Nokia has released a new OS2008 Feature Upgrade for the N810 and N800 Internet Tablets. This release is based on Maemo 4.1 (codename Diablo).

This release beings a new Seamless Software Update feature which will allow for future device updates without the need to reflash the whole OS. his release brings a new open source email application based on Modest and the tinymail framework. Users will find a simplified account setup and presets for various service providers. Another major improvement is the introduction to Chinese character rendering support in Email, Browser and RSS feed reader. There are numerous issues fixed all over the operating system including updated openssl. Smaller improvements have also been introduced to several areas such improved browser panning performance.

The European Commission has announced that it has unconditionally approved Nokia’s acquisition of Trolltech. The move will enable Nokia to accelerate its cross-platform software strategy for mobile devices and desktop applications, and develop its Internet services business.

With Trolltech, Nokia and third party developers will be able to develop applications that work in the Internet, across Nokia’s device portfolio and on PCs. Nokia’s software strategy for devices is based on cross-platform development environments, layers of software that run across operating systems, enabling the development of applications across the Nokia device range. Examples of current cross-platform layers are Web runtime, Flash, Java and Open C.

Access has released an update to its Palm OS Garnet VM for Nokia Internet Tablets. New features in the Garnet VM Beta 2 (v1.01b) include full screen support, three hot-swappable display modes (portrait full screen, portrait windowed and portrait landscape), improved performance and various compatibility and app specific updates. Notable new apps that are now listed as compatible include: Google Maps, Snappermail, Pocket Tunes, Kinoma Player 4 EX and CorePlayer.

The Garnet VM is a “virtual machine” essentially acts as an emulator allowing you to run Palm OS applications on a Nokia N770, N800 and N810 Internet Tablet. it supports over 30,000 native software applications written for the Palm OS, including some of the most popular mobile applications on the market, such as Google Maps, Snappermail, DateBk5 and perennially favorite games like Bejeweled, PacMan and Sudoku.

The open source Maemo platform, which is used on Nokia’s Internet Tablet devices, will soon support Trolltech’s Qt development toolkit. Nokia says that the GTK-based Hildon framework will continue to be used as the primary toolkit for Maemo’s user interface and core applications, but the Qt libraries will be distributed with Maemo so that third-party Qt developers can bring their applications to the platform.

Nokia is currently in the process of acquiring Trolltech and has some ambitious plans to bring Qt support to a multitude of mobile platforms. Nokia is particularly eager to enable development of applications that can target both Maemo and S60, a proprietary operating system used on Nokia phones.