Possibilities to upgrade your Nokia N8 Symbian^3 to Symbian^4 (Updated)
The most asked question lately was about the capability of the Nokia N8 to upgrade itself to future Symbian^4. Much likely from S^3, which is the current OS for the N8, to future Symbian platforms. But it is really a must to upgrade to S^4? Can the Nokia N8 update to Symbian^4? [UPDATED]
I think it’s not yet confirmed whether the current N8 and other future Symbian^3 devices can update their self to Symbian^4. We can say that N8’s hardware has somewhat have a few points to support future OS, but basing on the recommended requirements for Symbian OS, it is much clearly showed that ARM Cortex A8 & 128MB of DRAM were the least requirement for high tier devices, and N8 only have an ARM 11 at 680MHz but it has dedicated graphics processing unit and a 256MB RAM. Needless to say, Nokia N8’s upgradeable issue is confusing. All we should do now is wait for someone who could clear these things.
So going back to main discussion. For the N8, I would really like to have a much stable OS where the company can focus on bringing a lesser flaws OS and a wide range of high quality apps. Rich UI experience on the Symbian^3 have improved from what we saw on Nokia N97 and N97 Mini. We see how do S^3 looks like and it’s true that Symbian^3 UI was just a refreshed version of Symbian^1 for some. But…yes it’s a but, because Symbian^3 is a new whole platform that they developed and in future will support wide range of devices.
In desperate approach to know on what really N8 and Symbian^3 is, we should wait for the final N8 before taking some conclusions. But still I’m the same with many who hopes for Symbian^4 in N8 sometime in future. And who knows what Open Source might bring us.
And which of you guys preferred? A stable OS or an upgradeable to S^4?
***Update:
Thanks to Mark Wilcox (http://developer.symbian.org) clarifying things on the Nokia N8 upgrade to Symbian^4. His comment can be found below in the comment section or refer to this.
Please note that the table in this article comes from a page marked as “stub” on the Symbian Foundation wiki. Those hardware requirements are just plain wrong!
As for S^3 upgradeability to S^4, it depends on the capability of the hardware to run the new version of the platform and the willingness of the OEM to do the significant amount of work need to port the software.
This is easy for Apple with very few device models. Android is a bit of a mixed bag but you usually get some updates for a device.
Nokia smartphones are often cheaper than the competition because they use the minimum hardware required for a decent experience with the platform – that often means the hardware isn’t capable of running the next version!
The N8 ought to be capable of running S^4, the processor is a little underpowered but it has graphics acceleration and a good amount of RAM. I have no idea whether Nokia will offer an upgrade or not though.
And which of you guys preferred? A stable OS or an upgradeable to S^4?
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Hmmmm, I’d love to have the option of S^4. Defo.
considering nokia’s history,i doubt they will support s3 to s4 upgrade.if this happens then we can say nokia is evolving to current market trends.
lets hope for best.
@Nick
I preferred Symbian^3 but of course a stable one and with wide range of good quality apps.
@Pratik
The feasibility for S^3 to S^4 upgrade is so small considering Symbian^3 is a whole new platform.
I would rather have symbian 4. I want Nokia follow Apple’s and Google’s lead and offer upgrades to hardware compatible devices. This will give Nokia more resources for Symbian^4, since they could relocate most of the symbian^3 programs.
Programmers not programs.
Hi Jade,
Great post!!
But the processor on Nokia N8 is ARM1176 core with default clock rate of 750 mhz and it can be safely overclocked to 850 mhz..
And which of you guys preferred? A stable OS or an upgradeable to S^4?
what a question… shurely everyone want’s to have both of it! 😉
@Niraj
tnx for that info
@schnuff
I’m not saying that S^4 will be unstable, but upgrading to this os from S^3 is some what an impossible because S^3 is a whole new platform…nevertheless, Open Source may be the cure.
if Nokia will not announce that they will upgrade the N8 to Symbian^4 I will not buy it, I will buy an Android phone or an iPhone, they uprades their phones to their new OS and you can see that Android 2.2 is very stable, iOS 4 is very stable. why Symbian^4 will not be stable???!!!!!
If Nokia announce that the N8 will be upgradeable to Symbian^4 I will buy it and I will be very happy and I will not buy an Android phone or iPhone, N8 with Symbian^4 will be an exxxxellent phone
Nokia, see how google upgrade the Android phones to the excellent Android 2.2 and to Android 3.0 later. See how Apple upgrade the olde iPhone 3G to iOS 4. Please make a good decision and announce the N8 will be upgradeable to Symbian^4, otherwise your clients will go to Android and iPhone
Why are we asking about wanting the ability to upgrade to a new OS when we don’t even have the device yet?! Let’s not put the cart before the horse. Ask us once we actually have the N8.
it’s very possible to upgrade to S4 but it’s a matter of time,when S4 becomes available on devices,wait and see!
to llouyd: this is because we don’t want to be a stupid donkey that buy Nokia N8 today and tomorrow Nokia N9 is out with Symbian^4 as it is stupid to buy phone that get outdated in one day
N9 will not be symbian, it will most likely be meego. This has been announced some time ago (announcement said that N8 will be last N-series running symbian).
Please note that the table in this article comes from a page marked as “stub” on the Symbian Foundation wiki. Those hardware requirements are just plain wrong!
As for S^3 upgradeability to S^4, it depends on the capability of the hardware to run the new version of the platform and the willingness of the OEM to do the significant amount of work need to port the software.
This is easy for Apple with very few device models. Android is a bit of a mixed bag but you usually get some updates for a device.
Nokia smartphones are often cheaper than the competition because they use the minimum hardware required for a decent experience with the platform – that often means the hardware isn’t capable of running the next version!
The N8 ought to be capable of running S^4, the processor is a little underpowered but it has graphics acceleration and a good amount of RAM. I have no idea whether Nokia will offer an upgrade or not though.
@Mark
Thank you very much for clearing that Mark. We’re very glad to have you comment.
They probably decided to put N9 on Symbian 4/Meego cause it was too late to do it for N8.
What I don`t understand is why limit the N9 to only an 8 meg camera as opposed to a 12 Meg. That would have blown the competition right out.
In all honesty, the 12 meg camera is what pulled my attention from Apple/HTC over to Nokia.
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@Lucky. That seems to have been a misinterpretation.
http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/07/02/the-fightback-starts-now/
This suggests only that N8 will be the last Symbian *3* N-series phone but that Symbian 4 N-series phones are a distinct possibility.
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@Mark,
What do you mean by “Android is a bit of a mixed bag “? I think its safe to say that every Android phone is now upgradable to a different major release (ex. from 1.6 to 2.01 to 2.2)… And judging by how fast this is done, or made available by certain manufacturer like HTC, it seems to be easy to port the new SW version to the existing HW, or at least that the company is willing to do the effort for its customers who paid a substantial amount for a smartphone.
“willingness of the OEM to do the significant amount of work need to port the software.”. This means that the low level SW is highly tied with the HW or that there’s no much abstraction there to allow easy porting. And this should have been one of the first issues to be addressed by Symbian to really shift its platform.
“Nokia smartphones are often cheaper than the competition because they use the minimum hardware required for a decent experience with the platform – that often means the hardware isn’t capable of running the next version!”. The first part of this sentence is not true, Nokia flagship phones are among the most expensive phones if not the most expensive one. Look at the N97, 700€ or more at launch this is more than any other competing smartphone, for a phone that can’t be upgraded.
I’m a big Nokia fan, but very disappointed with the latest products and development. Symbian/Nokia should be more attentive to its customers. The N8 is a big leap forward, the build quality is finally worth it and the screen is capacitive, but S^3 is just ok…
You see, it’s this “give me give me more more more” mentality that’s a problem, nothing else.
Let’s say that when we all get our hands on the N8 and it will satisfy us totally. Why in the hell would go and spoil this good feeling by thinking in terms like: “the competition is giving major next generation updates, I wan’t one too”. Have you update freaks ever thought of the fact that the requirements for the next generation OS are just slightly higher and could cause lag on the phone? Then Nokia would have an army of whining customers complaining about the lag instead. I say: buy the product and be satisfied with the investment if it works well. Or don’t buy the product if something is bothering you. All brands have their pros and cons. Which brand will you choose? Peace and out.
Actually I do not care whether the N8 will be upgradeable to S^4, as long as (a reasonable number of) applications developed for S^4 will also run under S^3, comparable to Windows programs that run under XP, Vista, W7 etc. Can anybody make any statements whether this will in principle be possible?
NokiaFan: the applications written for S4 will more than likely run under S3, since S3 and S4 use the same application framework called Qt, which basically is similar to the commonly mentioned approach, “write once, run everywhere”. Nokia has been pushing Qt for some time now and i believe they will succeed at the end of the day. So really, you shouldn’t really be very conserned with the compatipility issues of S4 and S3. I myself will probably get the N8 even though i would love to have S4 running on it. For some reason S3 still has this clunky look on it, S4 on the other hand will just look brilliant…still Meego will be the best.
@ Petri… That may be correct, but can you blame anyone with a “give me more” attitude after the way Nokia has been wallowing around with a direction ?? I can totally understand that statement if for example, Symbian 4 was more than a year off. Yes users will get great utilization out of their N8s, but why dangle such a carrot in front of potential customers, showing what a great system Symbian 4 will be in a few months, yet expecting customers to be thrilled about dropping a ton of money on a smartphone with an OS that will be replaced by the time this new set is shipping properly ? It is human nature to want the best available option if it will be available. S3 will still likely require some updates to ensure smoother performance, so why is it a bad thing for people to wonder if S4 might be an option, especially considering the specs and price of the N8 ?? Won’t it be a wake up call for Nokia if all of its loyal followers avoided trying to be “first with the N8 !!!” and just made do with their current phone until S4 was released ?
I just think that although I am seriously thinking of buying an N8, and have been holding out with a basic little Sony Ericson Naite until the N8 was out, I would be happy to know that if I dropped all this money on a phone, that it would be capable of moving on to the next 4 months app development should there be a shift to S4, especially if developers were so enticed to optimize their content for the new OS.
I think this issue matters, all the top end smartphones including the N8 retails for roughly £400-£500 in the UK sim free. With these price points, consumers should expect at least 2 years of great performance, I got a 3GS on launch day last year, it ran iOS3 fine, and iOS4 works perfectly too, obviously by the time the next version of iOS comes out I doubt my phone will handle that well. The same with Android, the vast majority of Android devices have received updates to 2.0 and above, I actually would be quite happy to sell off my 3GS to give the N8 a go, but I don’t want to be stuck with an outdated OS one year from now.
Looking at the above posts, it’s a question on everbody’s mind, Nokia seriously need to clarify this, I mean if it isn’t possible to upgrade Symbian versions then I wouldn’t get one and it begs the question if it’s even worth pursuing with Symbian in future. I mean N900 owners have the possibility to jump from Maemo to Meego and that’s a 1 year old phone and the final version of Meego is not even out, but there’s nothing stopping them upgrading. Apple and Android make it possible for major OS upgrades and so should Nokia, it just makes sense, I know there isn’t a lot of love for Microsoft, but I’ve been very impressed by Windows Phone 7, I’ll probably keep my 3GS for now and if WP7 is a hit then I’m going for it with a 2nd gen Windows phone instead.
Hi!
Nokia has said that they will upgrade the N8 to symbian 4. They say that every upgrade for the N8 will be done in mind of symbian 4 and not by just realeasing a packade at the end of next year. We will in other words se symbian 4 taking shape during the year on the N8, even the ui is promised to be upgraded. Great news!!!
S3 , S4 or are not as good as meego,meego rocks that’s why nokia switched to meego for their flagship phones.meego os is full linux,so it will be able to run other OS on it,whether it be S4,iOS,adroid,Debian,or windows.Meego will be a computer in pocket,others are just smart phones.
hey guys this is the email i got from nokia care yesterday:::::
Thank you for contacting the Nokia Careline.
This is to confirm that it is not possible to upgrade the operating system of the Nokia N8. The phone has its own operating system which is the Symbian 3. Symbian 4 will be available for future Nokia phones.
Should you have any questions regarding our products or if we can be of any assistance, please feel free to contact one of our friendly Technical Support Executives at 1-300 366 733 from 8am to 8pm, AEST, seven days a week. For online assistance, please visit ‘ASK Nokia’ at our website http://www.nokia.com.au/asknokia
Regards,
Shane S.
E-mail Support Executive
Nokia Careline
of course upgradeable to S^4 , an un-upgradeable phone is actually useless , do you want your phone that stuck on the same path that will never walk again? of course not! even apple is doing that , apple allows people to update any iDevices. so why not?
if you’ve noticed symbian^1 nor ^3 will exsist after the year
it’s cause it’s simply called SymbianOS
Symbian^4 will be updates to symbianOS
so those 50 odd things people liked with symbian^4 will be seen on symbianOS which means on N8,C6-01,C7 and E7 and now the X7
Looks like upgradable
“You can buy a Nokia smartphone confident that any improvements introduced later to the Symbian platform, such as the user interface, can be made available to download on your device as well. No need to wait for Symbian^4 – the improvements we were planning for Symbian^4 will be introduced as and when they become available. In fact, we will no longer be talking about Symbian^3 or Symbian^4 at all – it will be one constantly evolving and constantly improving platform.”
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/21/nokia-refines-development-stategy-adopts-html5-in-qt-and-ends-s/
according to wiki, symbian ^3 will be upgradable to symbian ^4 !!!!!!
i have an N8 and its an awesome phone… Lemme tell you this…
Last week i tested this phone along side with SGS and it seemed that N8 was not bad at all., In fact my friend’s SGS had a lot of apps installed whereas mine just a few. But then When it comes to build quality, Hassle free usage, and Camera N8 just stands out and kicks SGS’s ass.
Also i stopped carrying a camera when i go out now and N8 is my preferred camera now. It takes excellent pics which also could be actually put to a lot of stress in Post processing.
Am a happy buyer and will stay with it for this year.
BTW, as others reported i don have any hardware issues or even reboots and crashes. The phone is solid like a rock… Give it a try and then buy….
I Love My N8…
(P.S. Am a Moto Fan and first time Nokia User)
Nice, that’s helpful for me!
I think nokia should upgrade N8 to symbian 4, it will raise the moral of their customers who are using their flagship phone…
i seriously think there should be a upgrade of some sort so we shut this iphone lovers up. In the department of looks we are out shined.
wiki….come on man, hardly a credible source of information you putz