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P800/P802
White Paper, January 2003
70
Symbian OS Operating System
Symbian is the company that developed the Symbian OS technology. Symbian OS is the
operating system for Wireless Information Devices, and can be found in a wide range of PDA,
‘communicator’ and ‘smartphone’ designs. The Symbian OS technology delivers application and
communication capabilities in a small package - it has a robust system kernel, powerful object-
oriented middleware, industry-standard communication protocol suites, and an optimised
implementation of Sun's Java
TM
language. Symbian OS is the largest-selling operating system for
smartphones and communicators.
The P800 is based on Symbian OS v7.0 and the established UIQ UI. Sony Ericsson and Symbian
have been actively working with software developers for some time, and a range of UIQ-based
applications have already been publicly demonstrated. Sony Ericsson is also an active participant
in developer events such as the Symbian Developer Conference and Java One.
Third party applications may make use of the communications, display and storage facilities of
the P800. Such applications may therefore be much more powerful than browser-based
applications, enabling games to be faster and more exciting, for example. Applications from other
PDA OSs and from the PC world may be expected to be ported across to the P800. Applications
already available for Symbian OS (for example, on Psion products) may be ported by the supplier
to run on the P800.
The P800 supports Java-based applications. Java technology is platform-independent, portable,
modular and secure. Java applications are easy to develop, deploy and maintain. Because it
supports both PersonalJava
TM
and J2ME CLDC/MIDP (see next page), the P800 is ready to run
many applications written for handheld computers and mobile phones.
The P800 has 12 Mbyte user data space in which settings, user data and third party applications
are stored. (9Mbyte on the P802). Applications are easily downloaded directly to the P800 using
the browser, or may be installed from a connected PC.
Key consumer applications for the consumer include games, instant messaging, chat, information
and entertainment. Corporate applications may be deployed, extending information access to the
P800.
Open Environment
Applications may be written in both C++ and Java. Supported Java environments are
PersonalJava
TM
and J2ME CLDC/MIDP, both of which are optimised for quick start-up time.
C++
C++ is the most comprehensive and flexible programming environment, which enables rich
applications to developed. C++ applications will run faster than those written in Java.