It's S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2!
Published by Steve Litchfield at 7:58 UTC, February 7th 2007
Just as we're about to get our hands on the first 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 devices, Nokia go and announce S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2... In addition to ease-of-development benefits, this comes with "Usability enhancements supporting ease of use in (for example) messaging, multitasking and downloading. Feature Pack 2 also enables instant media playback during downloading and animated notification of inbound calls." More details and actual screenshots are available here on S60.com. The full Nokia press release follows....
Nokia brings advanced developer benefits for S60 software
S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 supports competitiveness in mid-range market
Espoo, Finland - Nokia today introduced a new Feature Pack for S60 on Symbian OS(TM), the market leading smartphone platform. S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 is designed for innovation and significantly facilitates the creation of compelling applications and accelerates performance. S60 3rd Edition is targeted for mid-range devices and offers significant usability enhancements for this category.
Development of applications and services for S60 devices will be faster and more cost-efficient as S60 brings a major extension to the C++ development environment with Open C. This introduction brings the familiar standard C function libraries to S60 software, supporting increased productivity and improved time-to-market of applications. With Open C, developers can reuse existing code and focus on the mobility aspects of their applications.
Symbian recently introduced four of the basic POSIX libraries on Symbian OS. With Open C, S60 is extending the reach and implementing five additional C libraries for an optimized solution to migrate open source and desktop applications to S60 on Symbian OS. Open C libraries are part of the S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 and will be integrated into the publicly available software development kits.
Feature Pack 2 comes with improvements in usability and software architecture focusing primarily on the mid-range device category. Usability enhancements support the ease of use in for example messaging, multitasking and downloading. Feature Pack 2 also enables instant media playback during downloading and animated notification of inbound calls. Architectural improvements focus on ensuring excellent performance and flexibility of S60 in various hardware configurations, and include for example support for demand paging virtual memory technique.
"Feature Pack 2 is a major element of our strategy to support handset vendors in creating devices for the mid-range market," says Matti Vänskä, Vice President, Mobile Software Sales and Marketing, Nokia. "There are already five S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 devices launched worldwide by three handset vendors. The emphasis with Feature Pack 2 is on improved user experience, usability and ever richer development environment".
"Supplier efforts to simplify the user experience of smartphone software platforms are a key factor in attracting and retaining users, especially as those platforms strengthen their position in mainstream markets. But the ultimate success of smartphones rests with attracting the widest array of application developers. Aligning handset development more closely with the desktop is a good step towards achieving this," says Tony Cripps, senior analyst, mobile user experience, Ovum.
S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 will be available for all S60 device manufacturers in Q2. It is fully compatible with S60 3rd Edition, and applications developed for 3rd Edition will run on all Feature Pack 2 devices. The new Feature Pack 2 will be demonstrated at the 3GSM World Congress 2007 in Barcelona in S60 stand in Hall 8.
According to Canalys research (January, 2007), S60 is the clear leader in converged device software with 54% market share globally in Q4 2006. Nokia alone has cumulatively shipped nearly 85 million S60 enabled devices by the end of 2006. To date, 49 devices based on S60 and Symbian OS have been launched, 20 of which are based on the latest S60 3rd Edition.
Categories: Miscellaneous, Links of Interest, Developer, Industry
Platforms: Series 60, S60 3rd Edition
News Discussion
svdwal
I have taken a quick look at the S60 3rd edition FP2 specs on www.s60.com, looking with a developers slant. There are a few interesting additions, but also a couple of missing things.
First the extra's.
There's an extra softkey, which is situated in the middle of the screen, when it is in portrait mode. This makes S60 look more like UIQ 3.x. There are still screenshots without the extra softkey, so this is an optional extra.
There's a key to switch the screen between portrait and landscape mode. This will probably mean that apps that cannot run in landscape mode are going to have problem.
The recently announced PIPS libraries are known as "Open C" on S60. This is a set of standardized C libraries that are used in a lot of Open Source projects.
The S60 software stack has an interesting layout as well. At the base there is still Symbian OS, then there's middleware layer, then there are a number of runtime environments, including Symbian C++, Open C, Java, Flash, HTML/EcmaScript and other runtimes like Python (and in the future) Ruby. At the top is the S60 Scalable UI layer. This might mean that the look and feel of the platform is going to be much less dependent on the runtime environment as it used to do
What is also interesting is the separation of the lowest-level OS layer and the runtime environments. There has been some speculation about Nokia moving to Linux in some unspecified future. Separating the OS layer from the runtime environments is not going to make such a move harder. OTOH, this paper is clearly just an overview of S60 3rd edition, and a simplified software stack picture is good enough for such a paper.
What's missing:
There is no mention of supporting the Communicator-sized landscape screensizes. This indicates thet the much-rumoured "E90" is probably not a S60 3rd FP2 device.
There is also no mention of keyboard shortcuts, another indication that the "E90" (which uses shortcuts a lot) is not supported.
First the extra's.
There's an extra softkey, which is situated in the middle of the screen, when it is in portrait mode. This makes S60 look more like UIQ 3.x. There are still screenshots without the extra softkey, so this is an optional extra.
There's a key to switch the screen between portrait and landscape mode. This will probably mean that apps that cannot run in landscape mode are going to have problem.
The recently announced PIPS libraries are known as "Open C" on S60. This is a set of standardized C libraries that are used in a lot of Open Source projects.
The S60 software stack has an interesting layout as well. At the base there is still Symbian OS, then there's middleware layer, then there are a number of runtime environments, including Symbian C++, Open C, Java, Flash, HTML/EcmaScript and other runtimes like Python (and in the future) Ruby. At the top is the S60 Scalable UI layer. This might mean that the look and feel of the platform is going to be much less dependent on the runtime environment as it used to do
What is also interesting is the separation of the lowest-level OS layer and the runtime environments. There has been some speculation about Nokia moving to Linux in some unspecified future. Separating the OS layer from the runtime environments is not going to make such a move harder. OTOH, this paper is clearly just an overview of S60 3rd edition, and a simplified software stack picture is good enough for such a paper.
What's missing:
There is no mention of supporting the Communicator-sized landscape screensizes. This indicates thet the much-rumoured "E90" is probably not a S60 3rd FP2 device.
There is also no mention of keyboard shortcuts, another indication that the "E90" (which uses shortcuts a lot) is not supported.
Al3xandr3
the screen support that you talk about was already supported in FP1.
N/A
Quote:
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Originally Posted by svdwal
The recently announced PIPS libraries are known as "Open C" on S60. This is a set of standardized C libraries that are used in a lot of Open Source projects.
|
krisse
"There is no mention of supporting the Communicator-sized landscape screensizes. This indicates thet the much-rumoured "E90" is probably not a S60 3rd FP2 device."
I think landscape (I assume you mean 640x240 HVGA rather than just 320x240 QVGA) screensizes can already be implemented on current S60 3rd Edition but just haven't been included in any models yet.
There was some talk last year on S60.com about what screensizes they supported, and they gave the impression that 3rd Edition already supports QVGA and HVGA (and I think they mentioned VGA too) because these were the most commonly used sizes by the companies that manufacture LCD screens. However it was up to the handset manufacturer to implement it, so for example Nokia departed from the S60 standards with the 5500 which had a 208x208 screensize.
I think landscape (I assume you mean 640x240 HVGA rather than just 320x240 QVGA) screensizes can already be implemented on current S60 3rd Edition but just haven't been included in any models yet.
There was some talk last year on S60.com about what screensizes they supported, and they gave the impression that 3rd Edition already supports QVGA and HVGA (and I think they mentioned VGA too) because these were the most commonly used sizes by the companies that manufacture LCD screens. However it was up to the handset manufacturer to implement it, so for example Nokia departed from the S60 standards with the 5500 which had a 208x208 screensize.
natanlevine
The feature that really got me excited was an advanced wallpaper functionality. Apparently on FP 2 you can have your wallpapers constantly changing through a selection from the gallery. This might not sound like much but i've been waiting for something like that since my first s40 phone. Is there any way to do this on normal 3rd edition?
svdwal
Quote:
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Originally Posted by krisse
"
I think landscape (I assume you mean 640x240 HVGA rather than just 320x240 QVGA) screensizes can already be implemented on current S60 3rd Edition but just haven't been included in any models yet. There was some talk last year on S60.com about what screensizes they supported, and they gave the impression that 3rd Edition already supports QVGA and HVGA (and I think they mentioned VGA too) because these were the most commonly used sizes by the companies that manufacture LCD screens. However it was up to the handset manufacturer to implement it, so for example Nokia departed from the S60 standards with the 5500 which had a 208x208 screensize. |
This doesn't say anything of course, but having a working emulator version of the "e90" would have been cool, and a good source of screenshots ;-)
darren.mac
So will it be possible for S60.v3 phones with FP1, to be able to upgrade to this new release via Nokia software updater?
Thanks,
Darren.mac
Thanks,
Darren.mac
N/A
Extremely unlikely, or most likely not.
Unregistered
Quote:
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Originally Posted by N/A
Extremely unlikely, or most likely not.
|
N/A
Cost (in providing such an upgrade, with little or no direct return for the effort).
Ben Frain
Just bringing this one pack from the dead...
Anyone think that providing feature pack 2 free (or at least make it possible) for existing feature pack 1 users might be a smart move by Nokia? Considering the positive news/buzz iPhone 2.0 software is likely to get in the coming months?
Or are the fiscal realities (licensing etc) such that it is not remotely possible? Just curious...
Anyone think that providing feature pack 2 free (or at least make it possible) for existing feature pack 1 users might be a smart move by Nokia? Considering the positive news/buzz iPhone 2.0 software is likely to get in the coming months?
Or are the fiscal realities (licensing etc) such that it is not remotely possible? Just curious...
Unregistered
I was one of those who booked the E75 two months back. The issue that prevented me from receiving it from the store is my problem with SMS messaging on the S60 based mobiles in general. On the other hand, I don’t have that issue in the S40. Simply, S40 has the ability to let you send a text message to the most recent people you’ve already sent a text message to. Besides, it allows you to also choose from the call log; recent contacts you’ve called or received calls from. S60 does not have this, I assume this feature as a competitive powerful business feature.
You sometimes want to send a message to some colleague who just called you, and his colleague as well where you’ll pick from the contact list, then to some other manager who just send you a message on the same subject. I use this feature a lot, at least 10 SMS’s a day. It’s hectic to re-search all the contact list to add recipient while you can easily pick them from the menu in S40 based mobiles.
Does anyone know how to resolve this? Is there a specific solution, update or workaround?
Regards,
Stalwart
Edit/Delete Message
You sometimes want to send a message to some colleague who just called you, and his colleague as well where you’ll pick from the contact list, then to some other manager who just send you a message on the same subject. I use this feature a lot, at least 10 SMS’s a day. It’s hectic to re-search all the contact list to add recipient while you can easily pick them from the menu in S40 based mobiles.
Does anyone know how to resolve this? Is there a specific solution, update or workaround?
Regards,
Stalwart
Edit/Delete Message
SHEIDSOFT.COM
The feature that really got me excited was an advanced wallpaper functionality. Apparently on FP 2 you can have your wallpapers constantly changing through a selection from the gallery. This might not sound like much but i've been waiting for something like that since my first s40 phone. Is there any way to do this on normal 3rd edition?
jApi NL
@ Stalwart : From Call-Log you can make up a new message . In Standby-Screen , just press green Call-button and Call-Log displays > Choose Contact > Options > Make Message .
Fom Menu > Messaging > Choose Contact > Options > Make New Message , you can send a new SMS
☺ Regards jApi NL
Fom Menu > Messaging > Choose Contact > Options > Make New Message , you can send a new SMS
☺ Regards jApi NL
jApi NL
@ Scheidsoft : http://www.drjukka.com/YBrowser.html . Here you can find some nice things . ThemeScheduler is unsigned , so you have to work out the sign procedure . DrJukka has also a Profile Scheduler
:) Regards jApi NL
:) Regards jApi NL
jApi NL
@ Scheidsoft : http://www.drjukka.com/YBrowser.html . Theme Scheduler ?
:) Regards jApi NL
:) Regards jApi NL