Nokia's Symbian Anna will tip up next month

FINNISH PHONE MAKER Nokia has announced the next version of its Symbian operating system called "Anna" that will start shipping next month.

Nokia's will soon start shipping its smartphones including the N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 pre-loaded with the Symbian Anna operating system. Current owners of these handsets will have to wait until August for the upgrade.

The Nokia Conversations blog said, "Your phone will get a free make-over, giving you a better experience while remaining reliable and easy to use."

Symbian Anna will bring updates such as new icons, faster web browsing, enhanced maps and improved text input, according to Nokia.

A split screen view is a big change that allows users to view a message thread whilst typing in the new portrait layout Qwerty keyboard. Something that is a given for handsets running Android or Apple's IOS.

Nokia has also updated Ovi Maps to include an easier search, new public transport routes and check-in to Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare or local networks.

The news comes on the same day that Nokia has announced another smartphone that won't come with Symbian Anna. Instead the N9 smartphone will come with the Meego operating system, the first, and possibly last, Nokia device to run Meego.

It is unlikely that the update will make much of an impact in the smartphone market, especially when Nokia has opted for Meego for the N9, which suggests that the Anna update isn't that great.

Nokia is probably focusing its efforts on its upcoming Windows Phone 7 handsets rather than trying to keep Symbian alive and kicking, even though it said it will support the system until 2016.

The future mobile device manufacturing arm of Microsoft said that its update to Symbian Anna for existing customers, when it comes out in August, will be available by cable and PC or over the air. µ