Whilst we eagerly anticipate the debut of Symbian^3 in the flagship form of the Nokia N8, ever eager reviewer Eldar Murtazin has managed to get his hands on another handset powered by the new interface – this time it’s the Nokia C7.

Swapping out some of the N8′s more flighty specs for mid-range alternatives – the C7′s camera takes a dip to a still impressive 8-megapixels with LED flash (as opposed to the 12MP, Xenon packing N8), whilst gets 8GB of memory whilst the N8 rocks 16GB on board as standard.

That being said, the C7 can boast a similar 3.5-inch capacitive AMOLED display complete with pinch-to-zoom support – a relative rarity on Nokia touch phones – as well as an abundance of connectivity with Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth 3.0 support.

Despite the review of a prototype unit being largely positive as he calls the C7 Nokia’s most balanced flagship Symbian^3 phone and also the best value for money (around €360 – 390), Eldar still deems the handset as ‘hardly a market leader’. A little harsh for an unfinished device…

The double-edged sword that is Nokia’s incumbent Symbian interface is that it has bred a cosy familiarity with existing users willing to trade up, but at the same time does little to court new consumers swayed by current smartphone competition.

With the iPhone attracting the fashion conscious flock and the latest Android devices managing to be appealing and affordable in equal measure, the jury is out on whether Nokia’s transition from S60 to Symbian^3 is too late – or drastically different enough – to turn heads away from strong opposition.

The Nokia C7 still has not been officially announced as yet, but is rumoured to be slated for a Winter release. What do you think, enough to keep the Symbian home fires burning?

Source: Unwired View

Tags: c7, Nokia, Nokia C7, symbian^3