Platform

What's new for developers in Symbian OS v9.4?

(Mark Shackman)
Symbian OS v9.4 is a major upgrade to Symbian OS, delivering a number of architectural enhancements and new or extended APIs that are of interest to developers. Key enhancements introduced since Symbian OS v9.3 include Demand Paging for internal fixed storage, RAM Defragmentation and improved file system performance.Read the article

Symbian OS v9.5

Symbian has unveiled the new benchmark in mobile operating systems, Symbian OS v9.5. Combining improved performance with a range of new developer features it promises faster, cheaper, and more feature rich Symbian OS phones.Read the article

Symbian OS Error Codes

This spreadsheet contains a comprehensive list of Symbian OS Error Codes. Download the spreadsheet (142K zipped)

What's new in v9.3

Symbian OS v9.3 is primarily targeted towards device manufacturers, delivering updates to make the process of producing a device faster and more flexible, with the resulting products working more responsively. Read the article

What’s new in v9.2

(Mark Shackman)
Symbian OS v9.2 is targeted to address the prosumer 3G handset market segment and represents a major step for the Symbian platform as it is the first product to be subject to a strict compatibility policy. This has delivered on Symbian's commitment to a backward binary compatible release to v9.1, whilst still providing key updates and improvements in the performance of the Symbian OS. This paper outlines those updates that will be of most interest to developers. Read the paper (96kb)

Symbian OS v9.X SIS File Format Specification

This paper, written by Symbian's Security team, describes the newly restructured and redesigned SIS file format which is introduced to complement the new security architecture of Symbian OS v9.1. SIS files are used as the primary means of packaging files for deployment to a device, and are interpreted accordingly by the software installer. As well as simply containing files, the SIS file can contain conditional statements which influence the installation e.g. device specific installations, language-specific installations, and user-selectable optional components.Read the paper (351 Kb)

What's new for developers in Symbian OS v9.1?

(Mark Shackman)
Version 9 of Symbian OS introduces a new tool chain and Platform Security. This paper outlines the new and changed functionality in Symbian OS version 9, with extended details on the UI and Graphics API and the new Calendar API. Read the paper (100 Kb)

Evolving to Symbian OS v9

The major focus with Symbian OS v9 has been to ensure everything is in place to allow Symbian OS to be used in a wider range of handsets - the higher volume ‘mid range’ of handsets - ultimately leading to wider adoption of smartphones. Discover what it means to develop for Symbian OS v9 and migrate your applications. Read the paper (220 Kb)

What's new for C++ developers in Symbian OS v8.1?

Version 8.1 of Symbian OS makes some significant architectural and performance improvements on v8.0, while maintaining binary and source compatibility. Support for Personal Area Networking using Bluetooth® wireless technology and a More systematic approach to documentation are also significant additions. Read the paper (147 Kb)

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FAQs

Here you can find the answers to the most frequently asked developer questions, together with other useful tech tips.More