I was surprised to find an email from WOMWorld/Nokia (they’re a Nokia sponsored site that pretty much covers all things Nokia) gauging my interest to participate in a Meetup tomorrow.

Sounds fantastic. I’ve already offered several ideas to the Symbian UI Brainstorm and have chatted with Scott W. at the Symbian Foundation. I’d love to see how S^3 turned out.

I’m pretty stoked to see the N8 in person, but am doubtful that I will drop my Nexus One or iPhone 4 for it.

Given that Nokia is taking over the reigns developing Symbian (again), I don’t know what will happen. That said, they’ve had some significant organizational changes (e.g., new CEO, new EVP mobile) that make me think things are changing. I’d like for them to dial-back on the services side (does anyone use OVI?) and just make a great smartphone that interacts with the services that people actually use. Give me an interface that solves problems the problems of the common user, rather than having me fiddle around the UI.

It strikes me that some of the stuff that Microsoft is doing with Windows Phone 7 seem a step in the right direction. Your interaction with the smartphone has a range of context. Sometimes it is a distracted interaction. Your awareness is often divided, but by habit your raise the phone and check it much like a common wrist watch. Other times you are wholly engrossed (e.g., play Angry Birds and you’ll understand).

What does that mean for the user experience of the smartphone.

Another theme I see emerging is the notion of convergence with the other appliances in my home. How do you best utilize theHDMI out on the device. Are there better, deeper, more meaningful interactions when I bring this device near a SmartTV or my computer?

Lots of questions, surely none will be answered tomorrow, but I’m still excited.