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<concept id="GUID-13987218-9427-455E-AC77-ADE6B0E9CD7E" xml:lang="en"><title>Introduction

to Symbian^3</title><shortdesc>The Symbian platform, is a comprehensive open-source software platform

for Symbian-based devices. The platform is used by device manufactures to

build devices, and by third-party developers to create after-market applications

for installation onto devices.</shortdesc><prolog><metadata><keywords/></metadata></prolog><conbody>

<section id="GUID-1212158F-A8CF-41FE-A6B9-4461D90EA2A5"><title>Overview</title><p>The

Symbian platform includes a customizable user interface, a rich set of applications,

common user interface components (AVKON, UIKON) and development tools for

implementing new applications. It also includes tools and documentation that

enables device creators and application developers to create feature-rich

devices and applications.</p><p>The Symbian platform architecture is divided

into different layers:</p><ul>

<li><p>The <b>Applications Layer</b> consists of application specific UI and

engine components. It uses the services provided by Middleware and OS layers. </p></li>

<li><p>The <b>Middleware Layer</b> consists of domains which provide services

to the application layer; for example, Multimedia, Networking and Location

services.</p></li>

<li><p>The <b>Operating System (OS) Layer</b> provides all higher-level

OS services across a full range of technology domains such as communications,

networking, graphics, multimedia and so on. It also includes low-level OS

services such as frameworks, libraries and utilities, which turn the abstracted

hardware and OS mechanisms into a programmable interface. </p></li>

<li><p>The <b>Adaptation layer</b> integrates the generic platform software

with the phone’s cellular platform. It is implemented by the device creators

though reference implementations are provided with the platform.</p><draft-comment time="2009-12-08T14:38" translate="no">Give link to the adaptation documentation.</draft-comment></li>

<li><p>The <b>Cellular Platform</b> is the device-specific hardware and cellular

software that performs the services required by the Symbian platform.</p></li>

</ul><p>For more information about layers of the Symbian platform and the

packages contained within it, see the <xref href="http://developer.symbian.org/downloads/system_models/foundationpkg_22-05-09.svg" scope="external">Package view of the current Symbian Foundation platform</xref>.</p><fig id="GUID-AD79AEF5-1DB3-47F7-9B42-FE5C7FE7C6A3">

<title>Architecture of the Symbian platform</title>

<image href="GUID-6913F58F-FDA1-4708-B03E-16AF6C545E5B_d0e1315_href.jpg" placement="inline"/>

</fig><p>A layer can have packages from any <xref href="http://developer.symbian.org/main/source/technology_domains/index.php.dita">technology

domain</xref>. Technology domains are a group of packages, each of which is

a collection of components. To understand more about the architecture, what

the platform offers, see <xref href="http://developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page.dita">Introduction

to Symbian Developer Community</xref>.</p></section>

<section id="GUID-6D6715BB-B591-4C97-82BF-1AA68079B45C"><title>Platform UID</title><p>The

platform UID for Symbian^3 is 0x20022E6D.</p></section>

<section id="GUID-177B4AB9-E89E-4AF4-8BC9-503E9F747FE3"><title>Download</title><ul>

<li><p>You can download the Application Development Toolkit and Product Development

Toolkit from the <xref href="http://developer.symbian.org/main/tools_and_kits/index.php" scope="external">Symbian Developer</xref> Website.</p></li>

</ul></section>

</conbody><related-links>

<linklist>

<link href="GUID-6F1ED7D0-5F41-4587-89AA-8DDE7AEC916F.dita"><linktext>What's new

in Symbian^3</linktext></link>

<link href="GUID-AB69D251-7635-4325-BBCE-92F7AFC86DC2.dita"><linktext>New C++ APIs

in Symbian^3</linktext></link>

<link href="GUID-BA0A115B-068C-4257-9489-DF35DF633AD2.dita"><linktext>Porting applications

to Symbian^3</linktext></link>

</linklist>

</related-links></concept>