 |
|
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | AWS Convergence Technologies |
| Stable release | 6.07 / 2006-08-01 |
| Operating system | Desktop Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux Mobile Android, BlackBerry OS, iPhone OS, Windows Mobile, Maemo |
| Website | http://weather.weatherbug.com/ |
WeatherBug is a company that provides live weather data and maintains continuously monitored weather stations throughout the United States, mainly located at public and private schools, educational institutions such as museums, partner television stations and other various venues. The program is available for download from WeatherBug’s website, websites of the approximately 85 TV partners, and was formerly distributed through the AOL Instant Messenger installation utility. WeatherBug is also available for download for iPhone OS via the App Store, and for Android phones via Android Market. WeatherBug Direct is a line of free applications for mobile devices, including WeatherBug Direct for BlackBerry OS and WeatherBug Direct for Windows Mobile.
Contents[hide] |
WeatherBug was founded in 1992 by CEO Bob Marshall. It started in the education market by selling weather tracking stations to public and private schools, and then using the data they contributed for profit. Later, the company began partnering with TV stations, such that broadcasters could use WeatherBug’s local data in their weather reports. In 2000, the Weatherbug desktop application was launched, and later, the website.
In 2005, Microsoft AntiSpyware, now known as Windows Defender, flagged WeatherBug as a spyware program, but this classification was removed.[1] The program is adware, including both banner and pop-up ads, but may be upgraded for $19.95 to WeatherBug Plus, which does not include advertising.[2] Early versions were difficult to uninstall and warned users not to remove WeatherBug since it could “save your life”[3]. Programs exist to facilitate removal of these early versions and current versions include a program to uninstall WeatherBug.[4]
At present, the desktop application of WeatherBug is designated for U.S. ZIP codes only. For details regarding international locations, users can visit WeatherBug’s website. International users can also receive RSS global weather feeds via email or through their RSS reader.
WeatherBug operates a network of (at last count) over 8,000[5] weather stations, as well as the 1,470 Urbanet stations, thus making WeatherBug the single-largest weather network in the country. WeatherBug contracts with television stations in most markets to maintain the weather stations, which the television channels will in turn use for forecasting; as a result, most of the WeatherBug stations are clustered in mesonets in each station’s designated market area. Most WeatherBug stations are located in schools in both metropolitan and rural areas. These are the stations that the WeatherBug application uses to display local data, though the software is also compatible with the standard ASOS observations provided by the roughly 1,000 airport stations across the United States. WeatherBug also operates a network of over 1,000 weather cams and over 8,000 lightning detection sensors as a part of its new WeatherBug Total Lighting Network.
In 2004, AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc., the National Weather Service and the Department of Homeland Security entered into a public-private agreement so that the WeatherBug stations could be used by Homeland Security to assess weather conditions in the event of a disaster. The agreement was renewed and expanded in January 2007 to allow NWS (National Weather Service) and NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Association) access to the WeatherBug data. This data, through the Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System, is used to initialize mesoscale forecast models such as the Weather Research and Forecasting model.
Shazam is a commercial mobile phone based music identification service, with its headquarters in London, England. The company was founded in 1999 by Christopher Barton, Philip Inghelbrecht, Dhiraj Mukherjee and Avery Wang.
Shazam uses a mobile phone’s built-in microphone to gather a brief sample of music being played. An acoustic fingerprint is created based on the sample, and is compared against a central database for a match. If a match is found, information such as the artist, song title, and album are relayed back to the user. Relevant links to services such as YouTube or iTunes are incorporated into some implementations of Shazam.
Contents[hide] |
Shazam’s oldest service is the 2580 service, accessible only in the United Kingdom. Customers dial the shortcode 2580 from their mobile phone and hold the phone to capture any music playing in the background. The service analyzes the captured sound and seeks a match based on an acoustic fingerprint. The result is sent to the customer in the form of an SMS. Customers are charged for the call to the shortcode and are charged for any successfully matched (tagged) tracks.
Shazam is also a free or low-cost application for some Nokia smartphones, Apple iPhone, BlackBerry devices, Windows Mobile devices, Android devices, and most Sony Ericsson phones (not to be confused with Sony Ericsson’s own TrackID, a similar application). It does the same thing as most phones, but does not text the response. Instead the result is shown on the screen complete with details on Artist, Album, Title, Genre, Music label, a thumbnail image of the song/album artwork, links to download the song on iTunes or the Amazon MP3 store and, where relevant, show the song’s video on YouTube.
A similar application is available for Java compatible handsets called ShazamiD. ShazamiD differs from the iPhone application in that ShazamiD is a subscription service and only available in the UK (customers currently pay £2.00 per month and must text a shortcode to receive a link to the midlet), whereas Shazam for iPhone, Android and Sony Ericsson phones is a free application available in a number of countries.
The “acoustic fingerprints” used by Shazam are based on spectrograms that have been generalized to a group of peak intensity frequencies. Pairs of these peak values are compared against the main database to locate matching songs.[1]
 |
|
|---|---|
 Android 2.2 |
|
| Company / developer | Open Handset Alliance |
| Programmed in | C (core)[1], C++ (some third party libraries), Java (UI) |
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | Free and open source software |
| Initial release | 21 October 2008 (2008-10-21) |
| Latest stable release | 2.2 (Froyo) / 20 May 2010; 2 months ago (2010-05-20)[2] |
| Supported platforms | ARM, MIPS, Power Architecture, x86 |
| Kernel type | Monolithic (modified Linux kernel) |
| Default user interface | Graphical |
| License | Apache 2.0 and GPLv2[3] |
| Official website | android.com |
Android is an operating system for mobile devices such as cellular phones, tablet computers and netbooks. Android was developed by Google and based upon the Linux kernel and GNU software. It was initially developed by Android Inc. (a firm later purchased by Google) and lately by the Open Handset Alliance.[4] According to NPD Group, unit sales for Android OS smartphones ranked second among all smartphone OS handsets sold in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2010.[5][6] BlackBerry OS holds 36% and iOS holds 21% ranked first and third respectively with Android at second with 28%.[7] A Nielsen report for the same quarter placed Android in fourth place with 9% of the market.[8][9]
Android has a large community of developers writing apps that extend the functionality of the devices. There are currently over 70,000 apps available for Android, which makes it the second most popular mobile development target.[10] Developers write managed code in the Java language, controlling the device via Google-developed Java libraries.[11]
The unveiling of the Android distribution on 5 November 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 71 hardware, software, and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices.[12][13] Google released most of the Android code under the Apache License, a free software and open source license.[14]
The Android operating system software stack consists of Java applications running on a Java based object oriented application framework on top of Java core libraries running on a Dalvik virtual machine featuring JIT compilation. Libraries written in C include the surface manager, OpenCore[15] media framework, SQLite relational database management system, OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics API, WebKit layout engine, SGL graphics engine, SSL, and Bionic libc. The Android operating system consists of 12 million lines of code including 3 million lines of XML, 2.8 million lines of C, 2.1 million lines of Java, and 1.75 million lines of C++.[16]
Contents[hide] |
In July 2005, Google acquired Android, Inc., a small startup company based in Palo Alto, California, USA.[17] Android’s co-founders who went to work at Google included Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger),[18] Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.),[19] Nick Sears (once VP at T-Mobile),[20] and Chris White (headed design and interface development at WebTV).[21] At the time, little was known about the functions of Android, Inc. other than that they made software for mobile phones.[17] This began rumors that Google was planning to enter the mobile phone market.
At Google, the team led by Rubin developed a mobile device platform powered by the Linux kernel which they marketed to handset makers and carriers on the premise of providing a flexible, upgradeable system. It was reported that Google had already lined up a series of hardware component and software partners and signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of cooperation on their part.[22][23][24] More speculation that Google would be entering the mobile-phone market came in December 2006.[25] Reports from the BBC and The Wall Street Journal noted that Google wanted its search and applications on mobile phones and it was working hard to deliver that. Print and online media outlets soon reported rumors that Google was developing a Google-branded handset.[26] More speculation followed reporting that as Google was defining technical specifications, it was showing prototypes to cell phone manufacturers and network operators.
In September 2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony.[27][28]
“Today’s announcement is more ambitious than any single ‘Google Phone’ that the press has been speculating about over the past few weeks. Our vision is that the powerful platform we’re unveiling will power thousands of different phone models.”
On 5 November 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of several companies which include Texas Instruments, Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile was unveiled with the goal to develop open standards for mobile devices.[4] Along with the formation of the Open Handset Alliance, the OHA also unveiled their first product, Android, a mobile device platform built on the Linux kernel version 2.6.[4]
On 9 December 2008, it was announced that 14 new members would be joining the Android project, including PacketVideo, ARM Holdings, Atheros Communications, Asustek Computer Inc, Garmin Ltd, Softbank, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba Corp, and Vodafone Group Plc.[29][30]
With the exception of brief update periods, Android has been available as open source since 21 October 2008. Google opened the entire source code (including network and telephony stacks[31]) under an Apache License.[32]
With the Apache License, vendors can add proprietary extensions without submitting those back to the open source community.
Android has seen a number of updates since its original release. These updates to the base operating system typically fix bugs and add new features.
| 1.1 | Released 9 February 2009 |
|---|---|
| 1.5 (Cupcake) Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.27 |
On 30 April 2009, the official 1.5 (Cupcake) update for Android was released.[33][34] There were several new features and UI updates included in the 1.5 update:[35]
|
| 1.6 (Donut) Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.29[36] |
On 15 September 2009, the 1.6 (Donut) SDK was released.[37][38] Included in the update were:[36]
|
| 2.0/2.1 (Eclair) Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.29[39] |
On 26 October 2009 the 2.0 (Eclair) SDK was released.[40] Among the changes were:[41]
The 2.0.1 SDK was released on 3 December 2009.[43] The 2.1 SDK was released on 12 January 2010.[44] |
| 2.2 (Froyo)[45] Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.32[46] |
On 20 May 2010 the 2.2 (Froyo) SDK was released.[2] Changes included:[47]
|
| 3.0 (Gingerbread) Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.33 or 34[46] |
Tentatively scheduled for Q4 2010 launch. Confirmed new features:
Unconfirmed new features: |
The Android Emulator default home screen (v1.5).
Current features and specifications:[57][58][59]
| Handset layouts | The platform is adaptable to larger, VGA, 2D graphics library, 3D graphics library based on OpenGL ES 2.0 specifications, and traditional smartphone layouts. |
|---|---|
| Storage | SQLite, a lightweight relational database, is used for data storage purposes |
| Connectivity | Android supports connectivity technologies including GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and WiMAX. |
| Messaging | SMS and MMS are available forms of messaging, including threaded text messaging and now Android Cloud to Device Messaging Framework(C2DM) is also a part of Android Push Messaging service. |
| Web browser | The web browser available in Android is based on the open-source WebKit layout engine, coupled with Chrome‘s V8 JavaScript engine. The browser scores a 93/100 on the Acid3 Test. |
| Java support | While Android applications are written in Java, there’s no Java Virtual Machine in the platform and Java byte code is not executed. Java classes get recompiled into Dalvik executable and run on Dalvik virtual machine. Dalvik is a specialized virtual machine designed specifically for Android and optimized for battery-powered mobile devices with limited memory and CPU. Android does not support J2ME, like some other mobile operating systems. |
| Media support | Android supports the following audio/video/still media formats: H.263, H.264 (in 3GP or MP4 container), MPEG-4 SP, AMR, AMR-WB (in 3GP container), AAC, HE-AAC (in MP4 or 3GP container), MP3, MIDI, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP.[59] |
| Additional hardware support | Android can use video/still cameras, touchscreens, GPS, accelerometers, magnetometers, accelerated 2D bit blits (with hardware orientation, scaling, pixel format conversion) and accelerated 3D graphics. |
| Development environment | Includes a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance profiling, and a plugin for the Eclipse IDE. |
| Market | Like many phone-based application stores, the Android Market is a catalog of applications that can be downloaded and installed to target hardware over-the-air, without the use of a PC. Originally only free applications were supported. Paid-for applications have been available on the Android Market in the United States since 19 February 2009.[60] The Android Market has been expanding rapidly. As of April 30, 2010, it had over 50,000 Android applications for download.[61] |
| Multi-touch | Android has native support for multi-touch which was initially made available in handsets such as the HTC Hero. The feature was originally disabled at the kernel level (possibly to avoid infringing Apple’s patents on touch-screen technology).[62] Google has since released an update for the Nexus One and the Motorola Droid which enables multi-touch natively.[63] |
| Bluetooth | Support for A2DP and AVRCP were added in version 1.5;[35] sending files (OPP) and accessing the phone book (PBAP) were added in version 2.0;[41] and voice dialing and sending contacts between phones were added in version 2.2.[47] |
| Videocalling | Not supported by default but as seen with the HTC Evo 4G, handset manufacturers can build front-facing cameras into their phones, so Qik, a software from the Android Market can use it for video-calling.[citation needed] |
| Multitasking | Multitasking of applications is available.[64] |
Architecture Diagram
The first phone to run the Android operating system was the HTC Dream, released on 22 October 2008.[65]
Early Android device.
The early feedback on developing applications for the Android platform was mixed.[66] Issues cited include bugs, lack of documentation, inadequate QA infrastructure, and no public issue-tracking system. (Google announced an issue tracker on 18 January 2008.)[67] In December 2007, MergeLab mobile startup founder Adam MacBeth stated, “Functionality is not there, is poorly documented or just doesn’t work… It’s clearly not ready for prime time.”[68] Despite this, Android-targeted applications began to appear the week after the platform was announced. The first publicly available application was the Snake game.[69][70] The Android Dev Phone is a SIM-unlocked and hardware-unlocked device that is designed for advanced developers. While developers can use regular consumer devices purchased at retail to test and use their applications, some developers may choose not to use a retail device, preferring an unlocked or no-contract device.
The Android SDK includes a comprehensive set of development tools.[71] These include a debugger, libraries, a handset emulator (based on QEMU), documentation, sample code, and tutorials. Currently supported development platforms include x86-architecture computers running Linux (any modern desktop Linux distribution), Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later, Windows XP or Vista. Requirements also include Java Development Kit, Apache Ant, and Python 2.2 or later. The officially supported integrated development environment (IDE) is Eclipse (3.2 or later) using the Android Development Tools (ADT) Plugin, though developers may use any text editor to edit Java and XML files then use command line tools to create, build and debug Android applications as well as control attached Android devices (e.g., triggering a reboot, installing software package(s) remotely).[72]
A preview release of the Android software development kit (SDK) was released on 12 November 2007. On 15 July 2008, the Android Developer Challenge Team accidentally sent an email to all entrants in the Android Developer Challenge announcing that a new release of the SDK was available in a “private” download area. The email was intended for winners of the first round of the Android Developer Challenge. The revelation that Google was supplying new SDK releases to some developers and not others (and keeping this arrangement private) has led to widely reported frustration within the Android developer community.[73]
On 18 August 2008 the Android 0.9 SDK beta was released. This release provided an updated and extended API, improved development tools and an updated design for the home screen. Detailed instructions for upgrading are available to those already working with an earlier release.[74] On 23 September 2008 the Android 1.0 SDK (Release 1) was released.[75] According to the release notes, it included “mainly bug fixes, although some smaller features were added”. It also included several API changes from the 0.9 version.
On 9 March 2009, Google released version 1.1 for the Android dev phone. While there are a few aesthetic updates, a few crucial updates include support for “search by voice, priced applications, alarm clock fixes, sending gmail freeze fix, fixes mail notifications and refreshing intervals, and now the maps show business reviews”. Another important update is that Dev phones can now access paid applications and developers can now see them on the Android Market.[76]
In the middle of May 2009, Google released version 1.5 (Cupcake) of the Android OS and SDK. This update included many new features including video recording, support for the stereo bluetooth profile, a customizable onscreen keyboard system and voice recognition. This release also opened up the AppWidget framework to third party developers allowing anyone to create their own home screen widgets.[77]
In September 2009 the “Donut” version (1.6) was released which featured better search, battery usage indicator and VPN control applet. New platform technologies included Text to Speech engine (not available on all phones), Gestures & Accessibility framework.[78]
Android Applications are packaged in .apk format and stored under /data/app folder on the Android OS. The user can run the command adb root to access this folder as only the root has permissions to access this folder.
On July 12, 2010 Google announced the availability of App Inventor for Android, a Web-based visual development environment for novice programmers, based on MIT’s Open Blocks Java library and providing access to Android devices’ GPS, accelerometer and orientation data, phone functions, text messaging, speech-to-text conversion, contact data, persistent storage, and Web services, initially including Amazon and Twitter. [79] “We could only have done this because Android’s architecture is so open,” said the project director, MIT’s Hal Abelson.[80] Under development for over a year[81], the block-editing tool has been taught to non-majors in computer science at Harvard, MIT, Wellsley, and the University of San Francisco, where professor David Wolber developed an introductory computer science course and tutorial book for non-computer science students based on App Inventor for Android.[82][83]
The Android Developer Challenge was a competition for the most innovative application for Android. Google offered prizes totaling 10 million US dollars, distributed between ADC I and ADC II. ADC I accepted submissions from 2 January to 14 April 2008. The 50 most promising entries, announced on 12 May 2008, each received a $25,000 award to fund further development.[84][85] It ended in early September with the announcement of ten teams that received $275,000 each, and ten teams that received $100,000 each.[86] ADC II was announced on 27 May 2009.[87] The first round of the ADC II closed on 6 October 2009.[88] The first-round winners of ADC II comprising the top 200 applications were announced on 5 November 2009. Voting for the second round also opened on the same day and ended on November 25. Google announced the top winners of ADC II on November 30, with SweetDreams, What the Doodle!? and WaveSecure being nominated the overall winners of the challenge.[89][90]
Google has also participated in the Android Market by offering several applications for its services. These applications include Google Voice for the Google Voice service, Sky Map for watching stars, Finance for their finance service, Maps Editor for their MyMaps service, Places Directory for their Local Search, Google Goggles that searches by image, Google Translate, Google Shopper, Listen for podcasts and My Tracks, a jogging application.
With the growing number of Android handsets, there has also been an increased interest by third party developers to port their applications to the Android operating system. Famous applications that have been converted to the Android operating system include Shazam, Backgrounds, and WeatherBug.
The Android operating system has also been considered important enough[weasel words] by a lot of the most popular internet sites and services to create native applications. These include MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.
As of 15th July 2010, the Android Marketplace had over 70,000 applications, with over 1 billion downloads.[91][92]
Libraries written in C and other languages can be compiled to ARM native code and installed using the Android Native Development Kit. Native classes can be called from Java code running under the Dalvik VM using the System.loadLibrary call, which is part of the standard Android Java classes.[93][94]
Complete applications can be compiled and installed using traditional development tools.[95] The ADB debugger gives a root shell under the Android Emulator which allows native ARM code to be uploaded and executed. ARM code can be compiled using GCC on a standard PC.[95] Running native code is complicated by the fact that Android uses a non-standard C library (known as Bionic). The underlying graphics device is available as a framebuffer at /dev/graphics/fb0.[96] The graphics library that Android uses to arbitrate and control access to this device is called the Skia Graphics Library (SGL), and it has been released under an open source license.[97] Skia has backends for both win32 and Unix, allowing the development of cross-platform applications, and it is the graphics engine underlying the Google Chrome web browser.[98]
There is a community of open-source enthusiasts that build and share Android-based firmware with a number of customizations and additional features, such as FLAC lossless audio support and the ability to store downloaded applications on the microSD card.[99] This usually involves rooting the device. Rooting lets users load modified firmwares allowing users of older phones to use applications available only on newer releases.[100]
Those firmware packages are updated frequently, incorporate elements of Android functionality that haven’t yet been officially released within a carrier-sanctioned firmware, and tend to have fewer limitations. CyanogenMod is one such firmware.
On 24 September 2009, Google issued a cease and desist letter[101] to the modder Cyanogen, citing issues with the re-distribution of Google’s closed-source applications[102] within the custom firmware. Even though Android OS is open source, phones come packaged with closed-source Google applications for functionality such as the application store and GPS navigation. Google has asserted that these applications can only be provided through approved distribution channels by licensed distributors. Cyanogen has complied with Google’s wishes and is continuing to distribute this mod without the proprietary software. He has provided a method to back up licensed Google applications during the mod’s install process and restore them when it is complete.[103]
Android robot logo.
Android uses the Droid font family made by Ascender Corporation.[104]
Android Green is the color of the Android Robot that represents the Android operating system. The print color is PMS 376C and the online hex color is #A4C639, as specified by the Android Brand Guidelines.[105]
Text logo.
The custom typeface of Android is called Norad, only used in the text logo.[106]
Research company Canalys estimates that by Q2 2009, Android had a 2.8% share of the worldwide smartphone market.[107] By the following quarter (Q3 2009), Android’s market share had grown to 3.5%.[108]
In February 2010 ComScore ranked the Android platform as obtaining a 9.0% of the smartphone platform marketshare. This figure was up from an earlier estimate of 5.2% stated in November 2009.[109] In July 2010 ComScore revised Android’s share for 3 months March/April/May 2010 to 13.0%, an increase of 4 percentage points, 0.2 percentage points behind Microsoft whose share had dropped 1.9%.[110]
In October 2009, Gartner Inc. predicted that by 2012, Android would become the world’s second most popular smartphone platform, behind Nokia‘s Symbian OS, which is very popular outside the US. Meanwhile, BlackBerry would fall from 2nd to 5th place, iPhone would remain in 3rd place, and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile would remain in 4th place.[111]
Analytics firm Flurry estimates that 250,000 Motorola Droid phones were sold in the United States during the phone’s first week in stores.[112]
In May 2010, Android’s first quarter US sales surpassed that of the rival iPhone platform. According to a report by the NPD group, Android achieved 28% smartphone sales in the US market, up 8% from the December quarter. The iPhone’s sales were flat at 21% over the same reporting period.[113]
According to an interview with Eric Schmidt in The Guardian, Android is getting 160,000 new users per day (end June 2010) up from 100,000 per day in May 2010.[114]
Unlike closed-source mobile platforms like Apple’s iOS, Google tracks issues and feature requests publicly at Google Code‘s site.[115]
Using the native Google Calendar functionality for Android phones, an Android device user runs into the same limitations that exist in the Calendar application. The most noticeable defect is the lack of proper time zone support: it is not possible to set the time zone for start/end times of events.[144][145][146] Because of this issue, users experience difficulty while traveling with Android devices.[147]
 |
Wikinews has related news: Google Android smartphone sales triple in the UK this year |
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Android (operating system) |
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ex Zeus/Counter Force | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | HyperDevbox Japan, Octopus Studio (iPhone port) |
| Publisher(s) | HyperDevbox Japan, Conspiracy Entertainment, 505 Games, Metro3D |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Wii, PS2, iPhone OS, PC |
| Release date(s) | Arcade
PlayStation 2 Wii iPhone |
| Genre(s) | Rail shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) |
|
| Media | Wii Optical Disc, UMD, GD-ROM |
| Input methods | Wii Remote and Nunchuk |
Ex Zeus (also known as Counter Force) is a video game developed by HyperDevbox Japan. It was released in 2003 in the arcades running on a Tsunami Visual Technologies TsuMo arcade cabinet.[1] In 2004, a PlayStation 2 port was released, but only in Europe. Then in 2005, the game was released in the arcades once again, this time running on Sega NAOMI GD-ROM hardware, and only released in Japanese arcades.[2][3] There was also a PC port of the game released as shareware.[4] It was once again ported to the Wii under the working title of Shoot Out[5], later changed to Counter Force, and released in 2007. It was then reincarnated in 2009 for the iPhone, once again under the name Ex Zeus. An Android port was made available in 2010.[6]
| “ | Every day, thousands perish. Those who survive share rumors of an alien entity called ‘Diadora’. The survivors took refuge below the Earth’s surface, narrowly escaping the alien invaders. The governing Council ordered an immediate counterattack.The primary objective codenamed ‘Counter Force’ would reclaim the Earth’s surface using 3 experimental robots. The secondary objective is to investigate the alien war-machine’s weaknesses and defeat the mysterious ‘Diadora’.
Three freedom fighters – Sophia, Dynamis and Calista are humanity’s last hope for victory! |
” |
| Clockwiser | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Team Hoi Games |
| Publisher(s) | Rasputin Software |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Amiga CD32, DOS, Java, Android |
| Release date(s) |
,2008,2010 |
| Genre(s) | Puzzle |
Clockwiser is a computer game, developed by Team Hoi for the Amiga, DOS and Windows. It was published in 1994 by Rasputin Software. In 2008, a free online version of Clockwiser was released by the programmer responsible for the original DOS and Windows versions. In 2010, Clockwiser was released for Android.
There are over hundred levels, which consist of various arrangements of blocks. Each level is divided into two sections, an active one on the left and a static one on the right. The player’s task is to make the section on the left look exactly like the one on the right.
What makes the game challenging is that the player cannot move individual blocks directly. Instead, the player can select a rectangle-shaped group of blocks and move them along the rectangle’s edge, either clockwise or counterclockwise. The blocks are subject to gravity, so moving a block on top of empty space makes it fall down. On later levels, various other objects come into play, such as metal blocks that can’t be moved, teleporters, and bombs which destroy blocks they fall on.
One level in the game (called What happened, Deputy Dog?) is the easiest level ever in a computer game. As soon as the level starts, it is completed. This level is impossible to lose.
In 2008, the game was ported to Java and published online. In 2010, the game was ported to Android.
Same Game for Windows by Ikuo Hirohata
Same Game for Mac by Takahiro Sumiya
Contents[hide] |
SameGame was originally created as Chain Shot! in 1985 by Kuniaki Moribe (Morisuke). It was distributed for the Fujitsu FM-8/7 series in a Japanese monthly personal computer magazine called Gekkan ASCII.
The game was later ported under the name of ‘SAME GAME’ in 1992 for UNIX platforms by Eiji Fukumoto (Kyoto), followed by the one for the NEC PC-9801 series by Wataru Yoshioka (W. Yossy).
In 1993 it was ported to Windows 3.1 by Ikuo Hirohata. This version was translated into English by Hitoshi Ozawa and is still available from his software archive.[1]
In 1994, Takahiro Sumiya ported it to Macintosh. This version has some gameplay differences (three instead of five colors) and is probably the most widely distributed of the original series. It was the basis for Same Gnome/KSame on Linux.
KSame, the SameGame for KDE
Same Game is played on a rectangular field initially filled with typically 4 or 5 kinds of blocks placed at random. By selecting one of a group of adjoining blocks of the same color, a player may remove them from the screen by clicking them (single click in some versions, double click in others). Blocks that are no longer supported by removed blocks will fall down, and a column without any blocks will be trimmed away by other columns always sliding to one side (often the left.) The goal of the game is to remove as many blocks from the playing field as possible.
In most versions, there are no time constraints during the game, however, some implementations gradually push the rows upward or drop blocks from above. Sometimes the player can control the number and timing of blocks that drop from above in certain ways – for example, on iPhone OS this can be done by shaking the device in some versions. The game ends if a timer runs out or if no more blocks can be removed. Some versions (including Windows Mobile ones) include both a portrait (width is less than height) and landscape orientation (width is larger than height) of the playing field, with the field area being the same.
Same GNOME, the SameGame for GNOME
Most versions of the game give (n − k)2 points for removing n tiles at once, where k = 1 or 2 depending on the implementation. For instance, Insane Game for TI calculators uses (n − 1)2. Ikuo Hirohata’s implementation uses the formula n2 − 3n + 4. The Bubble Breaker implementation for Windows Mobile uses the n(n − 1) formula. The 2001 version released by Jeff Reno uses the formula n(n − 2).
Goal score variants:
Example of gradients
There are two main block appearances: colored square and circle/ball ones. Some of those include gradients, for example a gradient starting in the top left (with the main block color) and ending in the bottom right (with black) for balls, and other types of gradients for squares. Other tile themes (also known as skins) include animals (cat/dog/squirrel/turtle/monkey/etc), hearts, stars, faces, Lego blocks, jelly bears, Christmas theme, monochrome theme. Most games have only one skin, but others allow choosing a skin from several different ones. Also, there is a special visual aspect in some versions – instead of separate blocks, they feature bordered areas for adjacent blocks of the same color (examples: iDrops, SameGameManiak). Yet others have elaborate tile graphics, featuring pictures/patterns inside the tile, for example see the KSame and Same GNOME pics above (another game that has this visual feature is Glyph for iPhone OS, albeit its rules are different from SameGame).
Another game that can have this feature is Pexeso. Also, Tetris allows this, although the revealed photo is not under the playing field, but beside it (when you make a Tetris row, part of the photo is revealed, gradually revealing all; example – SexTris/PornTris). A iPhone OS non-SameGame example of this is Glyph (revealing a symbol when you complete each level). (See more at “Reveal the picture”)
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mobile Game Development |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder(s) | John Chasey and Fergus McNeill |
| Headquarters | Eastleigh, UK |
| Website | FinBlade |
FinBlade is a British mobile game developer. FinBlade was founded by John Chasey and Fergus McNeill in August 2007. Many of the FinBlade team were previously at mobile game developer IOMO. [1]
The studio were one of the first supporters of the Zeemote Bluetooth analogue joystick for mobiles with their 2-Player Fireworks title announced in January 2008. [2]
Later that month the new studio received critical success when FinBlade won the TIGA Best Mobile Game category for Tomb Raider Anniversary, developed for the New Media division of Eidos Interactive. [3] This was followed in June 2008 where they were nominated in the Best New UK/European Studio category in the Develop Industry Excellence Awards. [4]
In the second half of 2008, making use of the Bedrock technology from Metismo the studio’s output was largely focused on the Apple iPhone with numerous original and licenced titles appearing and charting on the App Store. [5]
Google Android support quickly followed with versions of many of their titles appearing for distribution on Handango, prior to billing support being added to the Android Market. [6] FinBlade later received nominations in the ‘Best Casual Game’ and ’2009 Groundbreaker’ categories for Tennis Slam in the Handango Champion Awards for the Android.
In June 2009 with the advent of a broader range of mobile content available on the iPhone FinBlade also started developing applications, commencing with Red Bull GP on the iPhone, published by Red Bull Racing, The Men Who Stare at Goats app promoting the film adaption of Jon Ronson‘s book, followed by a match report and news centre app for Liverpool F.C.. All the app titles reached the top of their respective category charts in the UK App Store.
In December 2009 the iPhone title Battleship, based on the Hasbro board game and developed by FinBlade, was published by EA Mobile to critical acclaim, described as the ‘best board game adaption yet’[7] by cnet and receiving a Gold Award from mobilegamefaqs.com[8]
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| Magypath | |
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| Developer(s) | Magy, Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Magy, Inc. |
| Platform(s) | Pocket PC, MS Smartphones, iPhone OS |
| Release date(s) | 2006 – Windows Mobile version2010 – iPhone version |
| Genre(s) | Board/Logic Game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Input methods | Touch screen, Stylus |
MagyPath is a logic boardgame primarily developed for Windows Mobile devices and iPhones. The goal is to pass all 100 levels and obtain as many points as possible.
At the start, the first mapping of the green, yellow, red and blue squares is displayed. The player starts from the bottom row and climbs to the top, stepping on the green squares adjacent to the square the player is currently on. If there are no green squares, the player can use yellow ones, but this costs a life. Stepping on the red or blue squares is not allowed.
Each time the player steps on a green or yellow square, the colors of the other squares may change, closing and opening the way to the top (blue squares do not change the color). A square that has been stepped on, changes to gray and joins to the path. The player can move across the already traversed path squares freely to access to adjacent green or yellow squares for the next step.
Though the blue squares do not change, they can be blown up using bombs and opening the new paths to the top. The bomb feature costs 4 lives. Every move to a higher row adds another 15 points to the score. Every green or yellow square joined to the path at the rows below, decreases the score by one. When the top row is reached, the player goes to the next level and starts at the bottom row again. Each new level adds another life. The main game strategy is to reach the top row of as many levels as possible, stepping on as few squares as possible.
It is possible to customize styles of the squares from Options menu in Windows Mobile versions of the game, or by shaking the device in iPhone versions.
| Earthworm Jim | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Shiny Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | NA Playmates Interactive Entertainment EU Virgin Interactive |
| Designer(s) | David Perry Doug TenNapel |
| Composer(s) | Mark Miller (Sega CD version by Tommy Tallarico) |
| Series | Earthworm Jim |
| Platform(s) | Mega Drive/Genesis, SNES, Sega CD, Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, DOS, Sega Master System, Game Boy Advance, iPhone OS, Windows, Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, WiiWare[1], Mobile phones |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Platform shoot ‘em up |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media | 24Mbit cartridge (Original Mega Drive/Genesis version) |
Earthworm Jim is a run and gun platform video game starring an earthworm named Jim in a robotic suit who battles evil. The game was developed by Shiny Entertainment, released for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1994, and subsequently ported to the SNES, Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Master System, and years later, the Game Boy Advance. Upon its release it was praised for its detailed animation, polished gameplay and surreal humor; it became the first game ever to receive a 100% review in GamesMaster magazine. A special edition of the game was released for the Sega CD which features a Red Book audio soundtrack, improved graphics and expanded levels,[5] and an even further enhanced version with redrawn, 256 colour graphics and an Earthworm Jim desktop theme, as well as all the Sega CD improvements, was released for Microsoft Windows 95. The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version was released through Wii‘s Virtual Console service in Europe on October 3, 2008,[4] and in North America on October 27, 2008.[3] Gameloft released a version for the iPhone and Symbian S60 Devices; and has recently developed an HD version for Xbox Live Arcade.
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The storyline involves many colorful characters. Jim himself (a character designed and also voiced by Doug TenNapel) was at first an ordinary Earth earthworm who did very earthworm-like things such as flee from crows and eat dirt. One day, in the space above Earth, the evil Psy-Crow had cornered a rebel spaceship pilot who had stolen an “Ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit” built by Professor Monkey-For-A-Head. The suit had been commissioned by the evil Queen Pulsating, Bloated, Festering, Sweaty, Pus-filled, Malformed, Slug-for-a-Butt so that she could further conquer the galaxy. In the ensuing space fight, the suit was dropped to Earth, and fell on Jim. By a stroke of luck, Jim managed to land within the collar of the suit, and it ended up mutating him into the large and intelligent (at least by earthworm standards) superhero he is today.
Jim overhears Psy-Crow talking to Queen Slug-for-a-Butt about the scorch marks left by the suit and her plans for her sister, Princess What’s-Her-Name. Jim thus sets out to rescue the princess, fighting many enemies along the way, such as Major Mucus, Chuck and Fifi, Evil the Cat and Bob the Killer Goldfish, although none of this is apparent throughout the game.
Earthworm Jim in the ‘New Junk City’ level on Super Nintendo
The gameplay of Earthworm Jim could be considered bizarre. Launching cows, using Jim’s head as a whip, and other bizarre twists add to the insanity. The player controls Jim at all times of the game. In the level sections, Jim can run, use his gun, swing on hooks, and get powerups for the blaster. The in-between levels called Andy Asteroids place Jim in a semi-3D race against the evil Psycrow. If Psycrow wins, then Jim must fight him in one-on-one combat in order to progress. Throughout the game were many added features, such as mini-bosses whose weaknesses Jim would need to find through trial and error. Crystal treadmills, underwater pod races, and other related things also appear.
Shiny have also made references to Earthworm Jim in its later titles; their game Sacrifice features an earthworm-like god called James, and there were additional references in the game MDK. Over ten years after its original release, Earthworm Jim was the featured game in Nintendo Power‘s first ever edition of Playback. On the PC CD-ROM version of the game there is an Assets folder, containing a PC desktop theme and another folder named EWJ_DT00. This folder contains a picture of a boy wearing a white Snoopy shirt standing next to a screen, the words “Tin with 1,000,000 points in Activision’s Laser Blast, from 1982.” written in white at the top. The remaining file is a wave file 26 seconds long of someone cussing while playing Earthworm Jim, with increasing frustration due to repeatedly “getting hurt” on the game. Earthworm Jim also appears as a secret character in the first Battle Arena Toshinden game for PC.
In 1999, Interplay had plans to make several of its games into movies, with Earthworm Jim being one of them. Since then, no movie was ever made.
Earthworm Jim 3D paid tribute to the original Earthworm Jim, by having Jim initiate a “Fridge Launch” in the first level, similar to how a “Cow Launch” occurred in the first level of the original. Unlike Earthworm Jim, which had a single cow occasionally fly by in the level background, five fridges were launched (six in the PC version). In the PC version, the first fridge falls on Jim in the intro (in the Nintendo 64 version, this fridge was replaced by an N64 logo). The other four fridges landed on characters just as Jim helped them out, with one fridge in each brain. Seeing the fridge for Fear is entirely optional. Humorously, the fridge in Fantasy missed its target, but a safe containing a Golden Udder inexplicably falls instead. The joke climaxes by having the final fridge fall on top of Jim in the game’s ending.
Earthworm Jim was awarded Best Genesis Game of 1994 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.[6] Earthworm Jim was rated the 114th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power‘s Top 200 Games list.[7]
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This section requires expansion. |
GameZone’s Dakota Grabowski took a look back at Earthworm Jim, and what made the game so appealing. “Back when platformers were the king of genres, Earthworm Jim made its presence known as the “cool kid on the block” by appealing to many demographics. Obtaining a moderate difficulty level and establishing itself with stylish humor, Earthworm Jim was a financial and critical success for Interplay and Shiny Entertainment.” Even after 16 years, the game still holds up to the standards of gamers today. “Even though the sequel is the best of the series, the original still is able to stand out on its own. The soundtrack from Tommy Tallarico is a testament to the amazing work that was done back in the 16-bit era. From beginning till the end, Tallarico’s work is a triumph. After multiple playthroughs, Earthworm Jim consistently provides enough charm to fill 10 Grand Canyons.”
A sequel, Earthworm Jim 2, was released in 1995 for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, SNES and PC, and a port was later released for the Game Boy Advance. Although the first title retains the same platforming gameplay throughout most of the game, many of the stages in the sequel feature some bizarre twist or gimmick, requiring the player to adapt to a new control system. For example, one level requires Jim to burrow through dirt using his gun; another is presented as an isometric shoot ‘em up; in another the character wears a salamander suit and must be guided through an intestine lined with villi.
Two further games, Earthworm Jim 3D (1999, PC, Nintendo 64) and Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy (1999, Game Boy Color), were produced without the involvement of Shiny and were met with mediocre to poor reviews. Earthworm Jim also starred as a fighter on Interplay‘s Nintendo 64 title, Clay Fighter 63 1/3 in 1997 and the Blockbuster rental, Clay Fighter 63 1/3: Sculptors Cut in 1998. In the original, Jim was a default character, however in the Sculptor’s Cut, he was required to be unlocked. Also in the game, he and Boogerman hold a strong rivalry between one another.
An enhanced remake of the original Earthworm Jim (with a working title of “Earthworm Jim PSP”) was planned for a 2007 release, but was ultimately cancelled.
On April 22, 2008, Earthworm Jim 4 was announced, though details are scarce and no solid platform or release date have been revealed. It was later denounced by Tennapel himself that the rumours of Earthworm Jim 4 are untrue, however stated that he still had interest in the future of the series had the opportunity ever come.[8]
A remake of Earthworm Jim called Earthworm Jim HD was released for Xbox Live Arcade on 9th June 2010,[9], and was released on 28th July 2010 on PlayStation Network[10] in Europe, and it will be released on WiiWare in Summer 2010.[1] A trailer for the game was released earlier on April 19, 2010.[11] Gameloft has ported the original game to the iPhone, iPod Touch, Symbian S60 and Palm Pre.[12] Earthworm Jim was announced for the Nintendo DSi’s DSiWare, where it has been released in the PAL region on April 23, 2010, in North America on May 10, 2010[13] and in Japan on June 23, 2010.
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Earthworm Jim |
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| Company / developer | Symbian Foundation |
| Programmed in | C++[1] |
| OS family | Mobile operating systems |
| Working state | development of the original Symbian OS code base has given way for an integrated development of the Symbian platform |
| Source model | open source available under EPL |
| Marketing target | Mobile devices |
| Supported platforms | ARM, x86 |
| Kernel type | Microkernel |
| Default user interface | S60 platform, UIQ, MOAP |
| License | original code base was proprietary, transition to EPL started with Symbian OS 9.1, completed with the Symbian platform |
| Official website | defunction – see the website of the Symbian Foundation |
Symbian OS is one of Nokia‘s mobile operating system for mobile devices and smartphones, with associated libraries, user interface, frameworks and reference implementations of common tools, originally developed by Symbian Ltd.[3] It was a descendant of Psion‘s EPOC and runs exclusively on ARM processors, although an unreleased x86 port existed.
In 2008, the former Symbian Software Limited was acquired by Nokia and a new independent non-profit organisation called the Symbian Foundation was established. Symbian OS and its associated user interfaces S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) were contributed by their owners to the foundation with the objective of creating the Symbian platform as a royalty-free, open source software. The platform has been designated as the successor to Symbian OS, following the official launch of the Symbian Foundation in April 2009. The Symbian platform was officially made available as open source code in February 2010.[4]
Devices based on Symbian OS account for 46.9% of smartphone sales, making it the world’s most popular mobile operating system.[5]
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Symbian features pre-emptive multitasking and memory protection, like other operating systems (especially those created for use on desktop computers). EPOC’s approach to multitasking was inspired by VMS and is based on asynchronous server-based events.
Symbian OS was created with three systems design principles in mind:
To best follow these principles, Symbian uses a microkernel, has a request-and-callback approach to services, and maintains separation between user interface and engine. The OS is optimised for low-power battery-based devices and for ROM-based systems (e.g. features like XIP and re-entrancy in shared libraries). Applications, and the OS itself, follow an object-oriented design: Model-view-controller (MVC).
Later OS iterations diluted this approach in response to market demands, notably with the introduction of a real-time kernel and a platform security model in versions 8 and 9.
There is a strong emphasis on conserving resources which is exemplified by Symbian-specific programming idioms like descriptors and a cleanup stack. There are similar techniques for conserving disk space (though the disks on Symbian devices are usually flash memory). Furthermore, all Symbian programming is event-based, and the CPU is switched into a low power mode when applications are not directly dealing with an event. This is achieved through a programming idiom called active objects. Similarly the Symbian approach to threads and processes is driven by reducing overheads.
The Symbian kernel (EKA2) supports sufficiently-fast real-time response to build a single-core phone around it — that is, a phone in which a single processor core executes both the user applications and the signalling stack[6]. This has allowed Symbian EKA2 phones to become smaller, cheaper and more power efficient than their predecessors[citation needed].
In the number of “smart mobile device” shipments, Symbian devices are the market leaders. Statistics published in February 2010 showed that the Symbian devices comprised a 47.2% share of the smart mobile devices shipped in in 2009, with RIM having 20.8%, Apple having 15.1% (through iPhone OS), Microsoft having 8.8% (through Windows CE and Windows Mobile) and Android having 4.7%.[7] Other competitors include webOS, Qualcomm‘s BREW, SavaJe, Linux and MontaVista Software.
Although the share of the global smartphone market dropped from 52.4% in 2008 to 47.2% in 2009, the shipment volume of Symbian devices grew 4.8%, from 74.9 million units to 78.5 million units.[7]
The Symbian System Model contains the following layers, from top to bottom:
The Base Services Layer is the lowest level reachable by user-side operations; it includes the File Server and User Library, a Plug-In Framework which manages all plug-ins, Store, Central Repository, DBMS and cryptographic services. It also includes the Text Window Server and the Text Shell: the two basic services from which a completely functional port can be created without the need for any higher layer services.
Symbian has a microkernel architecture, which means that the minimum necessary is within the kernel to maximise robustness, availability and responsiveness. It contains a scheduler, memory management and device drivers, but other services like networking, telephony and filesystem support are placed in the OS Services Layer or the Base Services Layer. The inclusion of device drivers means the kernel is not a true microkernel. The EKA2 real-time kernel, which has been termed a nanokernel, contains only the most basic primitives and requires an extended kernel to implement any other abstractions.
Symbian is designed to emphasise compatibility with other devices, especially removable media file systems. Early development of EPOC led to adopting FAT as the internal file system, and this remains, but an object-oriented persistence model was placed over the underlying FAT to provide a POSIX-style interface and a streaming model. The internal data formats rely on using the same APIs that create the data to run all file manipulations. This has resulted in data-dependence and associated difficulties with changes and data migration.
There is a large networking and communication subsystem, which has three main servers called: ETEL (EPOC telephony), ESOCK (EPOC sockets) and C32 (responsible for serial communication). Each of these has a plug-in scheme. For example ESOCK allows different “.PRT” protocol modules to implement various networking protocol schemes. The subsystem also contains code that supports short-range communication links, such as Bluetooth, IrDA and USB.
There is also a large volume of user interface (UI) Code. Only the base classes and substructure were contained in Symbian OS, while most of the actual user interfaces were maintained by third parties. This is no longer the case. The three major UIs – S60, UIQ and MOAP – were contributed to Symbian in 2009. Symbian also contains graphics, text layout and font rendering libraries.
All native Symbian C++ applications are built up from three framework classes defined by the application architecture: an application class, a document class and an application user interface class. These classes create the fundamental application behaviour. The remaining required functions, the application view, data model and data interface, are created independently and interact solely through their APIs with the other classes.
Many other things do not yet fit into this model – for example, SyncML, Java ME providing another set of APIs on top of most of the OS and multimedia. Many of these are frameworks, and vendors are expected to supply plug-ins to these frameworks from third parties (for example, Helix Player for multimedia codecs). This has the advantage that the APIs to such areas of functionality are the same on many phone models, and that vendors get a lot of flexibility. But it means that phone vendors needed to do a great deal of integration work to make a Symbian OS phone.
Symbian includes a reference user-interface called “TechView”. It provides a basis for starting customisation and is the environment in which much Symbian test and example code runs. It is very similar to the user interface from the Psion Series 5 personal organiser and is not used for any production phone user interface.
Osaris PDA by Oregon Scientific with EPOC operating system
EPOC is a family of graphical operating systems developed by Psion for portable devices, primarily PDAs. EPOC came from epoch, the beginning of an era, but was backfitted by the engineers to “Electronic Piece Of Cheese”.[8]
EPOC16, originally simply named EPOC, was the operating system developed by Psion in the late 1980s and early 1990s for Psion’s “SIBO” (SIxteen Bit Organisers) devices. All EPOC16 devices featured an 8086-family processor and a 16-bit architecture. EPOC16 was a single-user pre-emptive multitasking operating system, written in Intel 8086 assembler language and C and designed to be delivered in ROM. It supported a simple programming language called Open Programming Language (OPL) and an integrated development environment (IDE) called OVAL. SIBO devices included the: MC200, MC400, Series 3 (1991–1998), Series 3a, Series 3c, Series 3mx, Siena, Workabout and Workabout mx. The MC400 and MC200, the first EPOC16 devices, shipped in 1989.
EPOC16 featured a primarily 1-bit-per-pixel, keyboard-operated graphical interface (the hardware for which it was designed did not have pointer input).
In the late 1990s, the operating system was referred to as EPOC16 to distinguish it from Psion’s then-new EPOC32 OS.
The first version of EPOC32, Release 1 appeared on the Psion Series 5 ROM v1.0 in 1997. Later, ROM v1.1 featured Release 3 (Release 2 was never publicly available.) These were followed by the Psion Series 5mx, Revo / Revo plus, Psion Series 7 / netBook and netPad (which all featured Release 5).
The EPOC32 operating system, at the time simply referred to as EPOC, was later renamed Symbian OS. Adding to the confusion with names, before the change to Symbian, EPOC16 was often referred to as SIBO to distinguish it from the “new” EPOC. Despite the similarity of the names, EPOC32 and EPOC16 were completely different operating systems, EPOC32 being written in C++ from a new codebase with development beginning during the mid 1990s.
EPOC32 was a pre-emptive multitasking, single user operating system with memory protection, which encourages the application developer to separate their program into an engine and an interface. The Psion line of PDAs come with a graphical user interface called EIKON which is specifically tailored for handheld machines with a keyboard (thus looking perhaps more similar to desktop GUIs than palmtop GUIs [2]). However, one of EPOC’s characteristics is the ease with which new GUIs can be developed based on a core set of GUI classes, a feature which has been widely explored from Ericsson R380 and onwards.
EPOC32 was originally developed for the ARM family of processors, including the ARM7, ARM9, StrongARM and Intel’s XScale, but can be compiled towards target devices using several other processor types.
During the development of EPOC32, Psion planned to license EPOC to third-party device manufacturers, and spin off its software division as Psion Software. One of the first licensees was the short-lived Geofox, which halted production with less than 1,000 units sold. Ericsson marketed a rebranded Psion Series 5mx called the MC218, and later created the EPOC Release 5.1 based smartphone, the R380. Oregon Scientific also released a budget EPOC device, the Osaris (notable as the only EPOC device to ship with Release 4).
In June 1998, Psion Software became Symbian Ltd., a major joint venture between Psion and phone manufacturers Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia. As of Release 6, EPOC became known simply as Symbian OS.
Work started on the 32-bit version in late 1994.
The Series 5 device, released in June 1997, used the first iterations of the EPOC32 OS, codenamed “Protea”, and the “Eikon” graphical user interface.
The Oregon Scientific Osaris was the only PDA to use the ER4.
The Psion Series 5mx, Psion Series 7, Psion Revo, Diamond Mako, Psion netBook and Ericsson MC218 were released in 1999 using ER5. A phone project was announced at CeBIT, the Phillips Illium/Accent, but did not achieve a commercial release. This release has been retrospectively dubbed Symbian OS 5.
The first phone using ER5u, the Ericsson R380 was released in November 2000. It was not an ‘open’ phone – software could not be installed. Notably, a number of never-released Psion prototypes for next generation PDAs, including a Bluetooth Revo successor codenamed Conan were using ER5u. The ‘u’ in the name refers to the fact that it supported Unicode.
The OS was renamed Symbian OS and was envisioned as the base for a new range of smartphones. This release is sometimes called ER6. Psion gave 130 key staff to the new company and retained a 31% shareholding in the spun-out business.
The first ‘open’ Symbian OS phone, the Nokia 9210 Communicator, was released in June 2001. Bluetooth support was added. Almost 500,000 Symbian phones were shipped in 2001, rising to 2.1 million the following year.
Development of different UIs was made generic with a “reference design strategy” for either ‘smartphone’ or ‘communicator’ devices, subdivided further into keyboard- or tablet-based designs. Two reference UIs (DFRDs or Device Family Reference Designs) were shipped – Quartz and Crystal. The former was merged with Ericsson’s ‘Ronneby’ design and became the basis for the UIQ interface; the latter reached the market as the Nokia Series 80 UI.
Later DFRDs were Sapphire, Ruby, and Emerald. Only Sapphire came to market, evolving into the Pearl DFRD and finally the Nokia Series 60 UI, a keypad-based ‘square’ UI for the first true smartphones. The first one of them was the Nokia 7650 smartphone (featuring Symbian OS 6.1), which was also the first with a built-in camera, with VGA (0.3 Mpx = 640×480) resolution.
Despite these efforts to be generic, the UI was clearly split between competing companies: Crystal or Sapphire was Nokia, Quartz was Ericsson. DFRD was abandoned by Symbian in late 2002, as part of an active retreat from UI development in favour of ‘headless’ delivery. Pearl was given to Nokia, Quartz development was spun off as UIQ Technology AB, and work with Japanese firms was quickly folded into the MOAP standard.
First shipped in 2003. This is an important Symbian release which appeared with all contemporary user interfaces including UIQ (Sony Ericsson P800, P900, P910, Motorola A925, A1000), Series 80 (Nokia 9300, 9500), Series 90 (Nokia 7710), Series 60 (Nokia 3230, 6260, 6600, 6670, 7610) as well as several FOMA phones in Japan. It also added EDGE support and IPv6. Java support was changed from pJava and JavaPhone to one based on the Java ME standard.
One million Symbian phones were shipped in Q1 2003, with the rate increasing to one million a month by the end of 2003.
Symbian OS 7.0s was a version of 7.0 special adapted to have greater backward compatibility with Symbian OS 6.x, partly for compatibility between the Communicator 9500 and its predecessor the Communicator 9210.
In 2004, Psion sold its stake in Symbian. The same year, the first worm for mobile phones using Symbian OS, Cabir, was developed, which used Bluetooth to spread itself to nearby phones. See Cabir and Symbian OS threats.
First shipped in 2004, one of its advantages would have been a choice of two different kernels (EKA1 or EKA2). However, the EKA2 kernel version did not ship until Symbian OS 8.1b. The kernels behave more or less identically from user-side, but are internally very different. EKA1 was chosen by some manufacturers to maintain compatibility with old device drivers, while EKA2 was a real-time kernel. 8.0b was deproductised in 2003.
Also included were new APIs to support CDMA, 3G, two-way data streaming, DVB-H, and OpenGL ES with vector graphics and direct screen access.
An improved version of 8.0, this was available in 8.1a and 8.1b versions, with EKA1 and EKA2 kernels respectively. The 8.1b version, with EKA2′s single-chip phone support but no additional security layer, was popular among Japanese phone companies desiring the real-time support but not allowing open application installation. The first and maybe the most famous smartphone featuring Symbian OS 8.1a was Nokia N90 in 2005, Nokia‘s first in Nseries.
Symbian OS 9.0 was used for internal Symbian purposes only. It was de-productised in 2004. 9.0 marked the end of the road for EKA1. 8.1a is the final EKA1 version of Symbian OS.
Symbian OS has generally maintained reasonable binary code compatibility. In theory the OS was BC from ER1-ER5, then from 6.0 to 8.1b. Substantial changes were needed for 9.0, related to tools and security, but this should be a one-off event. The move from requiring ARMv4 to requiring ARMv5 did not break backwards compatibility.
Released early 2005. It includes many new security related features, including platform security module facilitating mandatory code signing. The new ARM EABI binary model means developers need to retool and the security changes mean they may have to recode. S60 platform 3rd Edition phones have Symbian OS 9.1. Sony Ericsson is shipping the M600 and P990 based on Symbian OS 9.1. The earlier versions had a defect where the phone hangs temporarily after the owner sent a large number of SMS’es. However, on 13 September 2006, Nokia released a small program to fix this defect.[9] Support for Bluetooth 2.0 was also added.
Symbian 9.1 introduced capabilities and a Platform Security framework. To access certain APIs, developers have to sign their application with a digital signature. Basic capabilities are user-grantable and developers can self-sign them, while more advanced capabilities require certification and signing via the Symbian Signed program, which uses independent ‘test houses’ and phone manufacturers for approval. For example, file writing is a user-grantable capability while access to Multimedia Device Drivers require phone manufacturer approval. A TC TrustCenter ACS Publisher ID certificate is required by the developer for signing applications.
Released Q1 2006. Support for OMA Device Management 1.2 (was 1.1.2). Vietnamese language support. S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 phones have Symbian OS 9.2. Nokia phones with Symbian OS 9.2 OS include the Nokia E90, Nokia N95, Nokia N82, Nokia N81 and Nokia 5700.
Released on 12 July 2006. Upgrades include improved memory management and native support for Wifi 802.11, HSDPA. The Nokia E72, Nokia 5730 XpressMusic, Nokia N79, Nokia N96, Nokia E52, Nokia E75, Nokia 5320 XpressMusic, Sony Ericsson P1 and others feature Symbian OS 9.3.
Announced in March 2007. Provides the concept of demand paging which is available from v9.3 onwards. Applications should launch up to 75% faster. Additionally, SQL support is provided by SQLite. Ships with the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD, Nokia N97, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, Nokia 5230, Nokia 5233, Nokia 5235 and Sony Ericsson Satio. Used as the basis for Symbian^1, the first Symbian platform release. The release is also better known as S60 5th edition, as it is the bundled interface for the OS.
In 26 March 2007 Symbian Ltd. announced v9.5 which includes native support for mobile digital television broadcasts in DVB-H and ISDB-T formats and also location services.[10]
The Symbian Foundation was announced in June 2008 and came into existence in 2009. Its objective was to publish the source for the entire Symbian platform under the OSI- and FSF-approved Eclipse Public License (EPL). The release of the Symbian platform deprecated Symbian OS as a standalone product.
On 16 November 2006, the 100 millionth smartphone running the OS was shipped.[11] As of 21 July 2009, more than 250 million devices running Symbian OS had been shipped.[12]
Symbian OS was subject to a variety of viruses, the best known of which is Cabir. Usually these send themselves from phone to phone by Bluetooth. So far, none have taken advantage of any flaws in Symbian OS – instead, they have all asked the user whether they would like to install the software, with somewhat prominent warnings that it can’t be trusted.
However, with a view that the average mobile phone user shouldn’t have to worry about security, Symbian OS 9.x adopted a UNIX-style capability model (permissions per process, not per object). Installed software is theoretically unable to do damaging things (such as costing the user money by sending network data) without being digitally signed – thus making it traceable. Commercial developers who can afford the cost can apply to have their software signed via the Symbian Signed program. Developers also have the option of self-signing their programs. However, the set of available features does not include access to Bluetooth, IrDA, GSM CellID, voice calls, GPS and few others. Some operators have opted to disable all certificates other than the Symbian Signed certificates.
Some other hostile programs are listed below, but all of them still require the input of the user to run.
S60 v3 and v5 (OS 9.x) devices can be hacked to remove the platform security introduced in OS 9.1 onwards thus allowing users to install “unsigned” files (files without certificates validated by Symbian) and allowing access to previously locked system files.[13] This allows changing of how the operating system works, allowing hidden applications etc. to be viewable and possibly increases the threat posed by mobile viruses as the operating system files are now exposed.[14]
The native language of Symbian is C++, although it is not a standard implementation. There were multiple platforms based upon Symbian OS that provided SDKs for application developers wishing to target Symbian OS devices – the main ones being UIQ and S60. Individual phone products, or families, often had SDKs or SDK extensions downloadable from the manufacturer’s website too. With the various UI platforms unified in the Symbian platform there should be less diversity between manufacturer’s SDKs from 2010 onwards.
The SDKs contain documentation, the header files and library files required to build Symbian OS software, and a Windows-based emulator (“WINS”). Up until Symbian OS version 8, the SDKs also included a version of the GCC compiler (a cross-compiler) required to build software to work on the device.
Symbian OS 9 and the Symbian platform use a new ABI and require a different compiler – a choice of compilers is available including a newer version of GCC (see external links below).
Unfortunately, Symbian C++ programming has a steep learning curve, as Symbian requires the use of special techniques such as descriptors, active objects and the cleanup stack. This can make even relatively simple programs harder to implement than in other environments. Moreover, it is questionable whether Symbian’s techniques, such as the memory management paradigm, are actually beneficial. It is possible that the techniques, developed for the much more restricted mobile hardware of the 1990s, simply cause unnecessary complexity in source code because programmers are required to concentrate on low-level routines instead of more application-specific features. It seems difficult, however, to make a move towards a more high-level and modern programming paradigm.[15]
Symbian C++ programming is commonly done with an IDE. For previous versions of Symbian OS, the commercial IDE CodeWarrior for Symbian OS was favoured. The CodeWarrior tools were replaced during 2006 by Carbide.c++, an Eclipse-based IDE developed by Nokia. Carbide.c++ is offered in four different versions: Express, Developer, Professional, and OEM, with increasing levels of capability. Fully featured software can be created and released with the Express edition, which is free. Features such as UI design, crash debugging etc. are available in the other, charged-for, editions. Microsoft Visual Studio 2003 and 2005 are also supported through the Carbide.vs plugin.
Symbian’s flavour of C++ is very specialised.[citation needed] However, Symbian devices can also be programmed using Python, Java ME, Flash Lite, Ruby, .NET, Web Runtime (WRT) Widgets and Standard C/C++.[16].
Visual Basic programmers can use NS Basic to develop apps for S60 3rd Edition and UIQ 3 devices.
In the past, Visual Basic, VB.NET, and C# development for Symbian were possible through AppForge Crossfire, a plugin for Microsoft Visual Studio. On 13 March 2007 AppForge ceased operations; Oracle purchased the intellectual property, but announced that they did not plan to sell or provide support for former AppForge products. Net60, a .NET compact framework for Symbian, which is developed by redFIVElabs, is sold as a commercial product. With Net60, VB.NET and C# (and other) source code is compiled into an intermediate language (IL) which is executed within the Symbian OS using a just-in-time compiler. (As of 18/1/10 RedFiveLabs has ceased development of Net60 with this announcement on their landing page: ”At this stage we are pursuing some options to sell the IP so that Net60 may continue to have a future”.)
There is also a version of a Borland IDE for Symbian OS. Symbian OS development is also possible on Linux and Mac OS X using tools and techniques developed by the community, partly enabled by Symbian releasing the source code for key tools. A plugin that allows development of Symbian OS applications in Apple’s Xcode IDE for Mac OS X is available.[17]
Once developed, Symbian applications need to find a route to customers’ mobile phones. They are packaged in SIS files which may be installed over-the-air, via PC connect, Bluetooth or on a memory card. An alternative is to partner with a phone manufacturer and have the software included on the phone itself. The SIS file route is more difficult for Symbian OS 9.x, because any application wishing to have any capabilities beyond the bare minimum must be signed via the Symbian Signed program. There are however various hacks, which allow installing unsigned programs with any capabilities to Symbian OS 9.x.symbian’4
Introduction of the Symbian Signed system in which application developers need to pay in order to use some of the more attractive smartphone features (as contrasted to platforms like Palm OS and Windows Mobile) is making it an increasingly unpopular platform for Open Source projects[18], independent developers and small startups. This situation is worsened by the fragmentation of user interface systems (UIQ vs S60 vs MOAP)[19], meaning that developers need to build and maintain multiple incompatible versions of their software[20] if they want to target multiple devices which use the same underlying Symbian OS version.
Java ME applications for Symbian OS are developed using standard techniques and tools such as the Sun Java Wireless Toolkit (formerly the J2ME Wireless Toolkit). They are packaged as JAR (and possibly JAD) files. Both CLDC and CDC applications can be created with NetBeans. Other tools include SuperWaba, which can be used to build Symbian 7.0 and 7.0s programs using Java.
Nokia S60i phones can also run Python scripts when the interpreter Python for S60 is installed, with a custom made API that allows for Bluetooth support and such. There is also an interactive console to allow the user to write python scripts directly from the phone.