Open Source O.S. for Mobile Phones

Be it Google's Android,Be it Samsung's BADA ,Be it Nokia Symbian^3 or be it recently launched MeeGo everybody is rushing their smart-phones towards a platform which is open source.So what is so special about open source OS for mobiles??

The main reason behind them is that they are free to use and their source code is open to all.I would like to take through all of these Mobile OS in detail One by One.




Firstly i would like to talk about Android

Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. The the tools and APIs necessary to begin developing applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language.

Features

• Application framework enabling reuse and replacement of components
• Dalvik virtual machine optimized for mobile devices
• Integrated browser based on the open source WebKit engine
• Optimized graphics powered by a custom 2D graphics library; 3D graphics based on the OpenGL ES 1.0 specification (hardware acceleration optional)
• SQLite for structured data storage
• Media support for common audio, video, and still image formats (MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG, GIF)
• GSM Telephony (hardware dependent)
• Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi (hardware dependent)
• Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer (hardware dependent)
• Rich development environment including a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance profiling, and a plugin for the Eclipse IDE.

A closer look at android GUI

Now we talk about the new symbian OS ^3

Symbian^3

From Symbian Developer Community

Symbian^3 (pronounced Symbian three) is the second open version of the Symbian platform. It extends Symbian^2 in many ways, including graphics support for advanced layering and effects, full HDMI support for a great television playback experience and improved data performance - ideal for streaming high definition audio and video.

This page provides an overview of Symbian^3, picking out a few of the most interesting features to give you a flavour of what is available in the kits now and what is still to come. Highlights of Symbian^3 include:

• Simplification across the UI for an improved user experience.
• New features such as a podcast manager and an improved Homescreen.
• Architectural improvements that speed up user interface and improve the behaviour of network based applications.

Now talk abt Samsung's Bada

Samsung bada is a fully-fledged smartphone platform that enables the creation of a variety of applications on a wide-range of Samsung mobile devices.

Purpose of bada

More and more people want the rich and connected application-experiences that are currently only available for early adopters, wealthy consumers in advanced economies or any specific lifestyle. Samsung has committed to develop bada to deliver a smartphone era available for everyone, to make a true democracy for billions of people on all continents in all corners of the world.

Keywords of bada

• Trustworthy

Samsung has about 20 years of experience in delivering the best-in-class mobile technology and devices to consumers across the globe. Samsung bada is a culmination of Samsung’s deep expertise and experience in the mobile industry, inheriting and developing merits of the mobile platform that are adopted by many popular handsets such as Star, Jet and Corby.

• Potential

Samsung bada is professedly for a smartphone platform for mass customers. In 2010, bada will be applied to a significant portion of Samsung’s touch mobile handsets. For your information, Samsung sold approximately 40 million full touch screen mobile phones in 2009 and aims for 100 million in 2010. The market potential is high and there are more opportunities for developers.

• Featured

Samsung bada provides plenty of service features to create SNS and LBS applications using the TouchWiz-Stylish Smartphone UI. High-performance applications and services can be run by bada. Enjoy a consistent application user experience and varied and fun applications anytime, anywhere.

Value proposition of bada

Throughout the cycle that consists of bada, bada Developers, Samsung Apps, the consumers can get abundant applications as well as inter-connected services between web and mobile. Samsung bada enhances people’s lifestyles and brings new value for everyone that accepts our invitation to adventure.

Now the latest MeeGO

This is the latest collaboration in mobile phones OS is a huge effort by the worldwide Nokia and Intel teams to share the MeeGo operating system code with the open source community. This is the latest step in the full merger of Maemo and Moblin, and we are happy to open the repositories and move the ongoing development work into the open - as we set out to do from the beginning.

What are we opening? The MeeGo distribution infrastructure and the operating system base from the Linux kernel to the OS infrastructure up to the middleware layer. The MeeGo architecture is based on a common core across the different usage models, such as netbooks, handheld, in-vehicle, and connected TV. The MeeGo common core includes the various key subsystems including the core operating system libraries, the comms and telephony services, internet and social networking services, visual services, media services, data management, device services, and personal services. More on this will be described on meego.com over the next few days.