14 DAY TRIAL // Despite the general belief that the first ever mobile phone to run under the Symbian^3 operating system will be Nokia branded, recent news suggests that the device in question will be released by a handset vendor from Asia. Lee Williams, executive director of the Symbian Foundation, was the one to break the news, though he did not offer specific details on which manufacturer he was referring to.
Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia already unveiled to the world its first device to run under the Symbian^3 platform, the Nokia N8, yet it seems that this won't be the world's first such handset. The new operating system is expected to enable Nokia become competitive once again on the smartphone market, as rival companies like Google and Apple have started to gain pace in the area.
Symbian^3 is the latest major revamp of the OS, which will be followed by Symbian^4 in the first quarter of the next year, it seems. “Symbian^3 is almost completely mature. There is a small share of code which is pending checking by its contributors,” Williams said in an interview with Reuters. “By first quarter 2011 I would expect to have very mature Symbian 4. We are heavily dependent on Nokia's development efforts,” the added.
For the time being, the Nokia N8 is the only Symbian^3-based smartphone unveiled to the world, with an expected release date set for the third quarter of the ongoing year. However, since an Asia-based manufacturer will bring the first such device to the market, we should have another Symbian^3 phone announced officially pretty soon, with a market availability before the N8's one (which was rumored to happen sometime in August).
Since the Symbian^3 OS is almost complete, other devices should also follow, though we'll have to wait for more details on the matter to be announced. As for which maker might deliver the first Symbian^3 handset to shelves, there are quite a few possibilities, including Samsung, Sharp, Huawei, or ZTE, along with others.