Symbian Facts for Kids

Homescreen of Symbian Belle FP2 in landscape mode on a Nokia 808 PureView.

Symbian OS was a special computer program, like the brain, for mobile devices. It was made for early smartphones. Think of it as the software that made your phone work, letting you make calls, send messages, and use apps.

The Story of Symbian
Different Versions of Symbian
Images for kids
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The Story of Symbian

Many big phone companies, like Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, and Psion, worked together. They formed the Symbian association. Their goal was to use and improve a system called EPOC for mobile phones. Symbian OS was like the next generation of the EPOC system.

It was first used in small computers called Psion pocket PCs. These ran on special ARM processors. Over time, Symbian OS changed a lot. Most of the phones that used Symbian OS were Nokia smartphones.

Different Versions of Symbian

Symbian OS had many updates, just like apps on your phone do today. Each new version brought improvements and new features.

Early Symbian: 6.0 and 6.1

These were the first versions of Symbian that people could really use. They were found on phones like the Nokia 9210 Communicator. Nokia sold over 500,000 of these phones! These versions added important features like Bluetooth support. They also allowed for VGA cameras on phones.

Symbian 7.0 and 7.1: Big Changes

This was a very important update for Symbian OS. Developers added support for faster internet, like EDGE technology. They also included support for IPv6, which helps devices connect online. The way apps were made also changed, moving to Java ME. Sadly, a computer virus that spread through Bluetooth caused some problems with these versions.

Symbian 8.0 and 8.1: Staying Safe

After the virus scare, these versions of Symbian became much safer. They also added support for new mobile technologies. These included CDMA networks and faster 3G internet. They even supported DVB-H for mobile TV and OpenGL for better graphics.

Symbian 9.0 and Beyond

Version 9.0 had mostly small changes, mainly for people who developed apps. Version 9.1 came out in 2005. Nokia improved Bluetooth to version 2.0. However, some app developers were not happy about new security changes.

After 2005, a new version of Symbian came out almost every year. Technology was moving very fast back then. Mobile phones and their operating systems improved quickly. The last versions of Symbian OS were made for touch phones and the newest technologies of their time.