S60 Smartphone Software Evolves to Enrich the User Experience
Written by Nokia
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Expanding the Platform With Intuitive Touch User Interface, Sensor Technologies and Complete Web Video Experience
Symbian Smartphone Show, LONDON, October 16/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As Internet is entering into the core of mobile experiences, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) continues to implement new innovations for S60 on Symbian OS(TM), the market leading smartphone software, to develop the best possible mobile experiences for people.
S60 will introduce new features that enhance the user experience and enable manufacturers, developers and operators to design new types of mobile devices, applications and services.
The touch user interface in S60 smartphone software offers licensees the opportunity to develop devices with a variety of input methods, whether it is a touch screen with a traditional keypad, touch screen with a qwerty keyboard or touch screen alone, supporting both finger or stylus optimized input, in addition to the range of access options that already exist today.
S60 touch user interface comes with support for tactile feedback, which means that there is a physical pulse and feedback when the user taps on the screen. This provides better awareness of the device's response improving the user experience.
Existing S60 3rd Edition applications will run on touch enabled devices unmodified. Tools will be made available for developers to further optimize the touch experience of their applications.
From motion and orientation to proximity and light, sensor technology is expanding to new areas and shaping the future for mobiles. S60 brings sensor support to the platform as a generic solution enabling support for a range of sensors in S60 devices. These technologies open up a new kinetic world to the user and offer completely new opportunities for application and game developers.
Also, the new UI Accelerator toolkit will allow device manufacturers to develop rapidly and easily impressive graphical effects and new types of interactions, further increasing the user appeal and excitement.
S60 will be the first mobile software platform to deliver the complete Web video experience as Flash Video will be integrated with the Web Browser for S60. This allows people to view on the go Flash-enabled Web sites and Flash Video, such as YouTube, as they would do on their desktops.
S60 and 3, the mobile media company that launched the first 3G network in the UK, will demonstrate at the Symbian Smartphone Show in London X-Series devices based on S60, and the vision both share of creating great Internet experiences on mobile devices.
"We are constantly on the lookout for new innovations to enhance X-Series, our offering for Internet on the mobile", said Ken Johnstone, Director of Products, Global 3G Handset & Application Group, at 3. "The user experience is central to everything that we do, and we believe that X-Series provides the best-in-class Internet experience on the mobile."
"S60 on Symbian OS offers a great platform to innovate with Internet services", said Matti Vanska, Vice President, Mobile Software Sales and Marketing, Nokia. "We see experiences converging, and people demanding more and more of the functionalities that smartphones offer, both of which highlight the significance of ease of use. The focus of our strategy is to give people choice and simplicity - both key to delivering the best user experiences to add value to people's lives."
These technologies will be available for all S60 device manufacturers during 2008.
At the event, Samsung showcased their latest S60 devices, the new Samsung i450, Samsung i550 and Samsung i560. To date, 65 devices based on S60 and Symbian OS have been launched, 36 of which are based on the latest S60 3rd Edition.
S60 has been the leader in converged device software since the introduction of the first S60 device and continues to lead by a clear margin, with 53% global market share in Q2 2007 (Canalys, 2007).
About 3
3 is a mobile media company delivering a convergence of communications, entertainment and information to customers on the move.
The three areas which form the core of its business are:
- Communications - including all forms of personal communications, voice and video calling; text, picture and video messaging; and mobile blogging
- Entertainment - including television, music audio and video, computer games, and media publishing
- Information services - including wireless web, access to the best of the internet and a range of news services
3 UK is a member of the HWL group of 3G companies, which include 3G operations in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Sweden and soon Norway.
Three facts about 3:
- 3, a mobile media company, launched the UK's first 3G network
- 3 has over 4.1 million customers in the UK and over 15.9 million worldwide (August 2007 figures)
- The 3 network offers national coverage for calls and texts, and over 90% population coverage for 3G services.
About S60
S60 software built on Symbian OS is the world's leading smartphone software, and is licensed by some of the industry's foremost mobile device manufacturers. The flexibility of the S60 software allows for various hardware designs and software configurations, as evidenced by the multitude of S60 devices already available on the market. Through its award-winning user interface, extensive support for new mobile services and the innovation potential for partner solutions, S60 provides an open and scalable business opportunity for mobile operators and 3rd party developers. For further information and news about S60 and the S60 community, please visit www.s60.com.
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. Nokia makes a wide range of mobile devices and provides people with experiences in music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games and business mobility through these devices. Nokia also provides equipment, solutions and services for communications networks.
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