HipLogic has been a name that has floated around S60 circles for the last year or so. Ostensibly a Web-aware homescreen replacement, it turns out to be something more ambitious, albeit with a few minor caveats. I set out last week to intercept HipLogic's 'Chief Action Figure', Mark Anderson, and quiz him on the vision behind, and the implementation of, HipLogic on Symbian. Read on for more.

As you'll see if you've time to watch the embedded video below (programme 110 of The Phones Show, the HipLogic interview is the first item after the News), HipLogic grew out of the J2ME project as an attempt to produce something equally as mobile-focussed but far better integrated into a phone's data and comms systems. Mark Anderson describes HipLogic as a 'platform' in its own right, in that it has its own app store and its own (Javascript-based) HipLogic apps, though it can also launch native Symbian applications that are already installed on the phone.

In a typical implementation HipLogic takes over the (red) hangup key, letting you toggle between the main S60 menu and HipLogic's own launcher. Standout features, as shown in the graphic above, are the integrated Google search bar and the heavy use of social network features without having to keep switching apps or environments (and acknowledging permissions and connections dialogs).

The 'app store' mixes up Java games, Symbian favourites (e.g. Google Maps, Nimbuzz, SPB TV) and HipLogic Javascript 'widgets'. Where payment is involved, HipLogic handles this seamlessly and then takes its cut, as you might expect.

Mark didn't want to talk about numbers of users at this stage, so I'm guessing we're talking hundreds of thousands worldwide rather than millions, but he did say that 400 plus operators round the world were interested in rolling HipLogic out as the homescreen on their handsets, so it's clearly both early days and with opportunity for serious growth.

Of course, the average All About Symbian reader will be well aware of the applications available for S60 and will also be well versed in getting round a Symbian-powered phone's interface, but there's still a significant interest factor here, especially as it's free to try. You may know about Snaptu, which approaches a similar problem, that of integrating all the things people want to do online in one application, from a slightly different angle. It's fair to say that each has their strengths and weaknesses - but as both are free to download and use there's no reason why you can't try both and see how you get on.

You can grab HipLogic now for both S60 3rd Edition and 5th Edition smartphones (it's full touch-enabled, though without kinetic scrolling) by going to m.hiplogic.com in Web on your phone - the right version should get served up. 

Embedded below is the Phones Show with the HipLogic interview and brief demo, if you've got about 6 or 7 minutes to spare: