Symbian 3 Is Ready To Go

The Symbian Foundation has said version 3 of the Symbian open source mobile phone operating system is finished and ready for use by device makers and developers.

The new version will run on the Nokia N8 phone due to appear shortly, and improves the Symbian operating system – the most widespread smartphone OS in the world – in various ways. Symbian 3 (also called Symbian^3 or S^3) was demonstrated at Mobile World Congress in February, when the second version of Symbian was released as open source.

Functionally complete – but is it an iPhone competitor?

“This is an important milestone for the Symbian Foundation as it marks the first time this point has been reached for a fully open source release and the time at which Symbian 3 is considered ready for community use,” said Rafe Blandford of All About Symbian, following the announcement that Symbian 3 is “functionally complete,” in the Symbian developer newsletter.

“This is an important stage for device creators and developers, but is not of major significance to consumers, other than to indicate that Symbian 3 is well on track for being in devices in the second half of the year,” said Blandford. “The Nokia N8 was the first Symbian 3 device to be announced, but there are many more on the way from multiple manufacturers.”

Symbian 3 having now been declared officially Functionally Complete marks an important milestone in the platform and represents a transition from feature submission and stability into the hardening phase. However, “functionally complete” is not the same as “feature complete,” Symbian officials said.

There could still be some minor changes to the platform – even though the software is slated to begin to appear on devices in the later in the year – following a delay to the original shipping date of the Nokia N8

Symbian 3 features include home screen improvements, next generation graphics, better data networking and a better entertainment experience including HD video, smart remote controls, interactive radio, music store integration and podcasts.

For developers, Symbian 3 delivers support for the Qt application framework version 4.6. Availability of Qt 4.6 for Symbian 3 means developers can start using the power of this new runtime, to plan new applications and to start the migration of their existing applications. Where used, Qt application framework will sit alongside the Avkon UI framework, enabling both forward and backward compatibility. Avkon is the name of the legacy UI framework that Qt replaces.

Nokia is pinning its hopes on Symbian 3, along with a general upgrade and simplification of its phone and smartphones, but has downgraded its sales forecasts