S60v3 Feature Pack 2 Video
Phil Schwarzmann over at the See Into S60 blog has a quick video of the new Feature Pack 2 interface. He shot it with his N93, and admits that it’s pretty blurry. In any case, it still gives a good view of some of the animations and whatnot.
I really, REALLY like the "melting" animation between screens. Also, you can see the task switcher is now across the bottom instead of the left of the screen.
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S60v3, Feature Pack 2?
Well, the first S60v3 FP1 devices haven’t even shipped yet and we’ve already got Feature Pack 2! Set to show up on devices at 3GSM in Barcelona in full force next Monday, the first devices should be on the market in the 2nd half of 2007.
MRKTNGman over at the S60.com blogs gives us a layman’s term rundown of what this new update means and adds to the S60 OS. Mostly usability updates, the Feature Pack 2 is designed for mid-range devices, which surely aims to bring the Symbian UI more mainstream in markets like the US, which isn’t quite that strong on high-end devices.
However, I’m kinda baffled by this. The first FP1 devices aren’t even on shelves yet. Who’s going to buy one of those, when FP2 offers more and will be out in the second half of the year? Does anyone else think they should have at least tried to make FP1 upgradable to FP2? Do you think they’ll cannibalize sales of devices like the N95 and N76?
Bulleted list after the break.
Here’s the list of what’s new:
1. Multitasking - you can still press and hold the menu key, but there’s also a new menu under the left softkey under "options, active applications." This will be handy for S60 rookies learning their first device.
2. Middle softkey labelled - as this function changes throughout the different apps and situations, it will be labelled. More intuitive UI, less clicks.
3. Active Standby - much improved, the application shortcut bar is now vertical or horizontal (user configurable) which allows more information to be shown. There’s also a RSS/Atom feed support with scrolling bar across the idle screen, much like MobliNews.
4. Photo Caller ID - FINALLY going to be full screen built-in, with higher-quality picture being used.
5. Your own Pictures - these can now be used more freely throughout the device. There’s a slideshow screensaver, as well as slideshow wallpaper.
6. SMS and MMS are converged - Now you will merely begin a message. When you get done, if it’s all text, it’ll send as SMS. If it’s got multimedia, it’ll be sent as a MMS. Yes, there is an option to force it to MMS.
7. Contacts can now show phone memory + SIM memory at the same time.
8. Profiles - timed profiles now built-in
9. Browsing - you can now view partially downloaded media files, as well as a "Save as" function for downloading. This means after you download a photo, from the browser menu you can save it as a wallpaper. No more going all the way through the gallery to do so.
10. There’s also TONS of developer updates, including the release of Open C, which I have no idea what it does, but developers are excited, and that gets me excited.
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