Mobile operating system
Operating system
Nokia Series 40
, often shortened as
S40
, is a
software platform
and application
user interface
(UI) software on
Nokia
's broad range of mid-tier
feature phones
, as well as on some of the
Vertu
line of luxury phones. It was one of the world's most widely used mobile phone platforms and found in hundreds of millions of devices.
[1]
Nokia announced on 25 January
2012
that the company has sold over 1.5 billion Series 40 devices.
[2]
It was not used for smartphones, with Nokia turning first to
Symbian
, then in 2012?2017 to
Windows Phone
, and most recently
Android
. However, in 2012 and 2013, several Series 40 phones from the
Asha
line, such as the 308, 309 and 311, were advertised as "
smartphones
" although they do not actually support smartphone features like
multitasking
or a fully fledged
HTML
browser.
[3]
In 2014,
Microsoft
acquired Nokia's mobile phones business. As part of a licensing agreement with the company, Microsoft Mobile is allowed to use the Nokia brand on feature phones, such as the Series 40 range.
[4]
However, a July 2014 company memo revealed that Microsoft would end future production of Series 40 devices.
[5]
It was replaced by
Series 30+
.
History
[
edit
]
Series 40 was introduced in 1999 with the release of the
Nokia 7110
.
[2]
It had a 96 × 65 pixel monochrome display and was the first phone to come with a WAP browser. Over the years, the S40 UI evolved from a low-resolution UI to a high-resolution color UI with an enhanced graphical look. The third generation of Series 40 that became available in 2005 introduced support for devices with resolutions as high as
QVGA
(240×320).
[6]
It is possible to customize the look and feel of the UI via comprehensive
themes
.
[7]
In 2012,
Nokia Asha
mobile phones
200/201
,
210
,
302
,
303
,
305
,
306
,
308
,
310
and
311
were released and all used Series 40.
[8]
The final feature phone running Series 40 was the
Nokia 515
from 2013, running the 6th Edition.
Technical information
[
edit
]
Applications
[
edit
]
Series 40 provides communication applications such as telephone, Internet telephony (
VoIP
), messaging, email client with
POP3
and
IMAP4
capabilities and
web browser
; media applications such as camera, video recorder, music/video player and FM radio; and phonebook and other
personal information management
(PIM) applications such as calendar and tasks. Basic file management, like in Series 60, is provided in the Applications and Gallery folders and subfolders. Gallery is also the default location for files transferred over
Bluetooth
to be placed. User-installed applications on Series 40 are generally
mobile Java
applications.
Flash Lite
applications are also supported, but mostly used for screensavers.
[9]
Web browser
[
edit
]
The integrated web browser can access most web content through the service provider's
XHTML
/
HTML
gateway. The latest version of Series 40, called Series 40 6th Edition, introduced a new browser based on the
WebKit
open source components WebCore and JavaScriptCore. The new browser delivers support for
HTML
4.01,
CSS2
,
JavaScript
1.5, and
Ajax
. Also, like the higher-end Series 60, Series 40 can run the
UC Browser
web browser to enhance the user's web browsing experience. The latest feature phones from the Asha lineup come with the
Nokia Xpress Browser
which uses proxy servers to compress and optimize web pages in a similar fashion as
Opera Mini
.
Synchronization
[
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]
Support for
SyncML
synchronization of the address book, calendar and notes with external services is present. However, with many S40 phones, these synchronization settings must be sent via an
OTA
text message.
Software platform
[
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]
Series 40 is an
embedded software
platform that is open for software development via standard or de facto content and application development technologies. It supports
Java
MIDlets
, i.e. Java
MIDP
and
CLDC
technology, which provide location, communication, messaging, media, and graphics capabilities.
[10]
S40 also supports
Flash Lite
applications.
List of devices
[
edit
]
The following is a list of Series 40 devices released by Nokia:
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
- Media related to
Series 40
at Wikimedia Commons