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> running a real OS that can run real apps. Don’t underestimate Symbian and the quality of apps available even for niche products. Sure, Android and iOS might

> running a real OS that can run real apps. Don’t underestimate Symbian and the quality of apps available even for niche products. Sure, Android and iOS might get the newest fanciest things in the Valley, but as long as your expectations are not too uncommon, you will find decent apps for nearly every usecase. Add to this that Nokia still has some high-quality apps themselves (Nokia Maps, e.g.) and the fact that Symbian has been around for a long time, and you shouldn’t have too many problems from an app perspective with these phones. I mean, even the hardly-sold N9 has apps for just about everything (and fifty trillion more things only insane people with too much time on their hands could want).

kalleboo 13y ago
It's not Symbian, it's S40. So, J2ME apps.
anonymous 13y ago
AFAIK there's no freely available SDK for S40 phones, which limits the number of available applications to only what Nokia deem in their interest to make.
- pavlov 13y ago
  Certainly there is a S40 SDK. It's been around for a decade -- the S40 phones have always been programmable with Java ME and many Nokia extensions. As of this new device, the S40 SDK has been renamed as the "Asha software platform": "The new Nokia Asha software platform builds on the success of the Series 40 Developer Platform, to deliver consumers globally the power of a smartphone in an affordable, pocketable form factor. A 3” QVGA screen and swipe UI delivers a superior, fun user experience. For developers the Nokia Asha software platform offers new Java APIs and an updated web apps platform for desirable, high value apps." http://www.developer.nokia.com/Develop/asha/ http://www.developer.nokia.com/Develop/asha/
  - Zigurd 13y ago
    That's technically correct, but J2ME, even on Asha, is limited in capability and capacity: 2MB jar size and 4MB heap size, and without the rich component lifecycle that enables Android software to fit in small-ish heap limits. There is also no background processing, and no concept of middleware components like bound services. If you are a close partner of Nokia, you can get an SDK to create code that accesses S40 OS directly, but that's much like coding on a feature-phone's RTOS, and only for creating pre-loaded software.

kalleboo 13y ago

It's not Symbian, it's S40. So, J2ME apps.

anonymous 13y ago

AFAIK there's no freely available SDK for S40 phones, which limits the number of available applications to only what Nokia deem in their interest to make.

pavlov 13y ago
Certainly there is a S40 SDK. It's been around for a decade -- the S40 phones have always been programmable with Java ME and many Nokia extensions. As of this new device, the S40 SDK has been renamed as the "Asha software platform": "The new Nokia Asha software platform builds on the success of the Series 40 Developer Platform, to deliver consumers globally the power of a smartphone in an affordable, pocketable form factor. A 3” QVGA screen and swipe UI delivers a superior, fun user experience. For developers the Nokia Asha software platform offers new Java APIs and an updated web apps platform for desirable, high value apps." http://www.developer.nokia.com/Develop/asha/ http://www.developer.nokia.com/Develop/asha/
- Zigurd 13y ago
  That's technically correct, but J2ME, even on Asha, is limited in capability and capacity: 2MB jar size and 4MB heap size, and without the rich component lifecycle that enables Android software to fit in small-ish heap limits. There is also no background processing, and no concept of middleware components like bound services. If you are a close partner of Nokia, you can get an SDK to create code that accesses S40 OS directly, but that's much like coding on a feature-phone's RTOS, and only for creating pre-loaded software.