Microsoft Nokia kill Symbian services, one after the other

We all know that Symbian is dead, but there are millions of users still using symbian phones and I'm one of them.

First Nokia has stopped support/development of any new Symbian phones. Starting Jan 1, 2014, the Nokia store for Symbian was not getting any updates, meaning the store will neither get new apps nor updates to existing apps.

Now in the past one week, I've got to know that they are killing three more services.




Nokia Chat : This is the messaging application using which users can chat with their friends on different messengers. Using this, users can chat with friends on Yahoo, MSN, Nokia and Google Talk messengers.

Last week I got a message that the chat service is going to be discontinued from  10 Oct 2014. The message was received from "microsoft" in the chat application itself. The message directs us to go to http://nms.nokia.com/im to get a replacement. This url doesn't have a replacement app, but it lists some alternative ways to use individual services(facebook, yahoo etc) using individual apps from these websites or using their web clients to chat.  It also suggests that we may find a third party app in the store(that's not been updated since 1st Jan 2014). As if we do not know. Thank You.

Nokia Social : I use this application on Symbian. Using this application we can access Facebook and Twitter accounts. We can have multiple Facebook and Twitter accounts configured in this app.

Today, these was a message from "Microsoft" in my facebook feed that this application will be discontinued from 24 Oct 2014 and points us to http://nms.nokia.com/sn to get a replacement. Again the url doesn't have any replacement app, it just has some suggestions as in the case of Nokia Chat.

Nokia Sync : Using this, users were able to backup / sync contacts, calendar entries and notes to Nokia servers. This helps to restore the backed up stuff to a new phone or in case of a phone reset. I was primarily using this to keep symbian phones in sync(I have four symbain phones in use). My phones are scheduled to auto sync with the server once a day, this way my phones are in sync.

Last week I received a mail from "Microsoft Devices Customer Care" that the sync service is going to be terminated from 5 Dec 2014 with options to export or migrate data before that. After this day, the data will be destroyed to protect privacy.

As far as I understand, Nokia Maps on Symbain also uses the Nokia sync service to backup and restore the saved locations/places. This is my understanding because on Symbian phones, a sync profile "Maps" is automatically created and whenever maps application is started, the app syns data. I'm not sure how the termination of Nokia sync is going to effect Nokia Maps on Symbian.

Conclusion :
I expected Nokia support for Symbian to continue much longer than this, but looking at the way things are going, I think there is hardly any time left. Services/support are being terminated one by one. Though not announced, we may see Nokia Store for Symbian being terminated in six months from now.

I was a hardcore fan of Symbian, but now I'm slowly moving to Android.

Comments

  1. Misery! Never I will buy a Nokia phone anymore or powered by microsoft! They were unserious, at the beginning promised support until 2016 if I remember correct and after dropped without any explanations! Paradoxically, the last symbian branded phones (Anna, Belle) are still in the stores and with a price even more double than for a decent android! Stupid thing is I cannot remove Weather widget belle from the phone`s C memory and this stopped to work already long time ago! I use and android but not always since it spends a lot of gigabytes like eating with bread, all being there connected to google. You need also a serious battery for this more than 2000 mah. And besides, after all everyday updates there, the memory in the end will finish! No, for me it`s not a real replacement! Symbian phones were, in my opinion, more beautiful, elegant, serious furnished, resistant. The system has air!

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  2. Facebook and other apps also disappeared from my phone today. I'm not even sure which apps were killed. Facebook and Social for sure. Just like windows 7, which Microsoft stopped allowing to be included in PCs and Laptops this week, they are trying to force us to upgrade. The problem is I have a nokia 808 and there is no camera on the market that will touch it. With the 1020 being 2 years old, I was planning to go to android and get the sony z3, but that camera is disappointing. So in the end, I'm stuck with a great device and dwindling aps. fmobi looks like it's still being supported so you can download and run that instead of Facebook. You can also follow the link and install the facebook ap again. That seemed to restore Facebook for me.

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  3. Very true. I'm still using Symbian for my primary phone, I just can not think of replacing it with anything yet. I do have android phones, but only for second and third phones. There may not be tonnes of apps, but for users who are not into gaming, there are more than sufficient apps. The phones are solid and reliable. I did not expect Nokia to stop the support so soon. I knew it has to end one day, but the end came a bit too soon. While the software is no more supporeted, Nokia product pages still lists some symbian phones(808). For me, Nokia now is only for loooow end phones. For feature phones or smart phones, Nokia is no more a choice.

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  4. Yes, Facebook is actually "Social" though it may directly take you to facebook, so this too ends along with social. The app in the link is only a link to the mobile version of facebook. For me, it just takes me to the mobile version using the browser. I'm also using 808 and I dont think any phone can match its camera anytime soon. Sooner or later , the phones are going to be limited to calls and camera. Opera mini is one thing I use a lot, hope opera continues supporting it.

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  5. Martín Vega LópezNovember 19, 2014

    Martín. Yo solía ser un fanático de los teléfonos de Nokia pero me llave la gran decepción de que nunca pudieron competir con los androide, que lastima jamas en mi vida vuelvo a Nokia. Me cancelaron el servicio de Mail, yo utilizo mi servicio para el trabajo es muy INDISPENSABLE para mi, que lastima que Nokia no se preocupe por sus usuarios.ESTO ES VERDADERAMENTE LAMENTABLE Y TENDRÉ QUE EMPEZAR A PENSAR EN EL ROBOTITO DE OTRAS COMPAÑÍAS A LAS QUE SI LES INTERESA SU MERCADO, QUE MAL SERVICIO PARA LOS TELÉFONOS SYMBIAN. OJALA Y EL DUEÑO DE NOKIA LEYERA TODOS ESTOS COMENTARIOS.

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