Nokia has launched a new device, Nokia N8 powered by the Symbian^3 (S^3) platform. Symbian is a non-profit org that develops the open source mobile software platform based on Symbian OS and is actively backed by by Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Sony Ericsson, Fujitsy, Samsung among others . In February, at the Mobile World Congress, Symbian announced that it was 100% open source. This will be the first phone to run on the latest version of the Symbian platform.

The Nokia N8 will showcase all the advances in the S^3 platform and will also be the first smart phone to incorporate Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound technology that transforms the phone into an HD mobile entertainment device, which can output high definition content to HD-ready TVs, audio/video receivers (AVRs), and home theater systems via HDMI. Music store integration embedded within the radio lets users to identify a song and learn more about it. The phone comes with one-click connectivity for all internet applications including access to Nokia's Ovi Store apps . The device will feature 2D and 3D graphics architecture suitable for high performance games . The homescreen will be able to carry multiple pages of widgets . In addition, all the hand sets will come with free global Ovi Maps navigation system that can operate in 70 countries worldwide and a 12 megapixel camera (with Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon flash) .

The phone is integrated with Qt, a cross-platform application development environment that allows developers to build apps once and deploy them across Symbian and other software platforms. The company has released an initial beta for Nokia Qt SDK that can be downloaded here for those who want to experiment right away. Nokia's Symbian^3 smartphone is expected to make an appearance in select markets during the third quarter of 2010 for around EUR 370.