Flashback: how Symbian Anna tried to bring an old OS into the modern touchscreen world

12 November 2023
Anna, unlike the S60 5th edition software of the Nokia 5800, was a much better attempt at a touch-operated Symbian. It still wasn't good enough, though.

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Minu, 13 Nov 2023Correction: the 1661 isn't a Symbian phone, but a rath... moreNo you're right, my 1661 was way too primitive to call it a Symbian phone.

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    • Minu
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    • 13 Nov 2023

    Hemedans, 12 Nov 2023Except X7 wasn't a flagship, N9 was Nokia flagship whi... moreX7 to S2 comparison is very similar to comparing Nokia G11 Plus to the Galaxy S23 base model today

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      • Minu
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      • 13 Nov 2023

      NeonHD, 12 Nov 2023My first Symbian phone was technically the Nokia 1661. I st... moreCorrection: the 1661 isn't a Symbian phone, but a rather primitive feature phone running on the Series 30 platform, with no relation to the more powerful Series 40 platform. It doesn't have a WAP browser, at least.

      Chances are, the phone you were using was the Nokia 1006, with a similar design, but runs on Series 40

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        • Minu
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        • 13 Nov 2023

        NeonHD, 13 Nov 2023It seems you are mistaken. First of all, yes, the 1661 was ... moreNot just that, the C3 had Wi-Fi support for a rather cheap phone back then!

        The only limitation for Series 40 was the lack of multitasking, otherwise it was giving a far better experience compared to most modern operating systems without the need for powerful specifications

          ithehappy, 12 Nov 2023symbian lagged in 2007. android lags in 2023. not seeing th... moreLag? In 2023? I'm more convinced that you wandered into a time machine.

            Heretic G, 12 Nov 2023The years 2010-2014 were a complete insanity for loyal noki... moreIf you think that was insanity, you should take a good look at smartphone companies today, specifically Xiaomi and OP. They are insanity times 100.

              Heretic G, 12 Nov 2023Wasn't sumbian at all.You know what I meant. Series 40 isn't Symbian, but it's similar enough. They all fall under the same flavor.

                The Truth, 12 Nov 2023So, in conclusion you never used one cause none of the two ... moreIt seems you are mistaken. First of all, yes, the 1661 was a feature phone, but the C3 is in all respects a smartphone. It had a full-fledged OS with an app store (Ovi), a web browser, and could consume multimedia. These features makes it a smartphone imo, or at the very least smartphone-like.

                Second of all, if you really want to be this specific, then I admit it's technically not "Symbian", but to be fair Series 40 is almost as close to Symbian in terms of features.

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                  • 13 Nov 2023

                  Use C6-01 at 2010, then skip anna update to belle, very happy belle update, new UI more smooth, but sadly after belle symbian user is falling down
                  Around 2015 my Nokia C6-01 starting got hang, and cannot boot, i switch to samsung until now

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                    • Anonymous
                    • 0cB
                    • 13 Nov 2023

                    ithehappy, 12 Nov 2023symbian lagged in 2007. android lags in 2023. not seeing th... moreToo ignorant. Android rarely lags now.

                      El Jefe, 12 Nov 2023Let me guess you are 12 y/o; you have never programmed a si... moreHow can 12Y old use symbian? Your math explain all.

                      Anyone who Question symbian I always bring kai os, this os in inferior to anything compare to Symbian but as we talk it sold more than 100M units, why? Because there is still market for Smart keypad phones, which Symbian S60v3 left behind, Nokia sold 400m phones every year not by fluke, they understand what world wants and they always innovate for 7 billion people not for few rich people.

                      Elop/Microsoft and Other Americans always dont understand what people wants,
                      1. They replace s40 with s30 for them for them they think feature phone is just for call and text they remove all apps

                      2. They replace s60v3 with Asha etc.

                      They did this because they don't understand how developing countries work, people have only one computing device, a phone which they use it as Computer, media consumption, gaming etc.

                      S60v3 which you could get second hand for less than $30 could multi-task like a champ, download movies, do school assignment, play games, Emulation, chat etc by discontinue it and replace with something Inferior made people to look elsewhere, at that time android lowend was slow but people were forced to buy it anyway because of lack of options.

                      Symbian didn't die because people abandoned it, when Burning memo leaked Symbian sales was at peak and 5230 sold more than 150M units which is record until today no phone break.

                        How I enjoy the comments, with the stories before the era of the smartphone... And how downhill we are going and how fun it was in 2015 or so

                          ithehappy, 12 Nov 2023symbian lagged in 2007. android lags in 2023. not seeing th... moreBS. I remember my NOkia N8 lagged a bit in 2011, yet i didnt bother that and liked Symbian Anna. Now using an S22 Ultra for 1,5 years and these things just do not lag.

                            Remembering having Anna on my Nokia N8 and was completely happy with it.
                            I installed Belle a year or so after its release, just because i didnt want to fix anything that was not broke! Two years later i got a LG G2 mini for only 180 euros (was already a year on the market) and so, switched to Android, that unlike Symbian was not ritually killed.

                              Hemedans, 12 Nov 2023This is revisionism lol, never in Symbian life it got threa... moreLet me guess you are 12 y/o; you have never programmed a single line of code in your life. you do not know what API is, and never used the crappy underpower Nokia hardware and their obsolete bug infested OS. They went from: Psion's EPOC to Symbian (died 2 oct 2012), to Maemo (died 1 nov 2011) Terminated in favor of Meego (died 12 jul 2012 Terminated in favor of slow but security bug infested Tizen; soon to be relegated by Samsung to its TV). Nobody bother picking the hubris of mighty Symbian? after all that bankrupt technology is open source !! but yea is the whole fault of Eflop? It was written on the wall, same with Blackberry. They told Steve Jobs that had 0% market share and will be destroyed by Nokia and Blackberry. Those companies neglected the user experience to continue their greedy monopoly and failed spectacularly.

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                                • Anonymous
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                                • 12 Nov 2023

                                ithehappy, 12 Nov 2023symbian lagged in 2007. android lags in 2023. not seeing th... moreYou must be living in 2015 to write such a troll comment

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                                  • ithehappy
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                                  • 12 Nov 2023

                                  symbian lagged in 2007. android lags in 2023. not seeing the difference.

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                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 0cB
                                    • 12 Nov 2023

                                    Never had a symbian phone but had a Nokia 6303 classic. Was durable and cool phone. But nowadays Android rules.

                                      I bought a Nokia E7 on 11 Nov. 2011 (11.11.11). Loved it like crazy.

                                        Peter-B, 12 Nov 2023The N9 ran a completely different OS, though.But it was flagship of Nokia, X series never was flagship, X6, X7, X5 etc

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