Nokia Belle Feature Pack 1 now available for Nokia 603, 700, and 701

It boggles the mind that 14 months ago the CEO of Nokia, Stephen Elop, got up on a stage in London and announced the death of Symbian, yet during these past 14 months we’ve seen more software updates issued to the dying OS than we’ve ever seen in Symbian’s history. Symbian Anna came out in August 2011, Symbian Belle (technically it’s called Nokia Belle now) came out in February 2012, and now here we are in April with Symbian Belle Feature Pack 1. According to the guys at All About Symbian, it’s available for the Nokia 603, 700, and 701. No word on whether or not it’ll come to other devices.

So what does Bell FP1 bring to the table? First, and most important, the CPU inside those three handsets will get a bump from 1 GHz to 1.3 GHz. That’s 30% more performance, for free. Second, there’s a ton of new widgets, including a data monitor so you can keep track of how many megabytes you’ve used. Third, the multitasking user interface has been cleaned up a bit so it looks prettier. Fourth, the notification bar is now easier to use and laid out better. And finally fifth, there’s an updated version of the web browser that’s comparable in capabilities to the browser in iOS 4 (not 5!), but also better than the browser in Android 2.2; the All About Symbian guys still recommend you install a third party browser however.

We don’t want to admit this, but we will: Symbian is now a competent competitor to today’s ultra low end Android smartphones. If Nokia can put Belle FP1 on something that costs $150 and has 3G, GPS, and WiFi, then the company has a hit on their hands. Also, the Nokia PureView 808, that 600 Euro camera flagship with a 41 megapixel sensor, that’s going to ship next month with Belle FP1 onboard. Whereas before we would groan and deride it for running Symbian, now it’s actually not that bad!