Nokia takes Maemo, drops Symbian for N-Series

In a not entirely unsurprising move, Nokia has decided to use the Maemo operating system on its upcoming high-end N-Series phones.

This is something of a major knock for Symbian as Nokia has used the operating system extensively over the years, and on many of its most important devices – such as the massively popular N95 and N73.

However, up against flashy new user interfaces offered by Android and Apple’s devices, Symbian is looking decidedly creaky these days, as we found out when we reviewed Nokia’s latest flagship device, the N97.

Nokia’s plan is to make its high-end phones exclusively Maemo-driven by 2012. The official word is that Symbian will still be used in X-Series and E-series devices, as well as some lower-end devices.