Nokia makes Touch UI for Symbian S60

Nokia breathes life to the S60 user interface for Symbian OS with the announcement that the widespread and popular S60 platform, used in all the brand's smartphones (plus a handful of smartphones of other makes) is now going to get all "touchy". The new UI will accommodate various input methods such as finger and stylus based operation.

One of the must-have features of any touchscreen device is the keypress feedback. The new touch-based user interface for S60 smartphones, announced at the Symbian Smartphone Show in London, will take care of that as it flaunts touch feedback via slight vibrations. Best of all, current S60 applications should run smoothly as usual on the new touch-enabled handsets, while newly developed ones will make better use of the enhanced functionality.

The S60 Nokia concept touchphone

The new S60 platform will also make additional use of various sensors - from motion to proximity and light - allowing the new devices to "enter a new kinetic world and offer completely new opportunities for application and game developers".

The new S60 web browser will boast full support for Flash video, allowing even more seamless integration between the mobile devices and the mobile Web (read YouTube and the likes) creating a true multimedia-on-the-bounce experience.

We cannot help but feel overexcited by the announced technology upgrade. Nokia already hinted in one of its Go Play Event commercial videos that a touch screen S60 smartphone is in the works and today's announcement is a welcome confirmation. Obviously, touch-centric will be making headlines for quite some time to come, with the technology available to all S60 device manufacturers during 2008.

Check out this Nokia flick for some visuals on the Nokia concept touchphone.