Nokia Bubbles combines lock screen and shortcuts for Symbian phones

Nokia Bubbles is an experimental new way to unlock your Symbian phone and quickly perform common actions at the same time. When a phone with Bubbles is in sleep mode, you can hit the "apps" key to bring up a cluster of floating bubbles that serve as shortcuts for actions like opening an app or returning a recent call. When you drag a bubble to the lock icon in the center of the screen, your phone will unlock and perform the corresponding action.

Bubbles for missed calls have two drop targets: one to listen to voicemail, and one to return the call. Other useful bubbles include profiles, friends and music player. In fact, it sounds like you can launch just about anything on your phone from Bubbles. Makes Apple's swipe-to-unlock seem a bit plain, doesn't it?

Check out a demo of Nokia Bubbles below, and try it on your Symbian phone at Nokia's Beta Labs.

Tags: bubbles, lock screen, LockScreen, nokia, nokia bubbles, NokiaBubbles, shortcuts, sleep mode, SleepMode, symbian