Nokia reveals S60 5th Edition platform

Nokia has released details of its new S60 5th Edition user interface, which is to be seen for the first time on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, announced today at an event in London. S60 5th Edition features support for touchscreen devices and high-resolution displays - well beyond the current QVGA resolution that we see on most S60-powered smartphones.

S60 5th Edition also includes further support for multimedia features, with a brand new image and video editing suite that allows users to manipulate their photos and videos directly on the phone. Advanced sensors are also supported in S60 5th Edition, including proximity sensors and accelerometers, which should allow for all kinds of new features and abilities.

S60 Platform Services are also supported in S60 5th Edition, which allows for context aware WebRuntime Widgets. These lightweight and easy to create applications will be able to access an S60 smartphone's calendar, GPS receiver, and camera to provide even more advanced services. Open C++ is also supported, which should make it even easier for developers to create robust native applications.

As an added benefit, specifically for consumers, most applications created for current S60 3rd Edition smartphones should be fully compatible with smartphones using S60 5th Edition. This means that, at launch, devices such as the 5800 XpressMusic will already have a large library of 3rd party applications available.

Developers can login to Forum Nokia today to download the all new SDK, which offers tools to create S60 5th Edition applications.