Symbian OS v9.4 is an operating system optimized for mobile terminals, such as communicators and phones, and it is the underlying system upon which the S60 platform has been built. Symbian OS provides a reliable environment as it has been designed so that user data is never lost and the device running the operating system will never have to be rebooted.
Symbian OS is thoroughly object-oriented; all the system objects from applications to interrupt handlers are defined as C++ classes. This contributes to its flexibility, efficiency, and ability to re-use segments of the code. Clearly defined Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) allow the developer community, including terminal vendors, to create applications that can be easily downloaded, installed, and run natively on the terminal Symbian OS. Symbian C++ Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) enable extremely efficient multitasking and memory management. Processor and memory-intensive operations, such as context switching, are minimized.
Symbian OS, upon which the S60 platform is built, provides APIs enabling the utilization of a multitude of technologies, such as Bluetooth, graphics, infrared, multimedia, messaging, networking, and telephony.
For more information on Symbian OS, see Symbian Developer Network at http://developer.symbian.com/.