Symbian^3 applications is the hot thing in. It's a major market hit, distracting the attention from Android as several major brands are connected to it. Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens', etc. are some of the brands being extensively sold and purchased in markets. Associated with Nokia, can Symbian application development fall flat? Nokia acquires a fair share of phone market. It has set its record for durability and reliability for phones ranging from low prices to highly expensive ones. These big brands won't let its platform fail. In other words, Nokia has confirmed survival time of its new system. Nokia is firm about not giving up supporting Symbian^3, even if the first device cooperating with Microsoft has a huge success.

Attracting developers

Symbian has unveiled a new initiative intended to attract developers, and is providing web development tools to ease application programming for its open source mobile platform. Using the web standards such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript, developers can create software for devices such as Nokia N8. If you have ever developed a website, you can easily develop for new Nokia's platform. It is noted that the use of simple web standards may put a limit to application development; however, that's not the case with Symbian phone applications. It only needs to expose API's to core functionality to be able to perform a much complicated task. To benefit developers with reduced programming cost, Nokia introduces the simple web standards as there will always be a need for native app construction.

Getting into the technicalities

Symbian^3 is efficient and has the ability to support much more than its predecessors. The much loved "layer" belonging to augmented reality has made its presence for Symbian^3. The new systems will include 1GHz processor, a dedicated GPU (graphics early chips), location-based service (LBS) and professional shooting ability to provide better experience to users. Apart from this, Nokia has also enhanced several features such as new main screen, a number of flexible desktop plug-in, new icons, faster browser, new navigation bar and also including new Ovi store and Ovi map, of which Ovi maps will integrate social media services.

Elaborating on the enhanced features, PR 2.0 has its own upcoming series of improvements it offers to the user. The noticeable part is its page transition, which has become faster and more responsive. As you switch between the pages or swipe your finger to flip between screens, the software will keep right up with your movements. Faster access is the progress theme among its improvements. The web browser (although still a little sluggish and not up to the expectation) is faster. It includes an addition of portrait-mode on-screen keyboard. It also includes Ovi chat putting friends under unified contact list.

What's next?

Looks like Nokia is working strongly towards reclaiming its position from the cloudy dominance of iPhone and Android. With the race for next-genre Smartphones getting intense, Nokia is working on building clean and interactive OS with maximum support, efforts to reduce the lag. Symbian^4 is due for its launch. It was expected to be functionally complete by mid 2010 and now, it is set to release in 2011. It has a big focus on user experience including Direct UI and enhancements to the application suite.

The Home Screen in Symbian 4 gains support for widgets of any size and shape, and gives the user complete control over their placement on the screen.

Highlights of some of the features:

• Photos are much more accessible and give an attractive look.
• Calendar gains integration with emails, allows meeting request to be sent and replied using Calendar UI.
• Notification panel inside the menu or sub-menus.
• Includes an additional drop-down menu on the top of the menu screen, which enables user to access menu items from any sub-menu screen.

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About Turtlejet Inc.

Turtlejet is a Louisville Kentucky based IT services and solutions provider that excels at designing, conceiving, developing and deploying solutions in the mobile application development segment. It has formed its niche in Symbian application development for cross platform.