A quick look at the new Symbian Belle update

Nokia recently introduced the Symbian Belle update to the world. They also announced three new smartphones running the Belle update viz. Nokia 600, 700 and 701. The company even promised users that the update will soon be available for existing Symbian^3 devices like the  Nokia N8, C7, E7, C6-01, X7 and E6. For a quick look at what Belle has to offer, read on.Homescreen and lockscreen -The Symbian Belle update offers a refreshed homescreen which is quite Android-ish. Unlike Symbian Anna, where widgets are rigid and not too flexible in terms of placement, Belle provides different sized widgets that are quite free flowing (i.e. widgets can be placed or dragged anywhere on the homscreen). Another feature that caught our eye is the position of the widgets that are independent. This means that the position of the widgets in landscape mode and portrait mode are remembered separately. The lockscreen has been modded with new lock design and now has wallpaper support. It takes the wallpaper of that homescreen in which phone was locked as its background.

User-Interface and Menu -One of the most noticeable features that Belle offers is a totally revamped User-interface. There are two bars, one at the top and the other at the bottom. The operator name, battery indicator, network indicator, time and other connectivity related indicators get fit in the top bar. The bottom bar consists of an arrow symbolizing back button along with different sets of options and shortcuts that vary in homescreen, menu and apps (system apps as well as third party apps). Coming to the Menu, Nokia has retained the Anna icons and removed the folder/sub-folder system. Now all apps get listed on the menu page by default. There is an option of creating a new folder though, so that similar apps can be grouped in one folder, if needed.