Symbian

The Symbian platform, including Symbian OS, or shortened to Symbian [ sɪmbɪən ], is an operating system (OS from English Operating System) for smartphones and PDAs. Predecessor is not open source EPOC. The support by the end of 2012 Nokia was completely stopped.

The mobile phone OS Symbian has its origins in the 32 -bit EPOC platform Psion; this was used in a 1998 gegründetem consortium named by the Symbian mobile phone company Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Psion and developed. Later, other companies such as Samsung put an operating system for their mobile phones. The Symbian Ltd.. ten years later was completely taken over by Nokia and successively transferred to a nonprofit organization, the Symbian Foundation. Nokia acquired in December 2008, all rights and transferred them to the Symbian Foundation. This declared Symbian in February 2010 for an open source solution. The Foundation took care of almost a year to the development of the operating system as well as cooperation between open source developers and internal Symbian developers. On 17 December 2010, the Symbian Foundation announced that the source code of the Symbian platform will no longer be provided for free download available. Since 1 April 2011, the Symbian code is available again and is under a separate, Symbian License this license, which is not largely compatible with open source licenses.

Symbian has much in common with desktop operating systems, such as preemptive multitasking, multithreading and memory protection. In addition to programs in C , Java and Flash Lite can be used on the devices among other OPL or Python. Support for relational databases in the implementation of SQLite is also offered.

  • 3.1 Symbian OS v6.0
  • 3.2 Symbian OS v6.1
  • 3.3 Symbian OS v7
  • 3.4 Symbian OS v8
  • 3.5 Symbian OS V8.1A / b
  • 3.6 Symbian OS v9.1 3.6.1 UIQ v3.0
  • 3.6.2 UIQ v3.1
  • 3.6.3 UIQ v3.2

History

On 24 June 2008 Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DoCoMo announced the intention to Symbian OS, S60 to unite, UIQ and MOAP (S ) to a single open platform. Together with AT & T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone D2 they founded to strengthen the attractiveness of the combined software platform, the Symbian Foundation. The membership of this non-profit Foundation was open to all organizations for an annual fee. The source code has been fully released as open source.

Initially implemented by the major manufacturers only Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson on this platform. These were followed by mobile phones with Symbian OS of Arima, BenQ, Lenovo, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sendo. First mobile phone with Symbian OS was the Nokia 9210 Communicator, then with the version 6.0. The Motorola A920 was the first Symbian OS phone for UMTS networks.

In September 2010 rates announced both Samsung and Sony Ericsson to refrain in future smartphones based on Symbian.

In November 2010, Nokia and the Symbian Foundation announced after the departure of Sony Ericsson and Samsung from the foundation that the management and development of the platform from April 2011 will be completely at Nokia. The Symbian Foundation 'll take it from there only the licensing of the platform.

Already in February 2011, however, the present in a crisis Nokia Group announced that it will continue to equip its smartphones, especially with the operating system Windows Phone 7 from Microsoft. The smartphone market is expected to Symbian after this step only play a significant lesser role than previously thought.

In January 2013, no cell phones Nokia with Symbian announced to produce more.

Technology and versions

User interfaces

In contrast to previous Symbian OS, the additional user interface ( UI) (either S60, UIQ and MOAP ( s ) ) needed, the Symbian platform includes a UI component. Originally, this component should be 4 based on the Qt - based interface orbit from version Symbian ^. According to announcements by Nokia in October 2010, the changes are developed directly in Qt, Orbit is no longer used.

Nokia saw touchscreens before 2008 to be too expensive and fragile and therefore set up to then mainly on surfaces with pure keyboard operation. Since 2008 smartphones based on Symbian S60 v5 and operated by touch screen (eg Nokia N97, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Samsung i8910 HD and Sony Ericsson Satio ). End of 2010, the first touchscreen devices appeared with the completely open source Symbian ^ 3 platform ( and Others Nokia N8), on the last time an evolved form of S60 comes for touch screens for use.

Security

The ubiquity of Symbian OS Symbian is also targeted by virus writers. Although mobile malware as " Skulls " or " ComWarrior " have only a fairly small damage potential, but seem to be the producer of anti-virus programs such as F -Secure or Kaspersky Lab here to see an increasingly interesting market.

By implementing a certification system in Symbian OS Version 9.x to run unwanted code has been significantly restricted. Programs can not be installed without a valid certificate of SymbianSigned because each installation package must be digitally signed. As a result, cracked or contaminated with virus software no longer be installed without detours on the mobile device. Thus, a possible spread of viruses is a tie been advanced and operation of antivirus software on the devices in question uninteresting.

The " Curse of Silence" was a weak point of the entire Symbian OS (Symbian v9.3 excluded). So let be generated by simple or multiple sending a text message as an e -mail with a sender determines long a buffer overflow. This had the consequence that a receiving messages impossible. The user of the phone perceives no reception of this message.

History (from 2008)

Symbian ^ 1, the first version is the base of the platform and as such no actual publication of the Symbian Foundation. This version includes the "old" Symbian OS and S60 5th Edition ( Symbian OS which is based on 9.4); it is not available as open source.

Symbian ^ 2 was the first version of the platform for which no license fee is required. Although portions of Symbian ^ 2 are licensed under the EPL, the majority of the source code is under the protected SFL license and is only for members of the Symbian Foundation accessible. On 1 June 2010, several Japanese companies, including NTT DoCoMo and Sharp announced smartphones using Symbian ^ 2 for the Japanese market.

Symbian ^ 3 was announced on February 15, 2010. This version is the first fully open source version available of the platform, after the entire code base was disclosed in early February 2010. Symbian ^ 3 includes several new features, such as support for HDMI recording and output, a new 2D and 3D graphics architecture and user interface enhancements for easier operation. Menus are now accessible using simple touch ( previous versions required some two clicks) and up to three customizable home screens. The release of Symbian ^ 3 SDK was planned for October 2010 and in May 2011.

The first phones with the open source version of the platform Symbian ^ 3 smartphones; four of these devices have been (as of September 2010) Nokia announced yet for 2010: The Nokia N8, the C6-01, C7 and E7.

Symbian ^ 4 was expected according to original plans for the first half of 2011. Core of Symbian ^ 4 should be a completely redesigned user interface based on Qt. On 21 October 2010 Nokia announced the Symbian platform for its devices no longer in big version jumps ( such as the move from Symbian ^ 3 to Symbian ^ 4) develop, but in smaller pieces that smartphone owners by update immediately available are provided. As an example, the complete overhaul of the user interface was called, which was originally only with Symbian ^ 4 devices should be introduced, is also already come for Symbian ^ 3 devices in the present state, however. Accordingly, Nokia will no longer speak of Symbian ^ 3 or Symbian ^ 4, but only from the platform as a whole. The basis for this development, which will operate in addition to Symbian and Meego, Qt is. With the transition of development and management of the platform from the Symbian Foundation on Nokia which will be the future development plan for the platform where the superscript version numbers are obsolete as of Symbian ^ 3.

List of Symbian smartphones

Symbian OS v6.0

  • Nokia 9210 Communicator, 9210i, 9290 Communicator

Symbian OS v6.1

  • Foma D901i, F2051, F2102V, F700i, F900i
  • Nokia 3600, 3620, 3650, 3660, 7650, N -Gage, N -Gage QD
  • Sendo X
  • Siemens SX1

Symbian OS v7

  • Arima U300, U308
  • Benq P30, P31
  • Panasonic V800
  • Motorola A920, A925, A1000, A1010
  • Nokia 3230, 6260, 6600, 6620, 6670, 7610, 7710, Communicator 9300, Communicator 9300, Communicator 9500
  • Panasonic X700, X800
  • Samsung SGH- D720, SGH- D730
  • Sony Ericsson P800, P900, P910

Symbian OS v8

  • Lenovo P930
  • Nokia 6630, 6638, 6680, 6681, 6682, N72
  • Samsung SGH- i520 Samsung SGH- D720 Samsung SGH- D730

Symbian OS V8.1A / b

  • Nokia N70, N90

Symbian OS v9.1

  • Nokia 3250, 5500
  • Nokia E50, E60, E61, E61i, E62, E65, E70
  • Nokia N71, N73, N75, N77, N80, N80IE, N91, N92, N93, N93i
  • Nokia 6110 Navigator

UIQ v3.0

UIQ v3.1

  • Motorola RIZR Z8 Z8/Motorola Nahpohos

UIQ v3.2

  • Motorola RIZR Z10 ( UIQ 3.2)

Symbian OS v9.2

  • Samsung SGH- i520, i550, i560
  • Motorola Z8
  • Nokia E51, E63, E71, E90
  • Nokia N76, N81 (8GB), N82, N95, N95 (8GB)
  • Nokia 5700 XpressMusic, 6120 classic, 6121 classic, 6290, 6124 classic
  • Samsung SGH- G810

Symbian OS v9.3

  • Nokia C5
  • Nokia E52, E72, E75, E55, E66
  • Nokia N78, N79, N85, N86 8MP, N96
  • Nokia 5630 XpressMusic, 5730 XpressMusic, Nokia 6710 Navigator, 6220 classic, 6650 (t -mobile), 5320 XpressMusic
  • Samsung i8510 Innov8, Samsung i7110, Samsung SGH -i550, Samsung SGH -L870
  • Nokia C5 -00

Symbian OS v9.4 / Symbian ^ 1

  • Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, Nokia 5228, Nokia 5230, Nokia 5235, Nokia 5250, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition
  • Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini
  • Nokia X6 -00
  • Nokia C5 -03
  • Nokia C6-00
  • Samsung i8910 HD
  • Sony Ericsson Satio ( concept name: Idou )
  • Sony Ericsson Vivaz (pro)

Symbian ^ 3 / Symbian "Anna"

The Symbian ^ 3 system is marketed with "Anna" for the first time under the euphonious name.

  • Nokia N8 -00
  • Nokia E6 -00
  • Nokia E7 -00
  • Nokia C6-01
  • Nokia C7 -00
  • Nokia X7 -00
  • Nokia 702T, only for the Chinese market

Symbian Anna offers compared to its predecessor improved text input, including a QWERTY input in landscape mode, an updated browser, a full-fledged VPN client and a device- accelerated encryption function. From August 2011 Symbian Anna has been provided as an update for all devices with Symbian ^ 3 step by step. The Nokia E6 and Nokia X7 -00 Symbian Anna already included in the delivery state.

Symbian "Belle" / " Nokia Belle "

In August 2011, Nokia has introduced the successor of " Anna ", which bears the name " Symbian Belle ". Among the new features of the operating system are called Live widgets that are now freely positioned on the home screen, as well as improved integration of social networks Facebook and Twitter. In the fall of 2011, the first devices with Symbian Belle appeared:

  • Nokia 500
  • Nokia 603
  • Nokia 700
  • Nokia 701

For all " Symbian Anna " - and Symbian ^ 3 devices to upgrade to " Nokia Belle " was made available on February 8, 2012. Originally called the 300 MB update " Symbian Belle ". Due to the dissolution of the concept of brand Ovi, which formerly Nokia applications such as the Nokia Store titled, Nokia also the operating system has now decided to rename.

On 27 February 2012 the new Nokia 808 Pure View, available from June 2012 in the trade, was presented with an updated version of Symbian, " Nokia Belle Feature Pack 1". Meanwhile there is this version as an OTA update for the models Nokia 603, Nokia 700 and Nokia 701 - where the update for the last two devices involves an increase of the CPU clock of 1 GHz to 1.3 GHz.

On August 28, 2012 3 smartphone of the first generation (Nokia N8, E7, C7, C6 -01, X7 and E6) was introduced to " Nokia Belle Refresh" for Symbian ^. It became known as reduced " Feature Pack " several weeks ago and in addition to a new browser version, specific N8 apps for editing photos.

Since October 2, 2012 Belle Feature Pack 2 as an OTA update for the models 808, 700, 701 and 603 is available. It includes an improvement of the camera, a new virtual keyboard, a new HTML 5 browser, an improved music player and a car mode. There are some new widgets, including a new " lock screen ".

Task by Nokia

In the blog Engadget.com leaked internal memo dated February 2011, the Nokia CEO Stephen Elop Nokia compared with a " burning oil platform " from which one could only save themselves by jumping into the cold water. In it, he argued that the development of Symbian is becoming increasingly difficult with the growing user requirements and so you further and further behind fall behind the competitors. In a keynote speech at the conference Uplinq Qualcomm in June 2011, he explained this in more detail in the following words:

"I am an engineer with a focus on software. One of the things that were clear to me and the team was that Symbian faced challenges - some engineering challenges. While it has served us very well for a few years, something has happened. As a developer, you know how this can be done in a source code - about the time he begins to be fragile, he is a little bit worse. Every time one makes a change, it takes a bit longer to stabilize him. This is done with Symbian for several years, and it was clear that it took longer and longer to make critical changes in order to remain competitive. So we were very, very concerned about the prospect of Symbian. "

In October 2013 it was announced that from 1 January 2014 no new apps and updates to Symbian in the Nokia Store more can be submitted, but any existing apps are preserved.

EPOC (operating system) ARM architecture Open Programming Language S60 (software platform) Nokia Communicator Nokia 7650 Sony Ericsson P1 Ovi (Nokia) Android (operating system) IOS Bada WebOS Windows Mobile Nokia OS Jolla Tizen Ubuntu Touch
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