Nokia’s Symbian Belle goes toe to toe with Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich to find out which operating system has the clout to get the job done for the corporate user.
In Nokia Symbian Belle and Android Ice Cream Sandwich, we have two operating systems born out of entirely different circumstances. Symbian Belle’s ancestry is a troubled one. The advancement of smartphones meant that Nokia’s original Symbian platform started to appear rather tired and slow. Symbian Belle is the rescue package that Nokia has rustled up in an effort to try and restore its reputation for its own operating systems. Android, on the other hand, has enjoyed tremendous success, fast becoming one of two dominant operating systems (the other being Apple’s iOS). Ice Cream Sandwich adds a number of tweaks to an already-winning formula.
Symbian Belle v Ice Cream Sandwich: customisable homescreens
One of the biggest tweaks Symbian Belle will deliver is completely customisable homescreens. Widgets displaying the latest updates from your social feeds, favourite news sites, messages, emails and icons linking to anything else you fancy can be moved anywhere on Symbian Belle handsets. This means business users can place stocks apps, corporate email folders, and social feeds and profiles of colleagues on a homescreen to avoid needing to browse the handset for what they need. Ice Cream Sandwich already features similar interface layout, placing an emphasis on displaying feeds such as weather, social networks, clocks and your most-used contacts at the forefront for the user. Symbian Belle may be playing catch-up, but is doing it well.
Symbian Belle v Ice Cream Sandwich: web browsing
Symbian Belle will deliver smoother web browsing to future Nokia handsets. Pages will appear as one would expect. Like Ice Cream Sandwich, Symbian Belle devices will be Flash-compatible, so every internet page should display properly. Symbian Belle will be able to open up to six tabs, which should be enough for the average user. Having said that, Ice Cream Sandwich trumps its rival by letting users have up to 16 open at once.
Symbian Belle v Ice Cream Sandwich: battery
One area that Nokia handsets have always seemed to excel in is battery life. Symbian Belle devices will typically last the full day and more to ensure you won’t need to charge your handset every night. Although doing so will still be recommended if you’re regularly browsing the web and using applications. Meanwhile, Ice Cream Sandwich will feature better data control so that users are able to determine which apps are used and shut off those that aren’t more effectively. Android devices have in the past featured poor battery life, so the latest update should mean that future Ice Cream Sandwich devices will require less charging.
Symbian Belle v Ice Cream Sandwich: extra features
Both operating systems will feature the ability to receive over the air updates without having to plug your handset into a computer via a USB cable, as has been the case. This means that the latest updates will whizz over the your handset at the touch of a button, when available.
Symbian Belle and Ice Cream devices will also make use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to transmit and send information between two physical objects. For example, if you want to share contact details with a client you’ve just met, simply bump handsets together to exchange information. In future an increasing amount of shops will allow users to pay for low cost goods via a similar method at numerous point of sale locations.
Some will argue that Ice Cream Sandwich features the more interesting of the default extra features. These include a face lock system. Instead of entering a password to unlock your phone, you can use your face to do so. Ice Cream Sandwich handsets can also take advantage of a ‘voice assistant’ to access a number of features. In fairness, this is nowhere near as big a selling point as Apple’s Siri is, but that’s on another operating system altogether (Apple’s iOS 5).
See how Apple iOS 5 compares to Android Ice Cream Sandwich here.
Symbian Belle Vs Ice Cream Sandwich: winner
Nokia’s Symbian Belle is already looking like a much-improved OS, a world away from the clunky Symbian operating systems of old. Better looking, easier to navigate, next-generation features and increased levels of customisation bring it up to speed with the rest. However, Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich only adds to an already excellent formula, one that’s still more appealing than Symbian Belle. Ice Cream Sandwich could also prove to be more versatile – the platform will also appear on tablet devices, so we’ll be seeing a lot more if it.
Stephen Ebert
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