Background
From UIQ Books
Contents |
Background
A Little History
UIQ started life in late 1998 when Ericsson, Psion and Symbian decided to work together to create the Quarter-VGA (portrait 240x320 pixel) user interface for Symbian OS. A small team based in London, England and Ronneby, Sweden defined the functional content of the platform and set about designing the user interface. Ericsson provided design inputs from its R&D work and the R380 phone project while Psion brought along its considerable experience in the design of PDAs; third-party software development companies were also involved. The team set about designing the core interaction model and prototyping the important applications.
Having established a basic model that included application launcher, status bar, menu structure and initial application outlines for Contacts, Phone and Agenda, it was tested using touchscreen tablet PCs. User feedback and further design work was incorporated so that gradually Quartz, as UIQ was then known, took shape.
Figure 1 Evolution of UIQ UI design to UIQ 2.0
Symbian first announced Quartz at the Symbian Developer Conference in Santa Clara, California in February 2000. The following month, Ericsson unveiled the Ericsson Communicator Platform at the CeBIT exhibition in Hannover, Germany.
Figure 2 Ericsson Communicator Platform
In 2002, Quartz became UIQ and the first UIQ phone, the Sony Ericsson P800 was launched, based on Symbian OS v7.0 and UIQ 2.0. Motorola, BenQ and Arima have also developed UIQ-based mobile phones.
Figure 3 UIQ timeline
About UIQ Technology
Ericsson originally set up a Mobile Applications Lab in Ronneby, southern Sweden in 1998, the same year that Symbian was established. In 1999 the lab became part of Symbian and work was focused on developing UIQ. In 2002, UIQ Technology AB was formed. UIQ Technology produces and licences UIQ to mobile phone vendors around the world. In 2006 it was announced that Sony Ericsson was to acquire the company.
At the time of writing, November 2007, UIQ Technology is owned 50% by Sony Ericsson and, subject to customary regulatory approval, 50% by Motorola.
Both companies have agreed that UIQ will be vendor and chipset independent. In addition, UIQ will be licensed on equal terms to all mobile phone vendors in the industry. Sony Ericsson and Motorola are committed to expanding the shareholder base of UIQ to include other handset vendors.
Overview of UIQ 3
UIQ 3 is the latest major revision of the UIQ software platform, introducing major new features compared to the previous version, UIQ 2.1. The UIQ 3 software platform is pre-integrated and tested with Symbian OS v9, the global industry standard operating system designed for mobile phones. The UIQ 3 platform enhances the mobile phone user experience by enabling a large range of add-on software and content.
Figure 4 Example UIQ phone form factors
UIQ 3 makes it possible for a manufacturer to build a portfolio of mobile phones with diverse forms and characteristics, yet all based on a single codeline, reducing development and support costs. UIQ 3 can be customized to fit in with a manufacturer’s style and UI preferences. UIQ 3 was announced at the 3GSM event in February 2004. Models such as the MOTO Z8, Sony Ericsson P990i, P1i and W960i demonstrate some of the different types of phone that are possible with UIQ 3.
Figure 5 UIQ 3 Phones
UIQ 3 phones can be further customized for mobile operators using the Operator Configuration Package. Images, settings, multimedia content, extra applications and much more can be preconfigured. In many cases, the customization can also be applied over-the-air.
Through the UIQ Developer Community, application developers get the SDK and support to create compelling applications for UIQ 3 phones. A single SIS (Symbian OS Software Install Script) package can be made to run on all UIQ 3 phones.
Figure 6 UIQ architecture
UIQ is designed to provide excellent user interaction with easy access to advanced network services. User-centric design and testing has ensured that key user tasks can be completed quickly and smoothly, including those that involve multiple applications. Rich graphics and effects strengthen the user experience. Consistency in overall structure, layout and key assignments enables users to feel at home even across different phone styles.
Symbian OS is a multi-tasking operating system, which means that a user can, for example, send an SMS while also listening to music.
UIQ includes a suite of applications for messaging, web browsing, managing personal data and more. Data can be synchronized with PC applications or remotely using OMA Data Sync. The UIQ Messaging application includes SMS/EMS, MMS and Email.
UIQ 3 Application Suite
The UIQ application suite includes all key functionality for a mobile phone. Mobile phone manufacturers have the freedom to add or modify the delivered software.
The applications also make themselves available to third-party applications. For example, your own application can access the Contacts database to find a phone number, or can create a new meeting in Agenda.
| Agenda – a calendar where appointments, reminders, events etc can be set and meeting invitations managed. Support for vCalendar and iCalendar standards. |
| Calculator – a basic desktop calculator with useful arithmetic functions and a memory. |
| Contacts – lets you store all your contacts in one place and categorize them into folders and groups. The application supports USIM/SIM card management, the vCard standard 2.1 and for integrated instant messaging as well as a direct navigation links to instant messaging applications. |
| Messaging – a suite including Email, SMS/EMS, MMS and beamed entries. Each Email account (POP3, IMAP4, SMTP) has a separate inbox and all other message types are collected in a unified inbox. UIQ has a messaging type module (MTM) framework, which enables third-party developers to create support for additional messaging types, such as push Email. |
| Jotter – for creating notes and drawing sketches. In common with other applications, a Send as function is included so that content can be easily shared. |
| Remote Synchronization – the application is OMA Data Sync 1.2 compliant and is used for synchronizing the user’s data in Agenda/To do and Contacts with a remote server using remote synchronization. There is also a plug-in framework for third-party developers to add synchronization support for other applications. |
| Telephony – UIQ supplies a dummy Phone application in the emulator; mobile phone manufacturers supply their own Phone application. |
| Time – an application used to display a clock and time, as well as set alarms and time zones, etc. |
| To do – for keeping track of tasks and create to-do lists with priorities, dates, categories etc. To do supports the vCalendar standard. |
| Utilities – UIQ includes tools for managing and personalizing the phone: application installer, application launcher, control panel, file manager, task list and themes. |
| Viewers – UIQ has a set of viewers to view and store received files, including images, audio and themes. The appropriate viewer starts automatically when a file is selected.. |
| Voice recorder – an application for sound recording and playback that can be used as a dictaphone. |
| Web – UIQ includes a full HTML web browser where multiple pages can be opened at the same time in separate windows. The browser supports a wide range of web standards. |
Technologies and Features in the UIQ Platform
UIQ is continually updated and enhanced with the latest mobile technologies. Product Description and Datasheet documents on www.uiq.com provide full detail for each version. We outline some of the key technologies and features of UIQ in this section.
Bluetooth Technology
The Symbian OS Bluetooth stack is compliant with the Bluetooth specifications. UIQ Bluetooth extends the Symbian OS implementation with several components that provide additional profiles on top of Symbian OS: FTP Server, Object Push (OPP), and Personal Area Network (PAN), a UI for Bluetooth settings and UI support for audio streaming (A2DP). UIQ also supplies utilities and UI for common Bluetooth tasks, such as pairing, authentication, and authorization.
Digital Rights Management – DRM
UIQ enables downloading, rendering and installation of DRM protected content, such as music, files and themes. This includes support for: forward lock, separate delivery, combined delivery and ROAP triggers. The UIQ OMA download agent supports downloading OMA DRM v2.0 protected content.
Graphical effects
- Animations – supported formats are MNG, GIF89a and SVG.
- Color support – 8-bit to 24-bit color and additionally 8-bit transparency.
- Text styles – support for normal, outlined, and shadowed text. The color of each text style can be selected.
- Semi-transparent windows – enables UI elements, like menus and dialogs, to have, for example, rounded corners or to let the screen area behind the window shine through.
- SVG Tiny – the SVG Player instantly displays high quality static images at any resolution, and runs animations smoothly. The SVG Tiny ICL Plug-in makes it possible for applications to get a still frame from an SVG file/animation and In-scene SVG allows applications to render SVG files in their UI.
Infrared
Legacy infrared is fully supported with Slow Infrared (SIR) allowing signalling rates of 9.6 kbit/s to 115.2 kbit/s: IrOBEX, IRCOMM and IrTRANP.
Instant Messaging Integration API
UIQ offers a framework that allows third party instant messaging (IM) clients to be integrated into the UIQ Contacts application.
International Language Support
The UIQ platform is supplied in English but mobile phone manufacturers are able to produce phones in many languages. For example, UIQ supports ideographic languages such as Japanese, Chinese, and also right-to-left scripts and mirroring of controls and layouts for languages such as Arabic and Hebrew. All localizable data is separated from the code to facilitate localization.
Multi-Homing
UIQ supports multi-homing, which enables the user to have multiple connections open to different network services, for example, one for Internet and another for MMS.
Operator Configuration Package
Mobile phone manufacturers and network operators need to brand their products and services, to provide a specific look and feel to their end users. Features and services must be easy to use. UIQ provides a solution called Operator Configuration Package, which allows manufacturers to configure a UIQ phone with their own specific customization, or to fulfil network operators’ requirements.
Over-The-Air Provisioning
UIQ supports provisioning of the phone using OMA Device Management and OMA Client Provisioning, which allows a network operator to manage the device remotely, over-the-air (OTA).
Platform Security
UIQ 3 includes the platform security features of Symbian OS v9, which are designed to protect the interests of consumers, network operators and developers.
Virtual Private Networks
Virtual Private Networking (VPN) is supported using the industry-standard protocol IPSec.
UIQ 3 Development Platform
The UIQ Application Development Platform contains a set of components with corresponding APIs that are used to create applications for UIQ phones.
Application framework
The application framework provides application structures and layout support for creating application UIs, for example layout managers and building blocks. It also defines the standard UI behavior of applications and dialogs.
System services
These supply UIQ specific services to the applications, such as the Send as feature which can be seen as a shortcut to the Messaging application and to beaming functionality.
Rich GUI toolkit
UI controls such as status bar, input fields, menus and scrollbars that are part of typical UIQ applications.
UIQ 3 SDK
The UIQ 3 Software Development Kit (SDK) enables you to write applications in C++ for UIQ 3 based devices. The UIQ 3 SDK is comprised of development tools including the UIQ Emulator, public APIs, programming examples and documentation. With the UIQ emulator (hosted on a Windows-based PC), programs can be run and tested. The SDK also includes deployment tools that allow you to package your application for a convenient delivery to end users.
Phone manufacturers can extend the UIQ 3 SDK with add-on packages. Such extensions typically contain phone-specific emulator skins, APIs and documentation.
Integrated Development Environments (IDE)
The standard IDE for UIQ 3 development is Carbide.c++ which is described in more detail in the Chapter Development environment and quick start. Other development environments, such as Microsoft Visual Studio 2003 are also supported.
Java ME
UIQ provides a Java ME solution that enables running Java applications. However, this book covers C++ programming only.
UIQ Ecosystem
UIQ works with key players in the telecommunications world to promote and develop UIQ, a platform which is manufacturer-independent and open to the industry.
Figure 7 UIQ ecosystem
The UIQ ecosystem includes mobile phone manufacturers, mobile operators, application developers and end users.
UIQ works with manufacturers to develop an ever wider range of mobile phones meeting the needs of key target markets. UIQ participates in the third party developer programs of mobile operators and works with them to understand requirements for applications, services and customization.
By actively engaging with all these parties, UIQ can help application developers understand the enterprise and consumer marketplace and develop valuable applications and services.
UIQ provides information and support to developers via the UIQ Developer Community, developer.uiq.com, and also works closely with manufacturer support services such as Sony Ericsson Developer World and MOTODEV.
UIQ is present at the key conferences and industry events, as well as organising its own events such as UIQ Developer Fast Track. The UIQ Alliance partner program is a collaboration of key companies in the mobile industry who provide services and solutions including applications and training.
UIQ encourages developers to use the Symbian Signed process, which certifies the origin of an application and provides a benchmark level of quality assurance. The Symbian Signed catalog promotes signed applications to channel partners (operators, aggregators, distributors, mobile phone manufacturers, and so on). In the Chapters Building an application and Multimedia of this book, we build a simple file manager application, SignedApp, which has passed Symbian Signed.
A rich API set, attractive UIQ phones, industry-standard development tools and active developer and partner communities ensure UIQ is the mobile phone developer platform of choice.
