The document discusses the Symbian user interface (UI) and its evolution over time. It provides a brief history of Symbian, describing how it originated from Psion's EPOC operating system. It outlines the major UI releases including S60 3rd Edition, S60 5th Edition, Symbian^1, Symbian^3, and the upcoming Symbian^4. The document discusses Symbian's market share and device sales figures. It also describes the theme design process and shows examples of themes like Paper, Neon, and Glass that can be used to customize the Symbian UI.

1. The Symbian UI
September, 2010
Scott Weiss
scottweiss@symbian.org

2. Who is Symbian?
Symbian is an independent, non-profit
organization dedicated to driving innovation
in the mobile space.
The company manages the open source
Symbian platform, which has shipped in
nearly 400 million smartphones around the
world to-date.
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3. How We Got Started 2009
Nokia acquires Symbian
Ltd. and the Symbian
Foundation is announced
Late 90’s
2010
EPOC32 OS
Symbian makes the
was renamed
Symbian platform
Symbian OS
open source, ahead
1989
of schedule
First EPOC16
1998
devices ship
Symbian Ltd.
was founded by
Late 80’s
Ericsson, Motorola,
Psion develops
Nokia and Psion to
EPOC for
Mid 90’s
create Symbian OS
portable devices
The OS was referred
to as EPOC16 to
distinguish it from
Psion’s EPOC32 OS
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4. Symbian Devices Sold
Today
2010
360 Million
2009 Phones Shipped
2008 300 Million
Phones Shipped
250 Million
Phones Shipped
200 Million
Phones Shipped
2006
100 Million
Phones Shipped
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5. Symbian Key Stats
Symbian’s current share of the
global smartphone market
stands at approximately 44%*
Symbian continues to outsell the
iPhone, its nearest rival, by 2:1
and Android by 4:1
In Q1 2010, 24 million devices
where shipped, which is
equivalent to 260,000 a day
* According to Gartner
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6. Symbian UI Timeline
2010
Symbian^4.0
Homescreen, system chrome,
developer taster, Symbian UI Patterns
2011
Symbian^4.x
All platform
applications
2009
2010
2008
Symbian^3
S60 5th Edition
Single Tap enhancement brings UI
First all-touch Symbian UI
forward. Gesture support throughout,
including multi-touch, capacitive
display support. Homescreen
enhancements: multiple pages,
enhanced widget selection
2007
S60 3rd Edition
Leading non-touch
smartphone UI
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7. Symbian^1 On Device
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8. Symbian^3 On Device
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9. Symbian UI Unique Selling Points
• User experience vs. price point
– Some Symbian devices are below the $100 retail
point
• Ability to theme
• Mul4ple run4mes with a common UI
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10. Symbian^3 UI Architecture
Application Stack
Qt
Theme Support
Avkon
UI Controls
UI Control Rendering
Graphics Rendering
Symbian OS
Graphics Acceleration
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11. Symbian^4 UI Architecture
Application Stack
UI Extensions
for Mobile Theme Support
UI Controls (in both Qt & UIEMO)
Qt
UI Control Rendering
Graphics Rendering
Symbian OS
Graphics Acceleration
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12. Themeing the Symbian UI
• What we started with
• What can be themed
• Design process
• Ini4al designs
• Final design principles
• Screen shots
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12

13. Symbian^2: Default Theme
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14. What can be themed?
Colour Groups
Menu Text Highlight Highlighted
Menu Text
Assets
Icons: ~3,000 Wallpaper: 1
Chrome
Softkeys Panels Progress Indicator
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15. 1. Personas
Those people we kept in mind when designing the latest Symbian^3 concepts.
mobile industry
Looking for change
Strictly professional
Out for a little fun
Megan is a 29-year-old Kim is a 28-year-old designer Johnnie is a 35-year-old
hairdresser who lives in a small who lives in a small flat in kitchen designer. He looks
village outside Newcastle or London. She works at forward to his contract coming
Memphis. She has owned the Vodafone as part of a team up each year-and-a-half so he
same flip phone for three that designs the applications can buy a new, fun phone.
years, and is quite bored with and themes that will be This time he wants to try a
it. Her favourite show is the X installed across Vodafoneʼs touch phone, since his button-
Factor and she listens to product line. She absolutely based music phone feels a
Michael Bublé. Her favourite loves her iPhone and is really little dated. His favourite
movie is Marley & Me. She enjoying the opportunity to gadget is his green iPod Nano.
drives an electric blue Ford design for several Android His favourite TV show is House
Focus.
based devices.
and he listens to Smashing
Pumpkins. He lives in either
Glasgow or Atlanta.
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16. 1. Paper Theme
A variation on the the existing Symbian brand theme incorporating cut-paper, flat colour and hand-drawn elements.
Building on the Symbian brand
A variation on the the existing Symbian brand theme incorporating
crumpled and cut paper, flat colour and hand-drawn elements.
Icons and design elements
Closely following the Symbian brand. Yellow fills and simple black lines
have been used to define the icons, while a cut paper outline and slight
drop shadow create the illusion of depth.
Softkeys and overlays
Simple and flat. Slightly rounded corners and partial transparency let
the background elements show though ever so slightly.
Search
Messaging
Settings
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17. 1. Paper Theme
A variation on the the existing Symbian brand theme incorporating cut-paper, flat colour and hand-drawn elements.
1.1 Idle Screen
1.2 Grid View
1.3 List View
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18. 2. Neon Theme
A light-hearted tech design inspired by original Hitchhikerʼs Guide to the Galaxy motion graphics by Rob Lord.
A playful combination of technology and design
Inspired by the original Hitchhikerʼs Guide to the Galaxy motion
graphics by Rob Lord, this theme relies on simple, high-contrast
elements to create a whimsical, sci-fi atmosphere.
Icons and design elements
Simple, layered and semi-transparent line drawings create a neon look,
and are complemented by the high-contrast dark galactic background.
Softkeys and overlays
The neon effect is reused, and combined with a partial black
transparent background to provide clear visual separation for other
design elements.
Search
Messaging
Settings
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19. 2. Neon Theme Variant ʻMilliwaysʼ
A light-hearted tech design inspired by original Hitchhikerʼs Guide to the Galaxy motion graphics by Rob Lord.
icons
2.1 Idle Screen
2.2 Grid View
2.3 List View
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20. 3. Glass Theme
A clean, modern design incorporating semi-transparent elements to enable extensive re-use and flexibility.
A conservative yet flexible design approach
The persona of Kim informed the need for a design approach that
provided the community a solid foundation theme from which to
build upon; and contribute back to.
Icons and design elements
Icons have been kept deceptively simple in this design to allow for
customisation through colour alone. Crisp drop and inset shadows
provide a sense of depth on almost any background.
Softkeys and overlays
The semi-transparent gradient enables reuse of buttons and overlays by
blending with many background and colour combinations.
Search
Messaging
Settings
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21. 3. Glass Theme
A clean, modern design incorporating semi-transparent elements to enable extensive re-use and flexibility.
3.1 Idle Screen
3.2 Grid View
3.3 List View
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22. 3. Glass Theme Variant: ʻPhotoʼ
A clean, modern design incorporating semi-transparent elements to enable extensive re-use and flexibility.
NLY
3.1c Idle Screen
SAM PLE O 3.2c Grid View
3.3c List View
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23. Copyright Symbian Founda4on 2010 23

24. Copyright Symbian Founda4on 2010 24

25. Copyright Symbian Founda4on 2010 25

26. Copyright Symbian Founda4on 2010 26

27. Copyright Symbian Founda4on 2010 27

28. Symbian^3: Default Theme
http://developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/File:Fresh_beta_2-11.sis
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29. With home page wallpapers…
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30. Thank you.
Scott Weiss
scottweiss@symbian.org