Nokia Announces Qt SDK 1.1 with Qt Quick, Map and Navigation Features

Nokia has just announced the availability of Qt SDK 1.1 that allows developers to create applications on Nokia's Symbian platform as well as for desktop applications such as Windows 7, Mac OSX and Linux.

The highlight of the new Qt SDK 1.1 is the reduced time needed to create applications for Nokia touch-screen devices.

According to the Espoo-based company, with Qt SDK 1.1 developers will be cutting app creation time in half, in comparison with previous versions.

Included with the release of Qt SDK 1.1 Nokia delivers Qt Quick, a new UI creation kit that benefits both graphic designers and application developers.

With Qt Quick designers will be able to create fluid, animated user interfaces with complete project and code editing support for developers that can be implemented into the overall application. This is one of reasons the development process was reduced to half.

“Developers are seeking to provide high quality, graphically rich applications to stand out in ever increasing crowded application stores”, said Purnima Kochikar, vice president, Forum Nokia.

“With this new version of the Qt SDK, designers and developers can work together to achieve this quicker and more effectively.”

Qt Quick also includes QML, a CSS & JavaScript-like language, that makes UI development for touch screens much easier to implement.

In addition, developers will also be able to take advantage of the new map and navigation features, imaging features for camera and photo gallery access, notification API plug-ins and other enhancements that have also been included within the Qt SDK 1.1.

Furthermore, Nokia also stated that developers can re-use code to speed up the creation of apps on Maemo and the future MeeGo device Nokia is expected to release later this year.

Nokia's Qt SDK 1.1 for Windows 7, Mac OSX and Linux can be downloaded directly from Softpedia.