Nokia sets up a countdown timer to usher us in the Symbian Belle era on Wednesday

When we first saw the countdown timer earlier in the day, the artsy animation used made us think it might be 3D-related, which would be totally out of whack, plus a quick use of the 3D glasses in the office didn't make the picture escape in another dimension.

The less exciting, but more probable explanation was that Espoo is preparing to announce the Nokia 700, which is the first handset supposed to be shipped with Symbian Belle, the newest version of the grand-dame mobile OS. Ported to the Nokia N8 via a leaked image in the last few weeks, Symbian Belle is getting quite the rave reviews from users who dared to install it, citing a vast improvement in speeds, usability and street cred.

Indeed, as Engadget points out, the file that was uploaded on Facebook, carried the title "belle_fb_TeaserMain" which was quite the spoiler alert before Nokia masked its origins. Thus we can expect the folks at Espoo to announce either the first handset with Symbian Belle, or give more details on the rollout and features of the new update, certainly good news for all Nokia owners who are now on Symbian Anna or earlier versions.

source: Nokia (Facebook) via Engadget