Symbian was a closed-source mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones and currently maintained by Accenture. Symbian was originally developed by Symbian Ltd., as a descendant of Psion's EPOC and runs exclusively on ARM processors, although an unreleased x86 port existed. The current form of Symbian is an open-source platform developed by Symbian Foundation in 2009, as the successor of the original Symbian OS. Symbian was used by many major mobile phone brands, like Samsung, Motorola,
Sony Ericsson, and above all by Nokia. It was the most popular smartphone OS on a worldwide average until the end of 2010, when it was overtaken by Android.
Symbian rose to fame from its use with the S60 platform built by Nokia, first released in 2002 and powering most Nokia smartphones. UIQ, another Symbian platform, ran in parallel, but these two platforms were not compatible with each other. Symbian^3, was officially released in Q4 2010 as the successor of S60 and UIQ, first used in the Nokia N8, to use a single platform for the OS. In May 2011 an update, Symbian Anna, was officially announced, followed by Nokia Belle (previously Symbian Belle) in August 2011.
On 11 February 2011, Nokia announced that it would use Microsoft's Windows Phone OS as its primary smartphone platform, and Symbian will be its franchise platform, dropping Symbian as its main smartphone OS of choice. On 22 June 2011 Nokia made an agreement with Accenture for an outsourcing program. Accenture will provide Symbian-based software development and support services to Nokia through 2016; about 2,800 Nokia employees became Accenture employees as of October 2011. The transfer was completed on 30
September 2011. The Nokia 808 PureView is officially the last Symbian smartphone
Symbian UI Variations and Platforms:
Symbian, as it advanced to OS version 7.0, began to spun off into several different user interfaces or UIs, each back by a certain company or group of companies. Unlike Android OS with its different cosmetic UIs, Symbian UIs are deeper in code modifications and integrations (therefore referred to as UI platforms). Things began more complicated when applications developed for different Symbian UIs platforms are not compatible with each other, and this led to OS fragmentation.
User Interfaces platforms that run on or are based on Symbian OS include:
S60, Symbian:
Also called Series 60, it was backed mainly by Nokia. There are several editions of this platform, appearing first as S60 (1st Edition) on Nokia 7650. It was followed by S60 2nd Edition (Nokia N70, S60 3rd Edition (Nokia N73) and touch-based S60 5th Edition (Nokia N97). The name, S60, was dropped after the formation of Symbian Foundation and renames itself as Symbian^1, 2 and 3.
Series 80:
Used by Nokia Communicators such as Nokia 9300i.
Series 90:
Touch and button based. Only phone using this platform is Nokia 7710.
UIQ Backed mainly by Sony Ericsson and then Motorola, it is compatible with both buttons and touch/stylus based inputs. The last major release version is UIQ3.1 in 2008, on Sony Ericsson G900. It was discontinued after the formation of Symbian Foundation, and the decision to consolidate different Symbian UI versions into one led to the adoption of S60 as the version going forward.
MOAP (Mobile Oriented Applications Platform) [Japan Only]
Used by Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Sony Ericsson and Sharp developed phones for NTT DoCoMo. It uses an interface developed specifically for DoCoMo's FOMA "Freedom of Mobile Access" network brand and is based on the UI from earlier Fujitsu FOMA models. The user cannot install new C++ applications. (Japan Only)
OPP [Japan Only], successor of MOAP, used on NTT DoCoMo's FOMA phone.
Sony Ericsson, and above all by Nokia. It was the most popular smartphone OS on a worldwide average until the end of 2010, when it was overtaken by Android.
Symbian rose to fame from its use with the S60 platform built by Nokia, first released in 2002 and powering most Nokia smartphones. UIQ, another Symbian platform, ran in parallel, but these two platforms were not compatible with each other. Symbian^3, was officially released in Q4 2010 as the successor of S60 and UIQ, first used in the Nokia N8, to use a single platform for the OS. In May 2011 an update, Symbian Anna, was officially announced, followed by Nokia Belle (previously Symbian Belle) in August 2011.
On 11 February 2011, Nokia announced that it would use Microsoft's Windows Phone OS as its primary smartphone platform, and Symbian will be its franchise platform, dropping Symbian as its main smartphone OS of choice. On 22 June 2011 Nokia made an agreement with Accenture for an outsourcing program. Accenture will provide Symbian-based software development and support services to Nokia through 2016; about 2,800 Nokia employees became Accenture employees as of October 2011. The transfer was completed on 30
September 2011. The Nokia 808 PureView is officially the last Symbian smartphone
Symbian UI Variations and Platforms:
Symbian, as it advanced to OS version 7.0, began to spun off into several different user interfaces or UIs, each back by a certain company or group of companies. Unlike Android OS with its different cosmetic UIs, Symbian UIs are deeper in code modifications and integrations (therefore referred to as UI platforms). Things began more complicated when applications developed for different Symbian UIs platforms are not compatible with each other, and this led to OS fragmentation.
User Interfaces platforms that run on or are based on Symbian OS include:
S60, Symbian:
Also called Series 60, it was backed mainly by Nokia. There are several editions of this platform, appearing first as S60 (1st Edition) on Nokia 7650. It was followed by S60 2nd Edition (Nokia N70, S60 3rd Edition (Nokia N73) and touch-based S60 5th Edition (Nokia N97). The name, S60, was dropped after the formation of Symbian Foundation and renames itself as Symbian^1, 2 and 3.
Series 80:
Used by Nokia Communicators such as Nokia 9300i.
Series 90:
Touch and button based. Only phone using this platform is Nokia 7710.
UIQ Backed mainly by Sony Ericsson and then Motorola, it is compatible with both buttons and touch/stylus based inputs. The last major release version is UIQ3.1 in 2008, on Sony Ericsson G900. It was discontinued after the formation of Symbian Foundation, and the decision to consolidate different Symbian UI versions into one led to the adoption of S60 as the version going forward.
MOAP (Mobile Oriented Applications Platform) [Japan Only]
Used by Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Sony Ericsson and Sharp developed phones for NTT DoCoMo. It uses an interface developed specifically for DoCoMo's FOMA "Freedom of Mobile Access" network brand and is based on the UI from earlier Fujitsu FOMA models. The user cannot install new C++ applications. (Japan Only)
OPP [Japan Only], successor of MOAP, used on NTT DoCoMo's FOMA phone.
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