What comes to your mind when you hear Symbian Operating System??
Well some of you start to say it’s an outdated OS and some say its user friendly. Okay well Symbian Ltd. was a software development and licensing company known for the Symbian OS, a Smartphone operating system.
Symbian is an operating system (OS) and software platform designed for Smartphone and currently maintained by Nokia. It was headquartered in Southwark, London, England, with additional offices in the United Kingdom, China, India, Japan, Korea, and the United States
What is Symbian??
Symbian OS was originally developed by Symbian Ltd. It was established on 24 June 1998 as a partnership between Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, and Psion to exploit the convergence between PDAs (Personal Digital Assistance) and mobile phones.
Ten years to the day after it was established, in 2008, the former Symbian Software Limited was acquired by Nokia and a new independent non-profit organization called the Symbian Foundation was established. Symbian OS and its associated user interfaces S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) were contributed by their owners to the foundation with the objective of creating the Symbian platform as royalty-free, open source software. On February 2010 The Symbian platform was officially made available as open source code. Symbian is programmed in C++, belongs to embedded operating system family.
The Symbian platform is the successor to Symbian OS and Nokia S 60; unlike Symbian OS, which needed an additional user interface system, Symbian includes a user interface component based on S60 5th Edition. The latest version, Symbian^3, was officially released in 2010, first used in the Nokia N8.
How did it start??
In 1980, David Potter found Psion.
What is Psion??
Psion is a designer and manufacturer of rugged mobile handheld computers for commercial and industrial applications.
Psion developed graphical operating systems for portable devices, primarily PDAs. EPOC is a family of graphical operating systems which mean “Electronic Piece Of Cheese”. In early Psion developed operating system for “SIBO” (SIxteen Bit Organisers) devices, which later named as EPOC16.
In 1997 Psion developed OS for Psion Series 5 ROM v1.0, V1.1 and for ARM family (ARM7, ARM9, Strong ARM and Intel’s XScale) later they named it as EPOC32. In June 1998, Psion Software became Symbian Ltd., a major joint venture between Psion and phone manufacturers Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia.EPOC release 6 was named as Symbian OS 6.0 and 6.1 this release is also mentioned as ER6.
The first ‘open’ Symbian OS phone, the Nokia 9210 Communicator, was released in June 2001 and Bluetooth support was added. The Nokia S60 UI, a keypad-based ‘square’ UI for the first true Smartphone. The first one of them was the Nokia 7650 Smartphone of Symbian OS 6.1, which was also the first with a built-in camera, with VGA 640×480 resolution.
Later come Symbian OS 7.0 this is an important Symbian release which appeared with all contemporary user interfaces including UIQ (Sony Ericsson P800, P900, P910), Series 80 (Nokia 9300, 9500), Series 90 (Nokia 7710), Series 60 (Nokia 3230, 6260, 6600, 6670, 7610) It also added EDGE support and IPv6.
In 2004 Psion sold it’s stakes in symbian, in the same year symbian release OS 8.0 which supports CDMA, 3G, two-way data streaming, DVB-H, and OpenGL ES with vector graphics and direct screen access. OS 8.0 was updated to Symbian OS 8.1 was Nokia N90, first N-series mobile released by Nokia in 2005. Symbian OS 9.0 had issue related to tools and security they later release OS 9.1.
To over come problem of security, platform security framework was included in the release. Which mean to access certain API’s developers have to sign their application with a digital signature. Basic capabilities are user-grantable and developers can self-sign them, while more advanced capabilities require certification and signing via the Symbian Signed program, which uses independent ‘test houses’ and phone manufacturers for approval.
In 2006, Symbian released OS 9.2 which is also know as S60 3rd edition Feature pack 1 phones such as N95, E71, N90, N81, N82 and 5700. Symbian upgraded memory management and native support for Wifi 802.11, HSDPA and released as OS 9.3 phones such as Nokia E72, N96, Nokia E52, E75, and Nokia 5320.
In 2007 symbian released OS 9.4 in which applications should launch up to 75% faster and additional SQL support is provided by SQLite. Phone such as Samsung i8910 Omnia HD, Nokia N97, 5800, Nokia 5530, Nokia 5228, Nokia 5230, Nokia 5233, Nokia 5235, Nokia C6-00, Nokia X6, Sony Ericsson Satio, Sony Ericsson Vivaz and Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro.
The release is also better known as S60 5th edition. Symbian OS 9.5 which includes native support for mobile digital television broadcasts in DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting- Handheld) and ISDB-T (Integrated services Digital Broadcasting- international) formats and also location services.
The Symbian Foundation was announced in June 2008 and came into existence in 2009. Its objective was to publish the source for the entire Symbian platform, including Symbian OS and Series 60 platform, under the OSI- and FSF-approved Eclipse Public License (EPL). The release of the Symbian platform deprecated Symbian OS as a standalone product.
Symbian Ltd. was purchased by Nokia in December 2008, transitioning principal OS and user interface development to Nokia.Symbian^3 is a big improvement over previous S60 5th Edition and features single touch menus in the user interface, as well as new Symbian OS kernel with hardware-accelerated graphics, new features including portrait qwerty keyboard, a new browser and split-screen text input.
Nokia announced that updates to Symbian^3 interface based on Qt (pronounced as “cute”) framework will be delivered gradually, as they are available. The previously planned Symbian^4, major release is now discontinued and its intended features will be incorporated into Symbian^3 instead.
Unfavorable Judgment
In November 2010, Smartphone blog All about Symbian criticized the performance of Symbian’s default web browser and recommended the alternative browser Opera Mobile. Nokia’s Senior Vice President Jo Harlow promised an updated browser in 2011 Nokia denied any plans for switching to competitive platforms such as Android operating system, but in February 2011 announced it had signed a strategic tie up with Microsoft. Industry analysts expect Symbian’s market share to decline.
The announcement to switch to the “continuous development” model of Android and iPhone, where existing devices will be supported with new OS updates during their lifetime, has been welcomed by the community.
Well guys this is all about Symbian and Symbian OS. I shall catch you guys with other post until then have fun using Symbian OS, Bye.
About the author:
Amruth.H.R is a Engineer by profession a cellphone freak and a developer.
rajiev July 13, 2011 at 3:40 pm
m not only android lover and my list also includes apple, blackberry as well as our own desi brands who are producing cellphones targeted directly to the consumers needs….. and the outcome is increasing market share at the cost of nokia(which thinks it can sell any stone age crap),,,,,, “and beware of the Bandar with ustara in hand otherwise he can turn u into SHURPNAKHA OF KALYUG
Ganesh July 13, 2011 at 2:29 pm
@rajiev
Link given in above post.
Andriod may be in trouble as Apple, MS and Oracle have joined forces and are preparing to sue the shit out of Andriod!
Ganesh July 13, 2011 at 2:27 pm
@Vikas
No way!!! Nokia is still the biggest handset maker in the world by number of units sold and by profit.
But Apple which inflates it’s handset’s price and always charges a premium, only wins in the department of highest profit!
rahulraj July 13, 2011 at 12:53 pm
ha haa haaa haaa
rahulraj July 13, 2011 at 12:30 pm
let me tell you dat americans waste their precious part of life in sueing others for silly reasons(offcourse the case which you are mentioning above is not silly)….even apple nokia samsung n htc are sueing each others for various patent infringements since long back but what is the outcome.every techie knows dat stephen elop had a meeting with google officials regarding use of android but he was turned down.so read mobile news properly then blabber….
Rahul Jain July 13, 2011 at 1:44 am
@rajiev May be you are an andoid lover its good but why u always troll and lol on other peoples?
Atleast try to avoid personal comments.
Oh I See you are a top here in list but
Ek baat yaad rakho*
Bandar ke hath me ustara aa jane par wo aisi hi harkat karta he.
Rahul Jain July 13, 2011 at 1:32 am
AFAIK Nokia had have a lot of services already like Nokia Maps, Mail, Chat, Music etc. And if they go for the Android then there is a lot of intelectual property loss they have to bear. Also android is pure rip of Oracle java and now oracle also sued on to google and may be each andoid manufacuture have to pay royalti for the selling devices. And according to the sources Oracle is in very strong position and may be Google have to pay billions of $ and ongoing royalties for each devices. And that was the only reason thats why Nokia kicked andoids ass and joined the MS deal.
rajiev July 12, 2011 at 4:20 pm
lol
rajiev July 12, 2011 at 3:53 pm
dude a nokia zombie(frog of well) would not accept what u r saying so provide the link for it.
Vikas July 12, 2011 at 2:20 pm
@Ganesh
Dude,i am also talking of world made of hundred of nations.apple had beaten nokis in terms of worldwide mobile sales.nokia lost a market of 65 billion dollars to apple and samsung.nokia is a grandpa which can die any moment.
Vikas July 12, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Rightly said.
Ganesh July 12, 2011 at 12:31 pm
@Vikas
Apple overtook Nokia? Are you dreaming? Apple is greater than Nokia in sales only in the USA. FYI CDMA is more dominant in USA. If you think US is the world, you are right.
But to us, where world is made of hundreds of countries, Nokia is still the champ. But Samsung may soon take lead, but never apple..
Ganesh July 12, 2011 at 12:27 pm
As far as I know Google didn’t do much to net Nokia, but Microsoft paid a handsome amount (close to $1B USD to NOT TO switch to andriod). As Nokia was already struggling with sales, it had to accept the offer. Moreover the current CEO is former employee of Microsoft, who actually proposed the deal.
RiP finn Nokia.
rajiev July 12, 2011 at 12:01 pm
buddy some people are “frogs of well” so u can’t help it…
rajiev July 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm
bro m not spreading any rumour and more unable to find the link where I had seen this….m still searching and upload it as soon as I will get
Sujatha July 12, 2011 at 10:44 am
Dear Amruth
in some handsets like Sonyericsson G900,G700, Nokia Communicator there is a function when we are forwarding a sms to any number operating system adding the details of original sender (like when we forward the email recepient can see whose email is that), which OS is supporting this and till date why it is not common for all phones and its OS?
Vikas July 11, 2011 at 11:42 pm
@viksas patidar,nokia was the largest company,but now it has been overtaken by apple,and one more thing,your opinions are not valued by anyone as you are partial towards nokia and even companied like garmin asus can beat nokia in terms of hardware .open your.head and look beyond nokia.
Vikas Patidar July 11, 2011 at 11:18 pm
@rajiev
Dude before spreading such rumours. you shoud give a reference link so that one can trust on you. Otherwise its totaly baseless.
However what is crap and who is the best? Its depends upon everyones personal choices and opinions. Any FYI opinions are just like p*nises. So everyone always say i have the best then what you have.
Regarding your point you should also look at some news that what actually happend when Nokia &Google talked for the.
dream123 July 11, 2011 at 6:54 pm
i have a xperia 10 mini pro last 8months.till now, no problms or issues only one main complnt regrding battery backup
Rohan Singh July 11, 2011 at 6:44 pm
@Amit.G
Let me clear it that android is an open source os and it can be used by any manufacturer but companies ( Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson, LG, Motorola …etc )that has agreement with Google are the one who can carry Google’s logo. I have not seen micromax, videocon carrying the Google’s logo. So if u r buying these Chinese without Google’s hologram then responsibility is upto u and your company. And Google’s has not signed any agreement with these Chinese company. Who told u? that Google allowed … Even some Chinese unbranded tablets come with android. This shows the popularity of android which even Chinese companies understood but u didn’t.
Rohan Singh July 11, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Let me clear it that android is an open source os and it can be used by any manufacturer but companies ( Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson, LG, Motorola …etc )that has agreement with Google are the one who can carry Google’s logo. I have not seen micromax, videocon carrying the Google’s logo. So if u r buying these Chinese without Google’s hologram then responsibility is upto u and your company. And Google’s has not signed any agreement with these Chinese company. Who told u? that Google allowed … Even some Chinese unbranded tablets come with android. This shows the popularity of android which even Chinese companies understood but u didn’t. it reject nokia? Do you think micromax spice phone has better hardware quality than nokia?
Let me clear it that android is an open source os and it can be used by any manufacturer but companies ( Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson, LG, Motorola …etc )that has agreement with Google are the one who can carry Google’s logo. I have not seen micromax, videocon carrying the Google’s logo. So if u r buying these Chinese without Google’s hologram then responsibility is upto u and your company. And Google’s has not signed any agreement with these Chinese company. Who told u? that Google allowed … Even some Chinese unbranded tablets come with android. This shows the popularity of android which even Chinese companies understood but u didn’t. largest mobile phone company so by signing a deal would have boosted android’s growth.
Apply some common sense when google has allowed cheap chinese phone companies like micromax videocon mobile spice mobileto use android how come will it reject nokia? Do you think micromax spice phone has better hardware quality than nokia?
Let me clear it that android is an open source os and it can be used by any manufacturer but companies ( Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson, LG, Motorola …etc )that has agreement with Google are the one who can carry Google’s logo. I have not seen micromax, videocon carrying the Google’s logo. So if u r buying these Chinese without Google’s hologram then responsibility is upto u and your company. And Google’s has not signed any agreement with these Chinese company. Who told u? that Google allowed … Even some Chinese unbranded tablets come with android. This shows the popularity of android which even Chinese companies understood but u didn’t. it reject nokia? Do you think micromax spice phone has better hardware quality than nokia?
Let me clear it that android is an open source os and it can be used by any manufacturer but companies ( Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson, LG, Motorola …etc )that has agreement with Google are the one who can carry Google’s logo. I have not seen micromax, videocon carrying the Google’s logo. So if u r buying these Chinese without Google’s hologram then responsibility is upto u and your company. And Google’s has not signed any agreement with these Chinese company. Who told u? that Google allowed … Even some Chinese unbranded tablets come with android. This shows the popularity of android which even Chinese companies understood but u didn’t.
Amit.G July 11, 2011 at 3:53 pm
thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/02/18/nokias-suicide-deal-with-microsoft-a-win-for-apple-google.html
Google refused nokia’s deal because nokia put lot of conditions and also concessions. This made google to refuse upon number of negotiations. Google wanted nokia to be its partner but ultimately it had to drop the deal. notbecause hardware quality of nokia like wat you said. read the link
rajiev July 11, 2011 at 3:22 pm
read this amit ji… http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_24/b4232056703101.htm
rajiev July 11, 2011 at 3:16 pm
even i m using galaxy s for months, unless I open a no. of apps it works like breeze, every device has its own capabilities…m satisfied that the specifications range superb and is just according to consumer needs
Amit.G July 11, 2011 at 3:03 pm
@rajiev
Are you crazy? Its not Google but nokia didn choose android. When nokia announced that it will change its platform Google tried hard to sign agreement wit nokia but when nokia went wit windows it was a major setback for android.read all the news properly. If you guys don like nokia products then Fine but don spread wrong news. No matter for you nokia is worst but for android it is a worlds largest mobile phone company so by signing a deal would have boosted android’s growth.
Apply some common sense when google has allowed cheap chinese phone companies like micromax videocon mobile spice mobileto use android how come will it reject nokia? Do you think micromax spice phone has better hardware quality than nokia?
rajiev July 11, 2011 at 2:52 pm
hahaha…. Vry vry true….
rajiev July 11, 2011 at 2:43 pm
NOKIA AND NOKIA ZOMBIES ARE THE ONES LIVING IN STONE AGE BUDDY,OUTDATED HARDWARE WAS ONE OF THE REASON GOOGLE DIDN’T ALLOWED NOKIA TO USE ANDROID
rajiev July 11, 2011 at 2:08 pm
+ 1
Ganesh Srinivasan July 11, 2011 at 12:17 pm
@Vikas Patidar
Compare Nokia with better phones like Sony Ericsson, HTC etc which have far better build, even if you don’t want to go anywhere near BlackBerry / iPhone. Then you will know how bad Nokia phones are at any price range
Having said that, I had burnt close to Rs 1.20 lakhs on three of Nokia Communicators – wonderful phone from features and productivity points of view, but very bad ones as each of them lasted only for one year – the screen used to go blank. To top it all, Nokia service in any city for these high end phones were bad
Since then I decided not to invest on any Nokia phone priced more than say Rs 10,000. Today I use a Nokia E63. Even here I have some issues with Nokia Messaging service for e mail. I have used BlackBerry earlier which have much better build quality
I have still not fallen in love with touch phones, as I am little hesitant to move away from QWERTY keypad phones
Nokia phones were good once upon a time, they strategically failed to address customers’ changing needs in terms of features [at any price point], user interface etc. I DON’T THINK WE AS CUSTOMERS SHOULD BE PAYING FOR THEIR STRATEGIC MISTAKES
abhijith July 11, 2011 at 11:28 am
@Rohan Singh
CORRECT …… THUMPS UP ..
Rohan Singh July 11, 2011 at 9:49 am
Samsung, LG, Spice, Mmx…..this is why you love Nokia. In your list other than Samsung i myself has not used LG, spice …… U seem to have used these brands this is why u love Nokia. I know Nokia is better than micromax, spice … Looks like you have never used a good phone. Go for Blackberry, iPhone, HTC and Sony Ericsson. Then you will know the difference between a good phone and a bad phone.
rajiev July 11, 2011 at 9:46 am
kya 5 years pahle android tha!
Rohan Singh July 11, 2011 at 9:39 am
@Vikas Patidar
I was just giving you an example dude. Even at that time when Nokia launched n70 other brand had better speedy phones. Even today Nokia phones are slower when compared to it’s competitors. And u really are in stone age. See any tech site or hear any tech Guru everywhere Nokia has failed to impress and perform well. Mano ya na mano Nokia is a crap.
Vikas Patidar July 11, 2011 at 12:24 am
@Rohan Singh
You seems to be a real stone age guy in this tech era. Its ridiculous that you are comparing a 5 year old device with the devices of todays era.
LOL.
JAGO BHAI JAGO.
Vikas Patidar July 11, 2011 at 12:15 am
@rajiev
dude whatever you said doesnt make any sense at all. Frankly speaking I dont care for any OS running the phone with any brand but what I care is how good is the build quality of the product i am getting. And what services and features its providing in the price range compared to others. And proudly saying i am a Nokia owner since last 5 years. Though i have also used many other phones Samsung, LG, Spice, MMX etc . But after using all the phones. I have to finally grab a Nok phone and I am happy.
Though some people says Nokia is crap. In the high end market they dont have competing phones for the time being. But if you look at the Dumb Phones (Series 30) and Feature Phones( Series 40) then there is still a great portfolio of the phones and most of the people using such phones. Even Some Indian brand producing chinese rebranded phones but after grabing that phones people are realising and moving again to some well known Nok and Sammy.
There are a lot of other fans here and proudly say my phones has a 200K apps in store.
So really everyone care for those apps . I think every OS has a bunch of basic apps. Beyond this everthing is personal choice. Though it seems that this is undisputed battle among the fans. But I would love to see any Nokia android phone in this Smartphone Jungle which never gonna be true.
Rohan Singh July 11, 2011 at 12:10 am
Ohh really …. I have xperia play and it’s extremely faster. Your bro must be using galaxy 5 , which has low ram and slow processor. And i am 24*7 online with no security problem facing till now. There have been news of new viruses targeting android. I have installed avg and till now my device is safe from any virus. Just seeing 1 phone u can’t judge every android phone. I remember how much symbian was prone to viruses. And lastly even my Intel core 2 processor PC starts working slow when multiple applications are running . As the no of applications increases the processing speed decreases. And u r saying Nokia is faster. I remember one of my friends Nokia n70 use to take more than 2 min to open just menu. And more than 3 min just to start camera. Ya this is really faster for stone age people …
rajiev July 10, 2011 at 9:33 pm
any source of this info(android not secure using net) and your brother must be using many apps at a time…dats y his ph is working sluggishly
som July 10, 2011 at 9:27 pm
very informative article.thanks for posting
Rohan Singh July 10, 2011 at 8:57 pm
Ya it’s true. Nokia lovers can’t believe that Nokia is loosing it’s market. Nokia itself is a crap with a crap os.
rajiev July 10, 2011 at 7:43 pm
bro i think u hav personal grudge with every other brand except nokia dats why you always behave like KAPIL SIBAL OF NOKIA
ashokumar July 10, 2011 at 7:37 pm
yes its true!
hari July 10, 2011 at 7:36 pm
mai 10 sal se nokia use kar raha nokia k sare os maine use kiye hai. Abhi mai nokia e6 use kar raha hu. Sambain anna. I love nokia
Rajesh July 10, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Anyways guys…..OLD is gold.
I may have switched to android now, but i would never forget my Nokia 6600, Nokia 3230 and Nokia N95. I have used symbian phones for over 10 years before switching over.
imahesh July 10, 2011 at 6:10 pm
symbian is best.
Android is slow with my brother samsumg phone. Also android is not secure while using net.
Vikas Patidar July 10, 2011 at 5:06 pm
@mehboob
everyone has their own choice. OS is best but what if some crap runs the best OS?
Jai July 10, 2011 at 2:16 pm
Good work very usefull information for us.
Thanks.
mehboob July 10, 2011 at 1:47 pm
android is best os…
Vivek July 10, 2011 at 1:26 pm
I love my Nokia C7 OS that is Symbian^3, and i have that i will get update which is Anna, that will certainly make the device faster and new give better experience over the internet through it’s browser..!! waiting for it..!
Saurabh gupta July 10, 2011 at 12:59 pm
symbian is least complicated easy to use and may be it has less apps then android or ios but for first times its the best thats my view other may differ………
Rohan Singh July 10, 2011 at 12:26 pm
This means the resulting os is really bad …
Rohan Singh July 10, 2011 at 12:24 pm
We don’t had much option few years back. So Nokia grew, though it had poor os and slower phones. Now we have options like android, Bada os, iPhone etc …. So no more symbian and no more Nokia. Good bye Nokia, thank-you Google.
Vikas Patidar July 10, 2011 at 12:24 pm
yes i agree with you. As a developer perspective the development of the apps is very hard and also UI looks dated compared to others. Thats why its going in dead sea. Still Android, iOS,WP and other OS are not upto the features provided by symbian.
Well still Nokia is improving the OS with a lot of UI overhaul and other featurs.
Simply Nokia had have never given up for its loyal fans.
yes i agree with you. As a developer perspective the development of the apps is very hard and also UI looks dated compared to others. Thats why its going in dead sea. Still Android, iOS,WP and other OS are not upto the features provided by symbian.
Well still Nokia is improving the OS with a lot of UI overhaul and other featurs.
Simply Nokia had have never given up for its loyal fans.
Tomas July 10, 2011 at 11:48 am
Thanks for the usefull information
Fahad July 10, 2011 at 11:45 am
Symbian anna now nokia belle or zeta and three more devices going to get added in the nokia cart….
Long live nokia long live symbian…
Pranay July 10, 2011 at 11:36 am
Symbian os is nOt that bad.. But developer of symbian os is failed to create Interesting Apps and Games..
sai kiran kanala July 10, 2011 at 11:28 am
great work..RIP symbian…