Symbian 3 and 4 Progress
Development is moving forward on Symbian, a mobile phone operating system that is largely under free licensing. Version 3 should show all its planned features by the first quarter of 2010.
As developer Victor Palau writes in the Symbian blog, 30 of the 43 new features are already in the code. Among the functions that have been missing in Symbian and will be part of the next version are some desktops. Up to now Symbian mobile phones had rudimentary home screens and then only with the option to display bookmarks for applications. Things have moved along from there. HD videos and song recognition familiar to iPhone apps were added. Hardware accelerated graphics are also noticeable in the camera function. CalDAV support and integration of Qt 4.6.1 in the Symbian 3 SDK are further features.
Developers also addressed the double-click function found in many touchscreen menus that works inconsistently in some mobile phones by introducing the Single Tap solution.
Qt for Symbian is available under LGPL in the repositories of the Symbian Foundation. The Symbian Product Development Kit (PDK) named S3 PDK3.0 already has Qt. While Symbian 3 is approaching completion, Symbian 4 is already in the works. Symbian provides an overview of the future version in their features list.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Blender App Makes it to the Big Screen
The animated film "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2025 and Blender was a part of it.
-
Linux Mint Retools the Cinnamon App Launcher
The developers of Linux Mint are working on an improved Cinnamon App Launcher with a better, more accessible UI.
-
New Linux Tool for Security Issues
Seal Security is launching a new solution to automate fixing Linux vulnerabilities.
-
Ubuntu 25.04 Coming Soon
Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) has been given an April release date with many notable updates.
-
Gnome Developers Consider Dropping RPM Support
In a move that might shock a lot of users, the Gnome development team has proposed the idea of going straight up Flatpak.
-
openSUSE Tumbleweed Ditches AppArmor for SELinux
If you're an openSUSE Tumbleweed user, you can expect a major change to the distribution.
-
Plasma 6.3 Now Available
Plasma desktop v6.3 has a couple of pretty nifty tricks up its sleeve.
-
LibreOffice 25.2 Has Arrived
If you've been hoping for a release that offers more UI customizations, you're in for a treat.
-
TuxCare Has a Big AlmaLinux 9 Announcement in Store
TuxCare announced it has successfully completed a Security Technical Implementation Guide for AlmaLinux OS 9.
-
First Release Candidate for Linux Kernel 6.14 Now Available
Linus Torvalds has officially released the first release candidate for kernel 6.14 and it includes over 500,000 lines of modified code, making for a small release.