UIQ

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Image:Uiq version3.jpg Image:UIQ3 Pen Style with default theme.gif Image:P990 small.jpg

UIQ (formerly known as User Interface Quartz) by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon Symbian OS. Essentially this is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core OS, to enable the development of feature-rich mobile phones that are open to expanded capabilities through third-party applications.

One of the main attractions for developers to really unlock the power of the platform is the ability to program "natively" in C++. This is the language that the OS and platform were written in, and so provides the best performance for applications. In addition to this, all UIQ-based phones (2.x and 3) support Java programming.

Version 2.0 and 2.1 are pen-based and used in the following 2.5G and 3G smartphones: Motorola A920/A925, Motorola A1000, Motorola FOMA M1000, Sony Ericsson P800/P900/P910, BenQ P30/P31 and Arima U300/U308 . UIQ phones employ touch screens with a resolution of 208-240*320 pixels and 12 or 16 bit colors.

UIQ 3 is the latest version of the platform and, in addition to the pen-based UI, will also support one handed operation and a number of significant enhancements.

For developers the significant items are:

Single SDK model - developers targeting core UIQ features can use the UIQ SDK to target any UIQ 3 device. Extensions targeting specific device features (such as WiFi, etc) are available from phone manufacturers websites.
Increased tools support - developers can use whichever tools they are familiar with (DevStudio, Eclipse, Carbide, CodeWarrior, NetBeans). Many of these tools are beginning to support extensive RAD features for both C++ and Java developers.
High volume, mid-range devices are now possible, to significantly increase the potential customer base.

The first phones with the pen-based UIQ 3 will be the Sony Ericsson P990, the M600 and the W950 - the latest Walkman-branded phone.

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