What is Nokia Symbian?

Symbian is an operating system (OS) and software platform designed for smartphones and currently maintained by Nokia.  Symbian OS has been used by a number of companies (totaling 400 million units and still making up 40% of the smart phone market) among which Sony, Ericsson (and later Sony-Ericsson), Siemens, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Sharp, Samsung, Nokia and a few more.
as opposed to Maemo/MeeGo and, to a lesser extent Android which are rather new software w/ still a few "baby illnesses", Symbian is a very mature platform with a proven usability and functionality record.

History

• Psion founded by David Potter inn 1980 launched the Psion Organizer, the world's first volume-produced handheld computer in 1984.
• In 1991, Psion introduces the EPOC OS (Electronic Piece Of Cheese, according to the legend).
• In 1997, Psion Series 5 - the first EPOC32 (32-bit) palmtop.
• June 1998 - Symbian is established as a private independent company and is owned by Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and Psion. From this point onwards has EPOC OS been called Symbian OS.
• 2000
• September - Symbian ships Version 6 of its software platform to licensees.
• November - The world's first Symbian OS phone, the Ericsson R380 Smartphone, ships.
• 2001
• June - The world's first open Symbian OS phone became available - the Nokia 9210 Communicator.
• November
• Nokia introduces the Series 60 - a licensable UI for Symbian.
• The first 2.5G Symbian OS phone, the Nokia 7650, is announced. The 7650 is the first mass-market Symbian phone and it is based on the Nokia series 60 reference design.
• 2002
• February - Symbian announces UIQ user interface application for Symbian OS.
• October - Samsung licenses Symbian OS for smartphones. World’s top five mobile phone manufacturers now Symbian OS licensees.
• December - Fujitsu has completed development of a Symbian OS smartphone for NTT DoCoMo's FOMA 3G network - The F2051.
• 2003
• April - Symbian launches Symbian OS v7.0s at Exposium03.
• October - Nokia announces the first "Media" phone, the TV-enabled 7700, based on the new "Series 90".
• 2004
• February - Symbian OS v8.0 is announced.
• March - Symbian leads smartphone market.
• February 2005 - Symbian OS v9 is announced.
• 2006
• May - 100th commercial phone model ships.
• November - 100 million Symbian smartphones shipped.

Advantages

1.   Greater range of applications.
2.   High quality games.
3.   Better inbuit wap browser.
4.   You can have pdf reader for your phone.
5.   Connectivity is lot more easier and faster.
6.   Real Player, Smart movie player etc sort of application are not available with java phones.
7.   You can download big files through your phone easily with 3G around.
8.   Unlike java phones they are prone to virus attack.

Disadvantages

1.   Not suitable for phones with low RAM and slow processor (minimum requirements for good performance: 369 MHz processor, 70 MB RAM).
2.   More chances of viruses (but anti-virus applications are available).