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Logo - Symbian version 1

Qt provides support for the Symbian platform with integration to the S60 framework. Since the Qt 4.6.1 release we have guaranteed backward binary and source compatibility guarantee. This means applications written with Qt 4.6.1 are compatible with Qt 4.6.2 and later releases. See release status for more details about what you can do with Qt 4.6.

Qt on the Symbian Platform

With the Qt port to Symbian, we have a broad embedded offering. Qt allows you to code once and deploy across major mobile device and desktop operating systems
while getting to market quickly.

  • Target over 130 million devices with Qt on Symbian
  • Deploy your Qt-based Symbian applications to Maemo, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, and embedded Linux
  • Run your Qt -based Symbian mobile applications on the desktop on Windows, Mac and Unix/Linux (X11)

Get Started with Qt on Symbian

Download Qt

Available under the LPGL



Bringing Qt to Symbian

Qt 4.6 presents new Qt mobile demos running on Symbian S60 3 and Symbian S60 5, as well as Maemo 5.

Try out these demos on your own Symbian S60 phone, open your phone browser and go to: qt.nokia.com/phonedemos.

  • Read the latest blog about Qt for Symbian on Qt Labs
  • More videos and blogs can be found on Qt Labs
 

Watch other videos in our Qt Studios channel on YouTube.

Don't forget check out the Qt on Symbian playlist, too.

 

Check out the Mobility Project which is developing new Qt APIs for mobile development.

Symbian developer, but new to Qt?

Qt is a cross-platform application framework. Using Qt, you can write applications once and deploy them across many desktop and embedded operating systems without rewriting the source code.


Visit Qt for mobile platforms and what's new in Qt to learn more.

Getting Started

This quick start video describes how to create a small application in Qt Creator - running it on Windows, compiling for the phone and running on the phone.

Learn more:

  • Video - How to set-up a Symbian development environment for Qt development
  • Video - How to set-up Qt for Symbian and the Qt Windows SDK including Qt Creator

Key Features for Symbian Development

 

On top of all the tools and the API and class libraries that Qt offers, Qt provides you with added functionality for an optimized Symbian development experience.

Native Look and Feel

Qt will detect which theme the phone is running and applies the style at runtime to your Qt application. The look and feel of your applications can also be easily customized in a fraction of the time and lines of code required for traditional UI styling with Qt Style Sheets.

Symbian Development Environment

Qt for Symbian supports:

  • Symbian build system version 1 (abld) and version 2 (Raptor)
  • Symbian S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1; S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2; and S60 5th Edition, as well as future Symbian releases
  • Integration with IDEs: Qt Creator and Carbide C++

 

Graphics Features

  • Powerful paint engine that provides features such as anti aliasing, gradients, curves and transparency
  • Animation support with timelines and easing curves
  • Hardware acceleration targeting future device technology (OpenVG)

 

Device Configurations

With a single Qt binary your application will, across all supported Symbian devices, provide automatic support for:

  • Switching between landscape and portrait mode
  • Different screen resolutions
  • Touch screen and key pad input

 

How to Provide Feedback

All feedback from the Qt user community is highly valued, and extensive testing of Qt on Symbian is encouraged. To collect this feedback, we have set up a special mailing list. The address of the mailing list is:

  • qts60-feedback@trolltech.com

Please join the mailing list to provide technology feedback, bug reports, suggestions or comments by sending a mail with the subject set as "subscribe" to:

  • qts60-feedback-request@trolltech.com

Contributing Code

The Qt public repository is located at:

This means you can follow the work, commit by commit and contribute to Qt development by creating merge requests. Guidelines for contributing code can be found here:

 

Release Status

Qt is ready to be used for development of commercial applications. As of the Qt 4.6.1 release we have guaranteed binary compatibility for the Symbian platform.

For detailed information see documentation.

Licensing

Qt for Symbian is available under the Qt Commercial License, the LGPL v. 2.1 “LGPL”) and the GPL v. 3.0.  Symbian currently licenses their software products under either the Symbian Foundation License or the Eclipse Public License (“EPL”).   While the LGPL and the EPL are not compatible and may not be combined on a file-by-file basis, they may be used in a common environment provided that the interaction between Qt and Symbian is limited to:  dynamic linking, inter-process communication and data exchange. Therefore, most Symbian developers can use Qt for Symbian under the LGPL.

For more information about Qt licensing see here.
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