14 DAY TRIAL // The Symbian Foundation announced today that it was enhancing the Symbian platform and applications for the operating system via ideas that were submitted to the Symbian Ideas website. Given the fact that Symbian is now an open organization and an open platform, the Symbian Ideas website is one of the main drivers for innovation, the Foundation notes, adding that Symbian Ideas web site can debate there ideas and select which ones are the best fitted for implementation in the OS.
“The Symbian Ideas web site is the focal point of a three-way conversation between users, developers and the foundation. It provides developers and device creators with the opportunity to create applications that meet consumers’ express wishes, to make improvements to the world’s market-leading smartphone platform, and to contribute features that will influence the platform roadmap and may run on more than a billion devices in years to come,” said Lee M. Williams, executive director of the Symbian Foundation.
It seems that a number of more than 1000 ideas have been already submitted to the website since it was launched back in October 2009. Moreover, the Foundation also notes that thirty-three of them were already approved and they are being matched with an individual or company for the enhancement of the platform or of applications.
Among the ideas that will become new Symbian platform features, we can count: - The functionality to paint using the Image Editor is being developed by Ixonos, a foundation member, and will be available in Symbian^3, the latest version of the platform that will be “feature complete” by the end of Q1. - The ability to change the default browser on your device will be available in Symbian^4, thanks to a contribution from Opera. - Users will be able to synch their Facebook contacts with those on their phone in Symbian^4, thanks to a contribution from Nokia. - The ability to pause music when headphones are disconnected from the device, an update realised by Nokia and will available in Symbian^3.
Moreover, there are also some applications that are currently under development as a result of submitted ideas, including Carbonfund, a mobile CO2 calculator, and a Wikipedia widget for fast access to the website from a mobile phone. The first app is being developed by OpenPath Products in collaboration with Carbonfund.org and Open Mobile Solutions, and is expected to be demonstrated at the MWC Show in Barcelona, while the Wikipedia widget, developed by Ivan Litovski of the Symbian Foundation, is available for free from Symbian Horizon.
“The idea of providing consumers with the ability to use ‘paint’ to edit the photos they take on their Symbian devices was submitted to the Symbian Ideas web site by Mikael Laine,” said Panu Kause, director of Partnerships and Innovation at Ixonos. “Mikael only recently took over the ownership of the Image Editor package and so we’re truly excited to have contributed not just the idea but the actual code for this fun feature.”