The Symbian Platform Roadmap

February 2010

[1]
Welcome!

[2]
 So what’s new in February?
Hot news

On the 4th February Symbian completed conversion

of the Symbian platform to fully open source
Fully Open licenses, removing membership as a barrier to
engagement. The tool chain will follow during H1
2010.

A new app for the platform, Podcasts allows the

Podcasts user to easily download podcasts and manage
app subscriptions. It is being contributed into
Symbian^3 from an existing open source project.

More details are becoming clear around

New web Symbian^4. Contribution proposals submitted in
browser January include plans to re-architect the browser
and web and the web widget runtime environment to build
runtime both on top of Qt and take advantage of the latest
Webkit.

[3]
 35 Symbian^1 devices so far…

F-03A F-09A SH-04A SH-03B*

N97

SH-07A SH-06A SH-05A SH-06A SH-03A

F-01A F-01B F-03B F-08A 5530 Express 5230 Nerv
X6 X6 16GB*
Music

Vivaz*

F-04A F-04B* F-02B F-02A 5800 5800 Express N97 Mini 5235* SH-05B* SH-02B SH-02A SH-01A SH-01B SH-04B Satio
i8910 Navi Music

* 6 devices announced but not shipping as of 12 Feb 2010 [4]

 Growth & Momentum
New contributions to the roadmap every month

Day 1 June End 2009

The future 
[5]
 User experience 
Developer experience 
Device Creator experience 

1 The roadmap – evolving experiences 

S^1 S^2 S^3 S^4 S^5  S^6 

2 The roadmap – release summaries 

Feature spotlights 
Appendices:  Pla?orm overview 
Reader’s guide to the roadmap 

[6]
 Evolving the User Experience
Making Symbian devices delightful to use

S^3 S^4
Devices Devices
From H2 2010 From H1 2011

Easier to use: Single tap across the UI, A fresh new

support for gestures such as pinch and flick look for all
applications,
Faster: ScreenPlay uses hardware
based on Qt.
acceleration to deliver a blazingly fast UI
Direct access
Watch HD movies and play games on TV via
to key
HDMI
functionality
Improved Homescreen: Multiple pages, and beautiful
new widget manager, more powerful widgets effects and
transitions in a
New app: Podcasts streamlined
user interface
Radio app: “Buy now” from music stores

One click connectivity makes connecting

to the internet a breeze

7 [7]
 Evolving the Developer Experience
What does the Symbian platform offer to developers?
Web Runtime
The easiest way into developing for mobile
devices – WRT allows web developers to directly
re-use their skills in HTML, CSS, Javascript and
AJAX to create Homesceen widgets and stand-
alone applications
WRT is heavily reworked in S^4 to run on top of
Qt and take advantage of the latest Webkit.
S^4 also sees extended support for the evolving
W3C widget standards.
Rich Middleware
Symbian is a great platform for powerful
applications that take full advantage of the
opportunities of mobile.
Its breadth already includes the leading
location subsystem and there’s lots more
coming in S^3…
Integrate gesture support into your app UI
Make use of sensors such as accelerometer
Set up peer-to-peer networks with Zeroconf
Easily integrate web services using the Social
Mobile Framework
Qt
Widely used across many platforms and loved by
developers, Qt is an extremely powerful and easy
to use application framework.
It becomes the primary application
framework in S^4, bringing all of its advantages
to Symbian app developers everywhere
S^4
Delivering S^4 onwards, Qt Mobility APIs will
S^4
provide an ever richer Qt-based experience
A Powerful OS
Designed from the ground up for networked
mobile devices, the Symbian platform is efficient,
scaleable and secure.
FreeWay and One Click Connectivity deliver
an awesome networking experience to
applications
S^3
ScreenPlay allows applications to take full
S^3 advantage of graphics hardware acceleration to
provide a great-looking UI
Writeable Demand Paging leaves more
S^4 memory free for running applications
[8]
Evolving the Device Creator Experience
Making it easy to make devices

2010 2011

S^3 S^4 S^5

Writeable Data Paging

Improved memory management enables better
performance on low cost hardware

ScreenPlay
Take full advantage of graphics hardware
acceleration to deliver a fast and engaging UI

Localised to 40+ locales

A great basis for targeting markets worldwide

SHAI
Making hardware adaptation cheaper and easier,
getting devices to market more quickly

Multicore
Supporting the next generation of hardware
platforms

[9]
 Roadmap Highlights
Evolving experiences

S^3 S^4
Complete: Q1 2010 Complete: Q3 2010
Devices: From H2 2010 Devices: From H1 2011

Easier to use: Single tap across the UI, one click

An ever better user

connectivity, support for gestures such as pinch and

flick A fresh new look for all applications,
experience

Faster: ScreenPlay for UI acceleration based on Qt.

Watch HD movies on TV via HDMI Direct access to key functionality and

New app: Podcasts* beautiful effects and transitions in a
streamlined user interface
Radio app: “Buy now” from music stores
Homescreen: Multiple pages, new widget manager

Qt available in kits: embrace the future of app development

platform for
developers

Qt becomes the primary native runtime

A richer

ScreenPlay: Graphics hardware acceleration

FreeWay: High bandwidth networking Social Mobile Framework brings easy
Zeroconf: Easy network sharing web service integration

Improved memory management (WDP)

creators
Helping
device

Localised to 40+ locales

SHAI
Multicore

February
2010[10]
 1 The roadmap – evolving experiences 

S^1 S^2 S^3 S^4 S^5  S^6 

2 The roadmap – release summaries 

Feature spotlights 
Appendices:  Pla?orm overview 
Reader’s guide to the roadmap 

[11]
 Now H1 2010 H2 2010 H1 2011

S^2 Kits Complete Handsets

available Now From H1 2010

S^3 Kits Complete Handsets

available Q1 2010 From H2 2010

S^4 Kits Complete Handsets

Q1 2010 Q3 2010 From H1 2011

Notes: “Complete” equates to functional

completion. “Handsets” dates are a guide based on
February a typical 3-9 month gap between “Complete” and
2010 first handset shipment. Actual device shipment
dates are the domain of device creators. [12]
 Symbian^2
Key themes

Kits Complete Handsets

S^2 available Now From H1 2010

The first platform release hosted by the Symbian Foundation

A Complete Platform All-new Homescreen

The Symbian platform is a complete solution, stretching An updated Homescreen application supports user
from applications right down to kernel and hardware customization, embedded widgets and live internet content.
adaptation:

  A full suite of applications built around a UI

framework that supports a great deal of customisation
  Arich middleware layer designed to make all the
features in a mobile device easily available to developers,
fostering innovation above
  Thisall sits above a powerful and efficient OS layer
designed specifically to best deliver on the particular
requirements and constraints of internet-enabled mobile
devices
And this is all open source – available to and owned by
the community, free
Location Triggering
The Symbian platform already has industry-leading support
for location technologies such as GPS and cellular
positioning.
Symbian^2 adds platform support allowing an application to
trigger a custom event when the user enters or leaves a
defined trigger area: “Get ready to get off the train, your
station is next”.
In Symbian^2 any application can be location-smart.

[13]
 Symbian^3
Key themes
S^3 Kits Complete
available now Q1 2010
Evolution across the platform, a big step forward in user experience
A Big Step Forward in User Experience
Multi page Homescreen – group your widgets (eg
“home” and “work”) and easily swipe between pages;
download and add widgets using the new widget manager
“Single tap" support throughout the UI: no more "tap to
select, tap again to action"
A faster UI including effects such as view transitions,
semi-transparency and fades - delivered on top of
ScreenPlay, Symbian’s new graphics architecture
Multi-touch gesture support (swipes, pinches etc)
comes to many applications, including Photos and Video
Player
One-click connectivity streamlines the experience of
going on line. High bandwidth uploads and jitter-free
streaming are delivered by FreeWay, Symbian’s new data
networking architecture.
Handsets
From H2 2010
Improved Music and Video
HDMI: Watch movies and play games on a big TV screen,
listen to streaming music on your hifi
See playlists, track titles and artists on your Bluetooth
headset’s display (Bluetooth AVRCP v1.4)
Download podcasts and manage subscriptions with the new
Podcasts app
The Radio app gains music store integration - “More info”
and “Buy now” buttons use RT+ metadata to make the radio
experience interactive
For Developers: Qt Runtime Pre-integrated
In Symbian^4 Qt will become the standard runtime for
applications. It is available as an option in kits as of S^3 to
allow developers to start exploring this new world.
[14]
 Symbian^4
Key themes
S^4 Kits
Q1 2010
A revolution in user experience, built on Qt
The Touch UI Reworked
Symbian^4 will deliver a whole new user interface for
Symbian devices.
The on-screen layout of applications will be updated and
navigation will be streamlined to provide a simpler and
more fluent user experience.
The suite of platform applications will be re-designed and
re-organised to support this elegant and accessible
paradigm, features being grouped to maximise ease of
use.
The user interface will take full advantage of ScreenPlay,
the new graphics architecture introduced in S^3, to
incorporate visually stunning effects such as transparency
and transitions.
This all adds up to a winning user experience for devices
based on Symbian^4.
Complete Handsets
Q3 2010 From H1 2011
Qt – A Revolution in App Development
In Symbian^4 Qt becomes the standard environment in
which all native applications are written and run.
This brings the simplicity of the Qt development
environment to Symbian developers, coupled with the
power of the underlying Symbian platform.
Qt is loved by developers as it is quick and easy to create
powerful yet maintainable applications. Qt’s modular and
scaleable architecture makes it a great fit for cutting edge
mobile devices.
Tighter Web Integration
The Social Mobile Framework, introduced in Symbian^4,
provides all the building blocks necessary for all of the most
popular web-based services to be integrated seamlessly into
both platform and 3rd party applications.
[15]
[16]
 Qt 
S^4 UI Refresh 
Social Mobile Framework 
MulKcore 
SHAI 

Feature spotlights 
Appendices:  Pla?orm overview 
Reader’s guide to the roadmap 

17 [17]
 Qt
New application and UI framework

“Cut development time by nearly 50%”

“Reduces code by more than 50%”
“Deploy 50% faster because of better code maintainability”

Google Earth VLC KDE

94% 76%

“Qt meets or exceeds my “Qt has increased my

100,000+ developers expectations” productivity”
5000+ companies working with Qt

Widely used Loved by developers

Animations … Physics … Transitions

Kinetic scrolling … 3D effects
Gestures … Multitouch
Integrated Modular Scales to fit
Webkit architecture hardware
rendering allows easy capabilities
engine extension

Strong architecture Delivering stunning effects

Source: Qt website [18]
 Qt
New application and UI framework

Up to and
S^2 S^3 S^4 and beyond…
including

Devices Devices Devices

From H1 2010 From H2 2010 From H1 2011

Qt adopted as the
Qt runtime
primary runtime for
Qt runtime integrated into
applications
available to Symbian^3 kits
download and and available for
Orbit UI framework
install inclusion in
provides enhanced Qt-
devices
based controls

Platform applications
ported to Qt and Orbit

[19]
Symbian^4 UI Refresh
A whole new look, a whole new feel

[20]
Symbian^4 UI Refresh
A whole new look, a whole new feel

New user experience built on Qt

Integrated menu frees up valuable screen space

New toolbar provides direct access to commands

Long touch unlocks context-specific actions

Beautiful effects and transitions

A complete refresh of the app suite

Coming in S^4

Devices
From H1 2011

[21]
 Social Mobile Framework
So much stuff to share, so many sites, so little time.

See friends’ tweets through your phonebook <Your favourite

Surf their photos from your gallery web services here>
Your web life available in any app, right where you
want it

Symbian’s Social Mobile Framework S^4

A core set of libraries that ease integration of web

services into applications

An extendable framework allowing adaptors for

individual services to be added

Brought to you by:

[22]
 Multicore
Great battery life, performance on demand

Current processor designs are leading to increasingly power-hungry devices.

Multicore processors are designed to achieve better performance with given
battery life.

Symbian: designed for low power consumption from the ground up.

Now leading the next wave of energy efficiency.

Multicore support in Symbian, optimized for ARM and low power environments.

[23]
 Multicore
Great battery life, performance on demand

Key usecases optimised to take

full advantage of multicore
S^5

2011
Symbian^3 running
on dual Cortex-A9 Multicore
2010
SoC devices will be
shipping
2009

Demo on ARM11 Kernel support for

MPCore 2008 S^3
multicore

2006 FPGA Demo on

Cortex-A9

Product-ready
2004 S^4 multicore support

Symbian and ARM

SMP work initiated

[24]
 S.H.A.I.
Symbian Hardware Abstraction Interface

Additional
common
A common Symbian platform
interface code
aligned with
industry Simplified
standards Adaptation adaptation
Hardware layer

SHAI is a new, open interface being adopted and developed by a range of hardware vendors

Hardware adaptation becomes easier – the latest hardware is available sooner, device
manufacturers can spend more time making their devices great.

Driving speed, efficiency and time-to-market.

[25]
 S.H.A.I.
Symbian Hardware Abstraction Interface

Symbian

Adaptation
Hardware

Review of existing
interfaces completed, the The bulk of new SHAI
Some existing interfaces first new SHAI components components are
Any remaining SHAI
approved to become part of may be delivered delivered
components are
SHAI immediately completed

S^3 S^4 S^5 S^6

Devices Devices Devices Devices

From H2 2010 From H1 2011 From H2 2011 From H1 2012

[26]
 Feature spotlights 
Appendices:  Pla3orm overview 
Reader’s guide to the roadmap 

27 [27]
The most widely used mobile platform today (and it’s open)
Used in 47% of smartphones worldwide
79 million handsets shipped in 2009
Source: Canalys, market share for 2009

[28]
 The richest mobile platform available today

Apps and UI
Rich UI framework
Enterprise integration
Complete app suite

Middleware
Deep web integration
HD Multimedia
Communications
Location & sensors

Core OS
True multitasking
Secure
Scalable and efficient

A more efficient, scalable and secure core.

The most powerful collection of middleware, a great base for

application development.

Huge scope for customisation and differentiation.

[29]
 02.11g POP email OSCP EMS Bluetooth stereo headset USB 802.11nqwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 support EDGE Presence ARM9 support Image editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS O
MPP HapKcs ARM Cortex A8 support SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB Mass Storage UPnP Camcorder Buddy list Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP e
upport Calendar SAT Landscape‐portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802.11g POP email OSCP EMS Bluetooth stereo headset USB 802.11nqwerty Numeric
E Presence ARM9 support Image editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP HapKcs ARM Cortex A8 support SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM rad
age UPnP Camcorder Buddy list Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes support Calendar SAT Landscape‐portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IM
Location
apps
Video
telephony File manager
Messaging
apps
Conversation
apps
Instant
messaging
Image
editors
Gallery
Video
center
Voice
recorder
Profiles Settings
app
P email OSCP EMS Bluetooth stereo headset USB 802.11nSQLite WebKit browser LocaKon‐based triggering Swipe home screen SIP Audio messaging Playlists PictBridge Extensible Search Acceler
ensor framework SUPL Home screen widgets TV‐out iCal OpenC SDHC Photo album HSDPA Power manager MTP Contacts VoIP WebDAV Photo upload HSUPA App miniview Album art ARM Cort
Media Image Camera Video Music Screen Content
MS Exchange support SendAs vCard 2.1 World Clock Smart messaging Camera app Qwerty Half‐qwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 support EDGE Presence ARM9 support Image editor Blueto
sharing UI
PoC Contacts Email
viewer apps editors
Video player
player saver
Help app
control
Home screen

DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP HapKcs ARM Cortex A8 support SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB Mass Storage UPnP Camcorder Buddy list Notepad sync
MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes support Calendar SAT Landscape‐portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802.11g POP email OSCP EMS Bluetooth stereo headset U
Phone apps IP Telephony Organizer Dictionary
Graphics
Speech
recognition Web UIs Photos Radio Printing Tech View
Device
UIs control
xtensible Search Accelerometer support Task manager Sensor framework SUPL Home screen widgets TV‐out iCal OpenC SDHC Photo album HSDPA Power manager MTP Contacts VoIP WebDAV 
UI

ew Album art ARM Cortex A9 802.11b QoS framework MS Exchange support SendAs vCard 2.1 World Clock Smart messaging Camera app Qwerty Half‐qwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 sup
port Image editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP HapKcs ARM Cortex A8 support SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB 
uddy list Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes support Calendar SAT Landscape‐portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802
Location Telephony & Legacy Service API IP Connectivity Remote
oth stereo headset USB 802.11n qwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 support EDGE Presence ARM9 support Image editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP
services
VPN client
SIM presence
Image handling Video utilities
framework management connectivity
Input methods

t SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB Mass Storage UPnP Camcorder Buddy list Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes sup
portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802.11g POP email OSCP EMS Bluetooth stereo headset USB 802.11nqwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 support ED
Generic app
DRM
Messaging
Open services
Legacy Camera
Service API
High level
Internet Remote storage Classic UI UI resources
support middleware metadata services
e editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP HapKcs ARM Cortex A8 support SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB Mass Sto
Protocols

 Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes support Calendar SAT Landscape‐portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802.11g PO
reo headset USB 802.11 Full QWERTYNumeric keypad Touch ARM11 support EDGE Presence ARM9 support Image editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP H
Wireless Access Access security Mobile TV
Remote
management
Metadata
Multimedia app
framework
Web
IP App
protocols
Shortlink
connectivity
SVG Tiny App installation

SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB Mass Storage UPnP Camcorder Buddy list Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes supp
‐portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType Video ediKng IMAP Voice recorder 802.11g POP email OSCP EMS Bluetooth stereo headset USB 802.11nqwerty Numeric keypad Touch AR
Security IP App Multimedia UI Home screen Haptics
Networking
Multimedia
IM & Presence DLNA device UI accelerator Web services
M9 support Image editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP HapKcs ARM Cortex A8 support SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKona
services services framework services services
management
middleware

rder Buddy list Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes support Calendar SAT Landscape‐portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice record
Bluetooth stereo headset USB 802.11nqwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 support EDGE Presence ARM9 support Image editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator
upport SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB Mass Storage UPnP Camcorder Buddy list Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Not
cape‐portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802.11g POP email OSCP EMS Bluetooth stereo headset USB 802.11nqwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 supp
Kernel & Data Board Locating Networking Baseband
Multimedia Graphics
HW services support services services services
port Image editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP HapKcs ARM Cortex A8 support SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB 
uddy list Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes support Calendar SAT Landscape‐portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802
h stereo headset USB 802.11nqwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 support EDGE Presence ARM9 support Image editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP H
OS XML Device Comms Shortlink Imaging
SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB Mass Storage UPnP Camcorder Buddy list Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes supp
Security services services framework
WLAN
services extensions
Text

portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802.11g POP email OSCP EMS Bluetooth stereo headset USB 802.11nqwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 support ED
e editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP HapKcs ARM Cortex A8 support SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB Mass Sto
 Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes support Calendar SAT Landscape‐portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802.11g PO

Over 100,000 man years of development.

stereo headset USB 802.11nqwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 support EDGE Presence ARM9 support Image editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP Hap
SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB Mass Storage UPnP Camcorder Buddy list Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes supp
portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802.11g POP email OSCP EMS Bluetooth stereo headset USB 802.11nqwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 support ED

Shipped in over 330 million mobile devices.

e editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP HapKcs ARM Cortex A8 support SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB Mass Sto
 Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes support Calendar SAT Landscape‐portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802.11g PO
stereo headset USB 802.11nqwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 support EDGE Presence ARM9 support Image editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP Hap

A proven platform.
SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB Mass Storage UPnP Camcorder Buddy list Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes supp
portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802.11g POP email OSCP EMS Bluetooth stereo headset USB 802.11nqwerty Numeric keypad Touch ARM11 support ED
e editor Bluetooth GPS HD video A‐GPS OMA DRM 1.0 WAP Calculator XMPP HapKcs ARM Cortex A8 support SMS Landmarks database IrDA Music player FM radio app DicKonary USB Mass Sto [30]
 Notepad sync Instant messaging IMAP email MMS SIM sync Lotus Notes support Calendar SAT Landscape‐portrait switching HapKc feedback SSL GPS TrueType IMAP Voice recorder 802.11g PO
Bluetooth stereo headset USB 802.11n 
 Feature spotlights 
Appendices:  Pla?orm overview 
Reader’s guide to the roadmap 

31 [31]
 Further Information

  The top level roadmap:

  developer.symbian.org/roadmap

  An overview of each release, eg Symbian^3:

  developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/Symbian%5E3

  More detailed roadmap information

  developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/Symbian_Foundation_Technology_Roadmaps

  The release plan

  developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/Platform_Release_Plan

[32]
 How to read the plan (1)

  The yellow arrow depicts the evolving Symbian platform codeline

  Release ‘blobs’ show that each Symbian platform release is a snapshot
of the codeline at that time

Symbian^4
Symbian^2

Symbian^3

6 months

  Each blob represents a release reaching “functionally complete”

  Prior to “functionally complete” the prime focus for contributions is
on extending and enhancing the platform
  At “functionally complete” feature growth for the release ceases
and the focus for contribution moves fully towards improving
stability. In effect the release branches away from the main line of
development.

33 [33]
 How to read the plan (2)

  Each release on the roadmap evolves through a few distinct

phases…

Functionally
Complete Hardened Retired
Symbian^X

Feature
Hardening Stable
growth

New features Focus moves to Defect fixes are

are developed collectively still accepted but
and submitted driving up the main focus for
to the MCL stability defect fixing is on
later releases

34 [34]
 Change history

NB The latest version of the platform roadmap is always available

at: developer.symbian.org/roadmap

  February 2010
  New S^4 UI renderings
  Focus on user, developer and device creator experiences
  Added new Nokia and Sony Ericsson devices
  December 2009
  Restructured
  Updated all content for cleaner look
  September 2009
  Orange added as a contributor
  Vision, platform overview and roadmap pages tweaked

35 [35]