bottom of the browsing window and has instead replaced them with a small overlay back arrow and an options icon that can call up various different tasks such as bookmarks, history or the exit button. That makes for some extra room up top to include a convenient address bar for easy URL typing and web searching.

Speaking of which, we finally have split-screen typing view mode and a QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode. Those are little thing

 

The web browse also has a new context pop-up menu that let you copy a link address or open it in a new tab.

 

On the performance side of things, the new version 7.3 of the Symbian3 browser comes with a new 30% faster JavaScript engine and improved compatibility with HTML5. The new browser got 111 out of 400 in the standard HTML5 test, while the previous version only achieved 29. Thats some improvement.

 

 

 

 

Nokia is not going to abandon its legacy Symbian mobile operating system anytime soon, or at least not till 2014, the company revealed.

 

 

Chris Carr, the managing director of Nokia Australia said that due to contractual obligations the company will continue supporting Symbian phones currently on the market until two years after their launch date. He also said that Nokia will continue with the production of its new Symbian phones at least until 2012.

"There is still a lot of ongoing development with Symbian, the two will co-exist. We have invested a lot of money in Symbian," said Carr. "Its not unusual in the industry to have multiple OS strategies," he continued, according to reporters in Australia.

 

 

 

Say hello to a new business model from Nokia and a new music-minded one too the Nokia E6 and the Nokia X7 just went official. Also, the much awaited Symbian^3 update has arrived and its called Anna.

First, lets talk new models. Both the E6 and the X7 are touch-enabled Symbian^3 handsets, but the X7 is a slate with a 4-inch touchscreen, while the E6 is a bar with a portrait QWERTY and 2.46-inch VGA touchscreen.

Nokia E6

The Nokia E6 combines glass and stainless steel in a sleek 115.5 x 59 10.5 mm body and has a taste for BlackBerry blood. It packs quad-band 2G and five-band 3G a true globe trotter. 3G is enhanced with 10.2Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA.

 

The E6 also packs Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0 with JoikuSpot Premium preinstalled (app that turns the phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot). Nokia have also added enhanced encryption. The Nokia E6 has an 8MP fixed-focus camera with dual-LED flash capable of 720p HD video recording. Unfortunately, the cameras on both phones lack auto focus.

The Nokia E6 has 8GB of memory built into the phone, expandable by microSD cards up to 32GB.The Nokia E6 also boasts impressive battery live up to 28 days of standby and nearly 15 hours of talk time (2G numbers).

 

 

Nokia X7

The Nokia X7 packs a 4-inch nHD AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass and has a stainless steel body. It comes with an 8GB microSD card pre-installed and a battery thats good for up to 50 hours of music or 6 hours of video playback.

 

   

Its no slouch when it comes to connectivity though quad-band 2G and tri-band 3G Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0. The Nokia X7 packs the same 8MP camera as the E6 complete with a dual-LED flash and 720p video recording.The X7 comes with Nokia WH-701 headset in the box nothing fancy like the X6 had.

 

 

Symbian Anna

Both Nokias run the new Symbian Anna thats the Symbian^3 update we’ve been waiting for so long. It packs a split-screen keyboard allowing easier text input, an improved browser and enhanced security features too. The redesigned icons are also part of the new UI. Searching has been simplified in Ovi Maps and the app has grown a new public transportation route feature.

The older Symbian^3 models (N8, E7, C7 and C6-01) will be getting getting the Symbian Anna "in the coming months" as an over the air update. For more information on the update, check our extensive blog post.

 

Pricing and availability

The Nokia E6 and the Nokia X7 are both expected to launch in Q2. The E6 price is estimated at €345 ($500) and the X7 price at €370 ($550)