The rollout of Nokia's rebrand of Ovi continues apace. Following the new store client for S60 3rd Edition and 5th Edition handsets a few days ago, the web-based store has had its identity subtly changed, with the blue Nokia logo up front. Most interestingly of all, there's a brand new Store client for Symbian^3 handsets (other than the E6), via Beta Labs, a big update, from v2.12.042 to v3.6.030 - with the main changes being written in Qt/QML rather than (part) WRT, a big UI revamp to fit in with the upcoming Symbian Belle interface, a cosmetic overhaul to suit Nokia (blue) colorations rather than Ovi (green), plus the aforementioned name change. Screens and comments below.

It's a 19MB download, but that includes Qt and QML libraries.

Note the Belle UI throughout. We'll be seeing this more and more over the next couple of months.

All existing account settings and logins etc. are preserved, it's a neat install over the old Ovi Store client.

Also noteworthy are subtle changes at the Store back-end in terms of tweaked and improved 'Collections'.

From the Beta Labs page:

We are offering members of the Nokia Beta Labs community a preview of the new Store client.  Please help us in testing it before it is deployed in a software update.

This beta Store client will replace the current Store client on your Symbian^3 or Symbian Anna device, and it supports nearly all of the features as the official Store client (Web Runtime).  The key new features this client brings include:

• Easier navigation
• Improved product details view, for a rich and fluid discovery experience
• Quicker, smoother and more responsive than WRT client

To get the new version of the Nokia Store client, visit the Beta Labs page now if you have a Symbian^3/Anna phone (other than the E6, which is 'coming soon').

Steve Litchfield, AAS, 25 September 2011