Anna OS on Nokia N8

I am a big fan of the Nokia N8. This is because I'm attracted to its Carl Zeiss optical lens and 12MP digital camera. Besides that, I could also sync contacts, messages, calender and tasks using Nokia PC Suite or Nokia Ovi Suite via bluetooth. This is not possible with many other mobile phones e.g. Apple's Iphone unless you are using a PC and you have jailbroken your Iphone. You can also sync your PIM with Samsung's Keiss. Most Android powered mobile phones will be using Google's PIM to sync with their mobile phones. Nothing beats Nokia PC Suite. Well, you need to take note as I've mentioned Nokia PC Suite and not Nokia Ovi Suite. The only good thing with Nokia Ovi Suite is that it will allow users to update the maps on their Nokia phones with ease, unlike the PC Suite.

I do have a Nokia N8 and it runs on PR1.1 when I first purchased it. Later on, I've managed to flash it to PR1.2 when it was officially released. I would have the say that even with the updates, the OS is still very much running like a snail and lacked speed. That was where Nokia announced that they will be releasing Anna OS early in the year. Actually, they have been talking about Anna OS for Symbian ^3 mobile phones for a long time but it has yet to materialised saved for the Nokia E6 and the E7. I am sure that the official Anna OS for Symbian ^3 mobile phones will be released towards the end of this month.

It was just last night that I've come across an unofficial Anna OS for Nokia N8. Well, once I have downloaded the firmware, I would just need to use Pheonix to flash it onto my N8. It is perfect as it has both English and Chinese support! That's brilliant!

Even though it has just been less than a day since I've had the Anna OS update, I have seen some improvements. First of all, the menu has speed up. Secondly, I have noticed the new style icons. It is good and refreshing but some of the colours on the icons are just too bright; Thirdly, I have noticed that the ambient lighting sensor is working properly now; Fourthly, Purple tint in the screen has vanished; Fifthly, Skype is working so much better now - People on the other side of the phone can hear me properly without much effort; and last but not least - better reception.

I can't comment on the battery life because it seems to me that there is no change into the life of the battery as I have just used it for less than a day. Perhaps I might be able to see wonders in the coming days but I'm not expecting miracles. After all, it is just a single core ARM v6 processor with a dedicated gpu chip and the cpu is just 680mhz even though Nokia could have remove the limitation of the cpu and stick it with 772mhz as it was designed to do so.

I am happy with the Anna OS so far. Bring on Belle OS! What's going to happen when the next generation of the Iphone is scheduled to be released soon? At this moment, apparently mobile network providers in the UK have received those next generation Iphones to be tested on their systems. Well, the next generation of the Iphone will not be able to match the 12MP Carl Zeiss optics on the N8, not even the Nokia N9.

Update:
07/01/2012 - I have successfully upgraded the N8 to Nokia Belle (RC) with Chinese support. The only annoying thing is that I can't install Skype on the N8 as Skype does not support the N8 with Nokia Belle. Apart from that, it is just cool!!!