P800/P802

White Paper, January 2003

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 JavaTM 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 PersonalJavaTM 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 PersonalJavaTM 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.

70