Symbian History
Symbian OS started
life as EPOC - the operating system used for many years in Psion handheld
devices. When Symbian was formed in 1998, Psion contributed EPOC into the
group. EPOC was renamed Symbian OS and has been progressively updated,
incorporating both voice and data telephony technologies of ever greater
sophistication with every product release.
Abstract
Symbian OS is designed for the mobile phone
environment. It addresses constraints of mobile phones by providing a framework
to handle low memory situations, a power management model, and a rich software
layer implementing industry standards for communications, telephony and data
rendering. Even with these abundant features, Symbian OS puts no constraints on
the integration of other peripheral hardware. Symbian OS is proven on several
platforms. It started life as the operating system for the Psion series of
consumer PDA products (including Series 5mx, Revo and netBook), and various
adaptations by Diamond, Oregon Scientific and Ericsson.
Product Diversity
There is an apparent
contradiction between software developers who want to develop for just one
popular platform and manufacturers who each want to have a range of distinctive
and innovative products. The circle can be squared by separating the user
interface from the core operating system. Advanced mobile phones or
“Smartphones” will come in all sorts of shapes - from traditional designs
resembling today’s mobile phones with main input via the phone keypad, to a
tablet form factor operated with a stylus, to phones with larger screens and
small keyboards.
Introduction
Small devices come in
many shapes and sizes, each addressing distinct target markets that have
different requirements. The market segment we are interested in is that of the
mobile phone. The primary requirement of this market segment is that all
products are great phones. This segment spans voice-centric phones with
information capability to information-centric devices with voice capability.
These advanced mobile phones integrate fully-featured personal digital
assistant (PDA) capabilities with those of a traditional mobile phone in a
single unit.
Basic Principles
The cornerstone of
Symbian’s modus operandi is to use open – agreed - standards wherever possible.
Symbian is focused squarely on one part of the value chain - providing the base
operating system for mobile internet devices. This enables manufacturers,
networks and application developers to work together on a common platform.
Conclusion
Symbian OS is a
robust multi-tasking operating system, designed specifically for real-world
wireless environments and the constraints of mobile phones (including limited
amount of memory). Symbian OS is natively IP-based, with fully integrated
communications and messaging.
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