Symbian introduced the latest version of its smart phone operating system today, adding support for new wireless technologies and capabilities aimed at pushing smart phones into the mass market. Symbian OS v9.3 features an improved start-up time and quicker responsiveness to applications, the company said. Those are features that handset makers and operators have told Symbian they want in order to make the phones more attractive to mainstream users, said Jorgen Behrens, vice president of product management and strategy at Symbian.
It"s difficult to quantify how much faster the phones will boot up, he said, because start up times also depend on how quickly other elements can start up, like the user interface and other programs. The upgrade also makes it easier for developers to remove features they might not want to include in lower-price phones. Developers could remove features before but the process could be challenging because the features had greater dependences on each other, meaning that removing one might disturb another, Behrens said.