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Symbian, the most widely used mobile operating system in the world (but for how long?) has just announced that the product development kit, or PDK, for 3.0.0 is now available for download. The PDK is for Symbian^3 now that the OS has reached Functionality Complete on June 16. It has a full build of Symbian^3 and the entire source code so application developers have all the information and tools they’ll need to work with. It looks like things are moving right along for S^3 as the entire reference library was released just two short months ago.
According to the Symbian blog:
S^3 represents a major step forward in the Symbian platform, providing a greatly improved user experience, multiple personalised homescreens, an exciting and advanced multimedia experience including HDMI support, the introduction of Next Generation Graphics, better data networking and much, much more! Symbian also commissioned a great new theme for the S^3 platform called “Fresh” which is included for the first time in this PDK. Take a look at the screenshots.
This is the first time FC has been achieved for a fully open-sourced Symbian release and represents the transition of this latest version of the platform from largely feature submission and stabilisation into the “hardening phase”. This is a key message to the community to engage with S^3! PDK 3.0.0 is the first release to support a full UI ROM executing on ARMv5 platforms.
It looks like the platform will finally join everyone else in this century, so I’m looking forward to seeing what it has in store. Features such as multiple homescreens, advanced graphics and HDMI support seem like standard fare for most smartphones these days, so it’s good to see that they’re coming to Symbian.
However, looking at the screen shots, it’s easy to tell that this isn’t a major overhaul and facelift as much as it is just an advancement. Quite frankly, it’s a little disappointing and makes me wonder whether it will ultimately hold its own against iOS4, Android 2.2 and 3.0 and the coming Windows Phone 7. After all, dedicated Symbian sites and Nokia fans are fleeing in droves.
[Via: Symbian Foundation]
About The Author
Marc Flores
Marc has been a mobile fanatic for the better part of a decade and has had more devices pass through his hands than he would care to count. Originally from Los Angeles and briefly in San Francisco, Marc now lives in Brooklyn where, unlike Will Park, he longs for simpler times and simpler technology. All the while, he writes about gadgets and wireless technology as he tinkers, hacks and ultimately breaks most of his gadgets in the process. Marc has written about the mobile industry for Boy Genius Report, MobileCrunch, Laptop Magazine and has had his work appear in the Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, CrunchGear and more.
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Chris P
