Symbian platform

Contents

Symbian overview

Symbian is the world’s most popular smartphone platform. It is implemented in a diverse range of devices and provides application and media developers with a consistent set of technologies. The flexibility of Symbian means it can offer users classic mobile devices, utilising a standard keypad and QVGA screen, through to high-end smartphones that offer nHD touch screens with tactile feedback, full keyboards, and device sensors in innovative flip and slide form factors. Equally at home delivering advanced enterprise applications, games, or music, Symbian gives developers unparalleled opportunities in the mobile space.

To create applications, developers can use Qt, Symbian C++ (using native Symbian OS and Nokia S60 on Symbian OS APIs), a set of open C and C++ APIs, the Java™ language (using MIDP 2.1 with an extensive range of additional JSRs), Web Runtime (WRT) (using standard web technologies), and Adobe Flash Lite. Content developers have comprehensive support for audio, image, and video formats. In addition, Adobe Flash Lite and SVGT can be used for animated content, while the S60 Browser supports standard desktop web technologies. Artists and graphic designers can create themes for S60 devices that can completely alter a device’s look and sound.

Once applications and content have been created, support for OMA DRM protects developers’ intellectual property.

Symbian enables developers to create high-value applications and content with lucrative revenue opportunities. The platform approach — with uniform implementation of technologies and supporting tools, documentation, and examples — requires less effort by developers to grasp the biggest market opportunity.

Key resources

• Devices 
• Tools 
• Documentation and examples
• Wiki 
• Application distribution
• Technical support

Qt application developers

Qt provides developers with a comprehensive set of APIs for the development of mobile applications. Support for Symbian is now part of the main code-line of Qt, offering a faster and more convenient way to create Symbian applications. In addition, Qt offers developers the opportunity to take their application to the Maemo platform as well as other mobile and desktop environments without code changes. Qt applications for Symbian can be created using Qt Creator and Carbide.c++.

Find out more about Qt »

C++ application developers

Symbian provides developers with C++ APIs from Symbian OS and the UI and application engines offered by Nokia S60 on Symbian OS. These APIs provide developers with the riches access to the features of Symbian devices from low level communications control to accessing device data such as location, contacts, and calendar records.

Find out more about Symbian C++ »

In addition, Open C/C++ enables developers familiar with standard C/C++ on desktop computers to create application engines and middleware using their existing skills.

Find out more about Open C/C++ »

Java™ application developers

Java™ technology provides developers with a robust cross-platform alternative to Qt and C++. Symbian implements a wide range of Java APIs including the subset of the Mobile Service Architecture (JSR-248) plus a range of JSRs offering APIs for secure communications, location information, SIP, multimedia, Scalable Vector Graphics and Sensor.

The Java implementation on Symbian shares many features with the implementations on the Series 40 platform. This allows developers to easily extend their applications’ reach.

Find out more about Java technology »

Adobe Flash Lite applications and content developers

Adobe Flash Lite offers a powerful yet straightforward development option for both content and applications on Symbian devices. The latest implementation, Flash Lite 3.0, provides ActionScript commands to access Symbian features including: Calendar, Contacts, Logs, and Messaging [SMS and MMS]); device location and landmarks; system information; and sensors.

In addition, the S60 Browser can play Adobe Flash Lite content offered on websites, and Flash Lite animations can be used as device screen savers from Symbian OS, S60 3.1 onward.

Read more about Adobe Flash Lite »

Web developers

The web has never been more accessible to people on the go than with the S60 Browser and WRT. The S60 Browser offers support for WAP 2.0, XHTML Mobile Profile over TCP/IP, HTTP/1.1 over TCP/IP, and JavaScript™, enabling web developers to deliver content targeted at PC browsers to Symbian devices. In addition, secure applications are possible through support for SSL and TLS.

Read more about the S60 Browser »

WRT enables web developers to create widgets that deliver Web 2.0 functionality to Symbian devices. In addition, JavaScript extensions provide access to Symbian features, including Calendar, Contacts, Logs, Messaging [SMS and MMS]; device location and landmarks; system information; and sensors. Symbian OS, S60 5.0 also enables widget developers to add read-only views to the home screens of certain devices, such as the Nokia N97 mobile computer.

Read more about WRT »

Media and content developers

Symbian provides media developers with options to create multimedia applications and deliver streaming audio and video. An extensive range of APIs is available for manipulating and playing music. Those capabilities, coupled with a state-of-the-art music player, afford developers extensive opportunities to create music-related applications and services.

Theme developers

Themes provide artists and graphic designers with the ability to customise the look and sound of the user interface on Symbian devices.

Read more about themes »