1. A method for symbol detection, comprising: assigning a received symbol to at least one particular candidate symbol of a set of candidate symbols of a finite candidate symbol alphabet based on a set of metrics between the received symbol and the at least one particular candidate symbol, the set of metrics comprising contributions with respect to channel-based information and contributions with respect to a priori information; partitioning the set of metrics into a first sub-set of metrics comprising contributions with respect to the in-phase components of the candidate symbols and a second sub-set comprising contributions with respect to the quadrature components of the candidate symbols; determining a first hypothesis based on the first sub-set of metrics; determining a second hypothesis based on the second sub-set of metrics; determining at least one first counter-hypothesis based on the first sub-set of metrics; determining at least one second counter-hypothesis based on the second sub-set of metrics; and computing a result based on the first and second hypothesis and based on the at least one first and the at least one second counter-hypotheses.