Symbian Boasts Groundbreaking Features

LONDON—Symbian has introduced new features to its smart-phone operating system that it claims will impact the future of devices and services.

At the Symbian Smartphone Show here Oct. 16, the company announced what officials referred to as "groundbreaking" technologies. The two new technologies, ScreenPlay and FreeWay, will power the future of mobile computing, said Symbian CEO Nigel Clifford, in a keynote speech at the event.

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ScreenPlay is the new graphics architecture in Symbian OS, the leading operating system for mobile phones and devices. ScreenPlay will power the richest visual experience available on a mobile phone to date and gives users big-screen effects in their pockets while ensuring long battery life, officials claimed. It is designed for mobile devices with user interfaces that integrate high-definition video content, lifelike games and animations, the company said.

FreeWay is the new IP networking architecture in Symbian OS that provides broadband speeds on pocket devices. On mobile broadband networks, FreeWay delivers the capability for super-fast download speeds, high-quality audio/video streaming and crystal-clear VOIP (voice over IP) calls, the company said.

"Smart phones are increasingly becoming interpersonal computers with similar specifications to desktop computers but offering a more personal connected experience," Clifford said in his keynote. "People want more from their favorite device: They want a fully interactive Internet experience, the best graphics possible, seamless access to the quickest and cheapest connection available, and the ability to download, watch, create and upload high-definition video content with high-quality sound."

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Symbian also announced that Google has made available a free, native Symbian C++ version of Google Maps for mobile. Google developed the technology for Symbian smart phones. This new version of Google Maps for mobile will provide users with a fast and responsive mobile version of Googles mapping and location services software for Symbian smart phones. The client is available for download for Nokias S60 3.0 platform on Symbian OS-based phones here and was demonstrated at conference. Nokia owns a more than 50 percent stake in Symbian.

Symbian officials said to date more than 145 million Symbian smart phones have shipped worldwide to more than 250 major network operators. And with the new Google software, users can now access the combination of Symbians functionality and performance and Googles services directly from their mobile devices, Symbian said.

"At Google our goal is to develop our products to bring the best possible experience to the user," said Shannon Maher, director of engineering at Google, in a statement. "With this in mind, we created an optimized version of Google Maps for mobile that takes advantage of the performance and deep integration we can achieve using native Symbian C++ to deliver an excellent experience for the large, important and growing market of Symbian users."

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