The Mobile Phone Operating System

A mobile phone's operating system is a necessary evil when it comes to the handset. The OS is needed in order to provide the vital link between the handset's hardware and the other hardware the phone has to contend with - its owner.

Once upon a time the mobile OS was just there to facilitate dialling someone, messaging someone and holding the contact details, of those someones needing to be messaged or called. Now, the OS has evolved into something else, with functionality that could very well rival the desktop PC - if not at least be comparable with the way it operates.

The hardware behind the OS is also key, especially in the developments the phone has seen over recent years. These advances are in the data speeds, processor technology, touch screen abilities, and the graphical prowess of the more higher-end smartphones.

The operating system plays a vital part in delivering all this goodness to the end user, along with what they want to achieve with the mobile. This is in addition to what they can now do with the phone, with the plethora of applications available today. All of which is a far cry from just dialling, messaging or using an address book on a mobile.

One Mobile Ring is taking a look at the mobile phone OS, with where it's come from, how it's evolved to what it is today and with all the various platforms found on different handsets.

The Symbian OS is synonymous with Nokia, none more so than after the Finnish phone manufacture acquired the company behind it back in 2008. That OS has been used by many other mobile manufactures over the years besides just Nokia, where even Samsung and Sony Ericsson have been using the platform and in more recent times too.

Symbian can have its roots traced back as far as the late 1980s, with the Psion series of devices where the OS was then under the guise of EPOC. Back then, Symbian was made up from assembly code and the programming language C. Even today, C can still be seen as a core part of the OS and applications being developed for the platform.

Psion was still using Symbian in the late 90s, with their popular handheld series of lite-netbooks known as the Psion Series 5 and 7. That very company also coined the phrase ‘netbook', although it's more popularly associated with Asus since the year 2008.

Nokia notably began using the platform with their Communicator series of smart phones from 2001, with the Nokia 9210 - which in itself was almost a Psion looking device. Since then, Nokia's Communicators could be seen as pioneering the use of the smart phones today. Those very handset might even be a contributing factor to the ushering in of everything from the Apple iPhone, to the HTC Desires of this world.

There have been a number of Symbian variants over the past decade, with the Series 60 being the most commonly seen and still used today. S60, as it's been abbreviated to, has now undergone around 12 revisions that include feature packs and versions.

Another notable version of Symbian was known as User Interface Quartz or UIQ, which appeared in version 7.0 of the platform. This found its way with a new graphical user interface on to Sony Ericsson P series handsets, such as the P910 and the full touch screen Motorola A1000. This was very successful as a variant to the OS from 2003 onwards, where there was even a revision of the UIQ on the Motorola RIZR Z10 in 2008.

The S60 5th Edition, or Symbian^1 is where we are today in shipping mobile phones. This operating system is found on Nokia handsets dating back to 2008, with the Nokia 5800 and is featured on the recent Nokia C6 Qwerty keyboard phone. Symbian ^1 is also seen on other manufactures mobiles, from the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD, to the Sony Ericsson Satio and Vivaz handsets of late.

There has always been a constant in the Symbian S60 evolution, and that's the screen sizes supported by each new version. The first edition only supported 176x208, where the 5th edition brought in 640x360 touch screens - as a comparison.

The Nokia application repository was a turning point for the OS, where in May 2009 the Finnish phone company introduced the Ovi Store. Now, there are more than 13,000 applications and items to be downloaded from the Nokia app store with the numbers increasing all the time.

Symbian^3 was announced earlier on in the year, whilst at the same time Nokia unveiled that platform was now completely open source. This new version, which is strictly S60 5th edition 5.2 or version 11 of Symbian, brings in the likes of 3D and HDMI support. Some of these feature will be seen in the upcoming Nokia N8 handset, and the rumoured N9 Qwerty keyboard version of that handset.

A report from Analyst company Gartner earlier in the year stated that Symbian accounted for 41.2-percent of all smartphone sales, in the second quarter of 2010. This was the highest figure within the various platforms, with RIM following on second, with Android third and the Apple iOS last.

The flagship N series mobile phones by Nokia are the high end models, with all the trims, bells and whistles expected on the leading smartphones of today. The future of Symbian in these devices could be bleak, as it's been reported that Nokia is said to be dropping the platform on these handsets. Instead, it's been noted they will be switching to the joint Intel and Nokia platform MeeGo on those devices.

Next week One Mobile Ring will be addressing Android, following on from that BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and finally, Bada.

Originally published at OneMobileRing.com