S60 5th Edition - touch and sensor enablers, enriched Internet and multimedia

Today sees the formal unveiling on S60 5th Edition. The new version of S60, built on Symbian OS 9.5, adds touch enablers to the platform, which means it is possible for licensees to create devices that use finger touch and/or stylus interaction. Other additions and improvements include the new sensor framework (adds easy integration of sensors, such as accelerometers into the platform) updated web technologies (WebKit version updated, Flash Lite 3 as standard) and enhanced multimedia functionality (support for widescreen displays, image and video editors as standard). Read on for more details.



The first device to use S60 5th Edition is the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic which was announced today, see other news items.

Developers can download the S60 5th Edition SDK and tools from Forum Nokia from today.






Key highlights of S60 5th Edition

    * Based on Symbian OS 9.5, which brings a host of OS level improvements, which should increase performance and battery life. The OS is also the enabler for many of the technologies described below.
       
    * Adds touch enablers and tactile feedback to S60. The UI is designed to be used with finger touch or a stylus. The UI and base applications have been optimised for touch usage. Tactile feedback gives a physical signal to the user (buzz/vibrate) when an on screen interaction takes place.

    * Standard S60 applications have been extended and optimised to take advantage of touch interactions.
       
    * In order to help enable touchscreen devices there is enhanced support for higher resolution displays and a new 'widescreen' mode.
       
    * Adds a framework to enable the use of sensors in the UI and by third parties. Such sensors might include accelerometers, which enable functionality such as 'flip to silence' or 'shake to unlock'. Third party access is enable by APIs which are available in the software development kit.
       
    * Enhanced support for Internet technologies, including an updated Web browser (more recent version of WebKit) and Flash Lite 3. The browser has been optimised for touch usage, including the ability to scroll around the screen using a finger and finger touch-friendly toolbars and controls.
       
    * Adds S60 Platform Services to the S60 Web Runtime (also known as WRT 2). This enables the creation of personalised and context-aware widgets. This gives widget developers access to many features of the S60 platform, including GPS, contacts, calendar, messaging, audio and video. These are accessed via custom javascript and actionscript API calls.
       
    * Adds new image and video editors (i.e. now standard part of platform), making it simpler to edit media on the device. The image editor functions include red-eye reduction, cropping, image adjustments and the ability to add text and images. The video editor lets you cut, merge and add sound to videos stored on the device.
       
    * Adds Open C++ (following on from Open C) to the platform. This brings the Standard Template Library (STL) and other popular platform-independent C++ libraries to S60.
       

Quotes from the press release

"S60 5th Edition’s new features and added functionality significantly enhances the products that intend to provide rich multimedia and Internet experiences for consumers. Intuitive sensor technologies, interactions via touch, and tactile feedback creates delight and excitement for consumers and unparalleled innovation opportunities for developers and internet content providers," said Lee Williams, Senior Vice President, S60 Software, Nokia. "With this release we will see manufacturers create and extend their portfolio of products with new types of devices addressing a broader range of consumer needs."

"The versatile developer support offered by S60 5th edition enables developers to write applications in a range of languages that they are already very familiar with," said Tom Libretto, Vice President, Forum Nokia. "That familiarity and being able to arm developers with the tools and technologies that best suit their needs will allow for further innovation of new applications and services, not only for S60 5th edition, but also for S60 3rd Edition Feature Packs 1 and 2."

"The S60 5th Edition SDK presents an exciting opportunity for mobile application development," said Erik Abair, senior vice president of engineering and co-founder of Kyte. "Development on this new platform will advance touch technology, provide more flexibility to create new user interfaces for our mobile application, Kyte Mobile Producer, and improve the overall user experience for consumers."

"Over the years, SHAPE Services have observed an astounding evolution in Nokia mobile platforms and development environments which have been further revolutionized by the latest Symbian S60 5th Edition SDK," said Igor Berezovsky, CEO, SHAPE Services GmbH. "It is great to see that Nokia was able to keep the original spirit of the S60 platform while continuing to provide compatibility for previous editions of S60. This allowed for quick and easy porting of Shape Services' IM+ All-In-One Instant messenger to the new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic."

You can read the full press release here.

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Nokia's S60 5th Edition
Evolution Of The User Interface



User interface (UI) is one of those jargony-sounding terms that are often used to make one feel smarter or better informed than really is. It is a term that you've probably heard before but you may have never heard clear and precise definition, although it has a very simple meaning!

User interface is the way in which the product is designed to interact with the user in terms of the graphical, textual, and auditory information the program presents to the. In simple words it is set of all the things that allow you and your phone to communicate with each other.

Introduction and launch of the new S60 Touch UI gives the application developers an exciting challenge to bring the mobile user experience to the next level.

It is great to see that Nokia S60 dev team have managed to greatly improve UI, add touch funtionality but keep the original spirit of the S60 platform and full backward compatiblity! Although most of the applications will work just fine on touchscreen devices, developers need to redesign user interface to get the most from touch controls and further improve customer's touch experience for their applications!

Instead of waiting, Idean's developers jumpstarted the work in cooperation with Joiku - one of the hottest developer companies out there - by giving their killer JoikuSpot application concept a brand new cool look and greatly improving it’s usability.

So, here it is, the first glimpse of how the typical 3rd party application optimized for the 5th Ed might look like and I have to admit that I am impressed. This glimpse into the future is a preview of what is to come, a great user experience that combines natural touch interaction with fresh, usable and effective user interfaces and I just hope that more developers will follow the Joikus example!!



Presented UI is just a concept and not a final version, JoikuSpot Touch Edition is still in design phase, and these screens are made just to help you to visualize what the end product might look like!

"Idean was able to "bring JoikuSpot to life" with WOW-elements never seen in software UI on S60 devices"- Tom Ojala, Chairman, Joiku

We started a project with Joiku with the task to "create a UI which is on par with Apple". And that is exactly what we did. We did not simply brush up the graphics, but also created a component-based approach to help developers write their code efficiently. This part of the project is not yet public, but is another great example of Idean’s capacity to deliver a full service.

"Idean’s UI design does a great favour for Nokia’s Touch UI, bringing the best elements and capabilities of the Touch UI concretely to life"- Tom Ojala, Chairman, Joiku. "Idean’s UI design for JoikuSpot made it possible to simplify the user experience and usage flow of JoikuSpot with more than 50%" - Tom Ojala, Chairman, Joiku

To learn more UI optimization visit Idean's web site, they can make this happen for your S60 application as well!!



Izvor: Symbian-Freak

Ovaj Symbian OS 9.5 bice HIT sigurno garantujem

Ono sto je za sada ipak najbitnije jeste kompatibilnost aplikacija starije verzije Symbiana sa ovom verzijom.

Trebalo bi da su kompatibilne:

I to je napredak. Bas bi bilo veselo da nisu, onda bi morali da cekamo mesecima na aplikacije za ovu verziju 

zanimljivo ovo izgleda....

Kakvo je stanje sa zastitom sistemskih fajlova?

jos ne mogu da razbiju na N82 FW 30.0.019 a ne na ovaj ,,sigurno je bolje zasticen

Windows Live Messenger now available for Symbian 5th Edition devices



Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has released an updated version of its Windows Live Messenger for Symbian S60 devices. The new version renders perfectly on the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) 5800 XpressMusic’s screen, as you can see from the image above. The same should be true for the Nokia N97, once it hits the market.

I won’t go into details explaining Windows Live Messenger’s functionality. As you know, it’s a mobile client for Microsoft’s popular instant messaging service, which allows you to chat with your MSN/Windows Live buddies while on-the-go. In addition, the mobile client also gives you access to your Windows Live Hotmail email account…

Interested? Here’s a link from where you can download Windows Live Messenger (box.net) and take your IM with you, no matter where you go.

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