Nokia Belle Is Out For Symbian^3 Devices; New Widgets, Homescreens & Notifications

February 23 15:19 2012 by Alexei Rivera Print This Article

Symbian Belle on Nokia E7

Symbian Belle, or Nokia Belle in some parts of the world, is finally rolling out to a Symbian^3 device near you. The OS, which Nokia primarily uses for (currently) most of its’ smartphones are finally able to get a second major update since Symbian Anna – the aforementioned Symbian Belle. The update brings with it several performance enhancements and UI changes – including a popular pull-down notification bar, custom widget sizes, as well as stability and new graphical touches. While some devices have already shipped with Symbian/Nokia Belle pe-installed, phones that came in the original Symbian^3 and Symbian Anna flavors are now able to pick up the anticipated update.

Nokia Belle is the second major update to the Symbian^3 OS, which originally shipped with the popular Nokia N8 cameraphone back in 2010. While there were some criticisms around its slightly more dated interface back then, its great to see that Nokia made new strides in updating the UI with its’ Symbian Anna and Belle updates. With Belle, they’ve implemented a new pull-down notification bar for faster access to messages and settings, more homescreens for widgets and shortcuts, and finally some custom widget sizes. In addition you’ll be getting some extra new Microsoft apps included for free in the update, which is always a good thing. You can check out a quick video on what the new Nokia Belle interface looks like in our video below.

To get your Nokia Belle update on, install Nokia Suite on your PC and connect your Symbian device with USB. Click Tools > Software Update and you should be able to get the update for your device. Eligible phones include the Nokia N8, E7, C7, C6-01, X7, E6, and the Nokia 500.