Appendix C. Information Resources

   

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Symbian OS

Our discussion thus far has centered largely on developing mobile applications for the Symbian OS. It's important to understand the community interest and architecture associated to this OS.

The Symbian OS is the most widely licensed operating system among manufacturers of next -generation mobile phones. The Symbian OS effort is the brainchild of Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, and Psion, and has been licensed to Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Fujitsu, and Matsushita (Panasonic). It is a full-fledged 32-bit multitasking operating system that provides the following capabilities for mobile devices.

• data management

• communications

• graphics

• multimedia

• security

• application engines

• messaging engine

• Bluetooth support

• browser engines support

• data synchronization and internationalization

Symbian-based phones support GSM, GPRS, and in the future WCMDA, CDMA 2000 (see sidebar on Symbian OS). Borland's C++ support for Symbian OS is geared to facilitate the development of 2.5G/3G mobile device applications and take advantage of these aforementioned capabilities and technologies.

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY ACRONYMS

There are lots of confusing acronyms associated to mobile industry. A handful of some of the more common and emerging acronyms is provided in Table B.2.

Table B.2. Mobile Technology Acronyms

Acronym	Definition
2G	Second-Generation technology
3G	Third-Generation technology
BSSGP	Base Station Subsystem GPRS Protocol
CDMA	Code Division Multiple Access
CDPD	Cellular Digital Packet Data
DSP	Digital Signal Processor
EDGE	Enhanced Data Rates for GSM
GPRS	General Packet Radio Service
GSM	Global System for Mobile Communications
GTP	GPRS Tunneling Protocol
HDR	High Data Rate
HSCSD	High-Speed, Circuit-Switched Data
IXRTT	One Times Radio Transmission Technology
L2CAP	Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol
LLC	Logical Link Control
MMS	Multimedia Message Service
PCS	Personal Communications System Evolution
PDA	Personal Digital Assistant
RLC/MAC	Radio Link Control/Medium Access Control
SMS	Short Message Service
SNDCP	SubNetwork Dependent Convergence Protocol
SoC	Systems-on-a-Chip
TETRA	TErrestrial Trunked RAdio
WAP	Wireless Access Protocol
WCMDA	Wideband CDMA
WML	Wireless Markup Language

Borland's support includes the capability to develop applications for different form factors and for different uses. Figure B.2 provided an illustration of one of the more recent Symbian OS products developed by Nokia. A list of current products is also provided here.

• Nokia 9210/9210i ”Nokia 9290

• Sony Ericsson P800

• Nokia 3650/7650

An excellent white paper titled "Getting Started with C++ on the Nokia 9200 Series Communicator," which is available online, will get you started in developing C++ mobile apps even if you don't have the C++ Mobile Edition. You can find this white paper at http://www.symbian.com/developer/techlib/papers/cpp_9200/C++_Nokia_9200.html. To develop the Hello World example that's described in this online paper, you should obtain the Nokia 9200 Series Software Development Kit (SDK) for Symbian OS (see http://www.forum.nokia.com/).

NOTE

The Nokia 9200 Series SDK provides documentation, tools, sample code, and a Microsoft Windows “hosted emulator to facilitate development of mobile apps. In the absence of C++ Mobile Edition, the SDK is essential for developing, testing, and debugging C++ applications.

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