Series 40 devices

Series 40 is a size- and cost-driven UI platform for the mass market. Series 40 devices have a high-resolution color display and support four-way scrolling. The Series 40 UI represents the smooth evolution of the Nokia two-soft-key UI, with the proven usability of previous Nokia phones. The color display is used to improve key applications such as MMS, picture viewing, JavaTM MIDP, Browser, Calendar, and personalization, and also to increase usability of all applications.

A wide range of devices incorporating the Series 40 platform are available for all the major wireless standards. Information about devices available can be found on the Forum Nokia Web site by following the links from the Series 40 platform section or from the Forum Nokia Device Specifications area.

The following figure presents an example Series 40 device:

Figure 6: Series 40 device: Nokia 6280

Display

The minimum requirements for a Series 40 device display is 128 x 128 pixel resolution (square-shaped pixels). 16 bit color depth is supported. Series 40 UI software is not scalable.

Supported resolutions in Series 40 3rd Ed. FP 1 are:

  • 128 x 128

  • 128 x 160

  • 208 x 208

  • 240 x 320 (QVGA)

For more information, see section Scalability.

Input

The required input keys are:

  • Two softkeys (SK1 - left and SK2 - right)

  • Five-way navigation (four arrows and a Selection key)

  • Call creation and termination keys (Send and End keys)

  • Alpha-numeric keyboard with digits from 0 to 9 and symbols * and #

  • (Power key) is also supported but some Series 40 devices use the End key as a power key

The Series 40 platform also supports extra keys. These are:

  • Camera key is (supported by most Series 40 3rd ED devices)

  • Push-to talk key

  • Volume keys (supported by most Series 40 3rd ED devices)

For more information, see Series 40 UI style guide.

Memory

In Nokia Series 40 devices, applications can be saved either in the device memory or on a removable memory card (if one is available in the device). The main menu for applications is Applications. The Applications menu contains two folders: Games and Collection. The Web menu of Series 40 Third Edition devices includes a an option called Downloading settings, which can be used to determine in which folder applications are saved. If the option is set to ON, all applications that are downloaded OTA are automatically saved to the root of the Applications folder. If the option is set to OFF, before downloading the application OTA, the user is asked for the location where the application is saved.

Nokia has also introduced a JAD attribute called Nokia-MIDlet-Category, which is, however, not supported from Series 40 Third Edition onwards. If this is used in the application and is set to Game, then the application will be saved within the Games menu. All other applications that do not contain this attribute will be saved within the Application menu.

The Nokia Series 40 devices handle memory allocation by using static fixed heap memory for Java. The heap size can be up to 2MB, but in some low end devices it is up to 512KB.

The Nokia Series 40 devices support a maximum JAR size of up to 1MB. For detailed information about each device, see the Device Specification section on Forum Nokia.

Note: There might also be device-specific maximum download sizes, which define the maximum size of content allowed to be downloaded to the device. In many products the maximum download size (for any content) is smaller than the maximum allowed application size. This means that it may be possible to install applications via PC suite, for example, where they could not be downloaded over the air.

© Nokia 2008.