Over here at FoneArena , a few of us are still fans of Nokia's Symbian devices. Say what you will but the N8 still remains the best camera phone out there as shown by Varun the other day ! The Ovi Store update to version 2.8 is currently rolling out and i received mine just the other day bringing with it some pretty major advances.

With the upcoming release of the X7 , E6 and the rather nice C6-01 , N8 and E7 out there , there are more than a fair share of Symbian devices out there which warrants a proper walkthrough of the Ovi Store. So without further ado , let us guide you through the Nokia Ovi Store while showing off some its new additions.

Clicking �the application icon (which has not been 'Anna-fied' yet) launches the application and brings you to the same homescreen you are used to.

The new Ovi Store brings with it massive performance improvements. Buttery smooth performance as it should be. This is still basically a WRT app at its core so its interesting to see the kind of performance being�eked�out here.

Moving on to the apps pages , we see a few featured apps up top but what is more interesting is the app collections. These app groupings really make it easy for new users to grab the must have apps. And the gamers amongst us can make use of the Free Games collection which curates the best free games from the store and adds it into the group. For further details check out the App Start Collection :

As you can see , this brings you all the essential connectivity related apps as well other essentials in one single pane. No need to search and locate the apps all over the store.

The next major update is of course addition of in store update notifications and app upgradations. It is insane how such an integral part of an app store has been missing on Nokia flagships for so long but better late than never , huh ?

Updates happen as you would expect. A notification pops up over at the Account tab which on selection brings you to an Updates pane as can be seen above. Click through to update. Simple !

One aspect of the Ovi Store which we REALLY like is the ability to select where to store your downloaded apps and video / audio content. You can choose between the internal memory , memory card (not on the E7) and the internal memory which isn't really recommended.

NFC is also going to play a major role in the Ovi Store it seems with the addition of a new Ovi Store NFC Plugin.

The chip is present in the Nokia C7 and the plugin could be instrumental in deploying mobile payment related apps.

Other additions to the app store are country specific 'Top Applications'. What this means is that Nokia will be pushing locally relevant content via the app store. Qt based apps can now be easily deployed via the app store.

Overall it is a very welcome update to the Ovi App Store. It is still playing catchup to app stores on other devices but the gap has now been significantly reduced. The update has already been pushed out to several device around the world with others expected to get it sometime next week.

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