Major software and hardware overhauls coming to Symbian/Nokia devices in 2011

It’s not really news to anyone reading this blog that Nokia have kinda fallen behind in the smartphone race. That isn’t to say that they won’t catch up again, but as far as ranking devices on compelling user experiences goes, Nokia aren’t leading the pack.

Well, it’s good to know that they’re trying to change all that, with Nokia senior manager Gunther Kottzieper announcing at the 2010 International Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing on Tuesday that the first of many incremental upgrades to Symbian OS coming in 2011 will arrive in Q1, and include more than 50 enhancements, including an updated user interface for the browser.

But no, they’re not stopping there! During the next two quarters, updates will bring “a new look and feel for the user interface, a more flexible home screen, an updateable HTML5 browser and an easier software update experience” according to a slide quoted by the IDG news service.

Nokia’s browser, now the weakest on the market since BlackBerry OS moved to webkit in BBOS6, is in dire need of an upgrade, so this is surely great news for all the Nokia users in the audience.

But wait! That’s not all the great news! Q2/Q3 2011 will also bring some serious hardware revisions to their phones, with 1GHz processors and extra video memory.

And then, looking further ahead, Q4 2011/Q1 2012 will bring dual-core handsets, and a “true zoom camera”, which combined with something like the N8’s already great camera, should mean a camera phone that may actually replace your point-n-shoot.

Looks like 2011 could be the year that things finally get interesting in Nokia-land again.

[via Symbian Freak]