Symbian OS 7.0s launched - infoSync World

CELL PHONES

» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated

LAPTOPS

» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated

CAMERAS

» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated

REVIEWS

» Cell phones
» Cameras
» Camcorders

» Archive	» Resource Center
» Compare	» Expert guides
» RSS & Alerts	» Ask The Editors

	Home / Cell phones

	Symbian OS 7.0s launched	By Jørgen Sundgot, Wednesday 30 April 2003

Version 7.0s of the Symbian OS has been unveiled, sporting enhanced networking capabilities, support for Java MIDP 2.0, a multimedia framework and new language variants.

Symbian yesterday announced the launch of the latest version of Symbian OS, which now boasts support for Java MIDP 2.0, a multimedia framework, enhanced networking capabilities and new language variants. Symbian has already delivered Symbian OS 7.0s to its licensees earlier this year, and says licensees will make their own announcements regarding products based on Symbian OS 7.0s in due course.

According to Symbian, enhancements in version 7.0s of the Symbian OS mainly take place in four particular areas. In the Telephony and Networking area, v7.0s implements Multiple PDP contexts and a Quality of Service (QoS) framework. Multiple PDP contexts allow users to access more than one network service at the same time and with varying QoS. As an example, users can access e-mail whilst simultaneously surfing the web or downloading an application.

Provided QoS is supported by a network operator, Symbian’s Quality of Service (QoS) framework aims to allow phones to manage network connections intelligently. For example, the phone may provide a high bandwidth guaranteed network connection for browsing and a low priority "best effort" network connection for downloading e-mails, resulting in a speedy browsing experience for the user whilst e-mails are downloaded in the background.

In the area of Java, Symbian has upgraded its implementation to Java MIDP v2.0, enabling more capable Java applications than what has been possible so far - e.g. games applications which exploit Bluetooth and messaging capabilities. Also, Symbian OS v7.0s deploys Sun’s new Java virtual machine which Symbian claims enables significant improvements in Java application performance.

Symbian has also introduced a multi-threaded multimedia framework (MMF) through version 7.0s, which enables high-performance audio, video and imaging capabilities for Symbian OS applications. The MMF is designed to meet the needs of high performance media-centric applications such as video players, MIDI engines and particularly games. And last, but not least, Symbian OS v7.0s now offers support for Arabic and Hebrew languages.

Publicly announced products based on Symbian OS include the BenQ P30, Samsung SGH-D700, Siemens SX1, NTT DoCoMo FOMA F2051 built by Fujitsu, Sony Ericsson P800, Nokia's 9200 Communicator range, the Nokia N-Gage and also the two smartphones that are responsible for the vast majority of sales of devices based on Symbian OS: the Nokia 7650 and 3650.