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UPDATE: This now needs to be updated. Hopefully I will get around to this soon. Nothing is inaccurate we just know more now. [10v2001]

This section is a general introduction to EPOC Release 6. You can find out more in detail about Quartz and Crystal in their respective section, each of which has an introduction. OK this turned out to be a little longer than envisaged, but it is worth reading...

Epoc Release 6, and believe me it is ER6 despite the supposed name change, is Symbian first proper release. Although responsible for ER5, this is the first one develop entirely within the Symbian Consortium, and the first that aims at power not just palmtops (like the Psion 5), but handhelds (like the Palms) and Smart Phones (the nearest to this at the moment is the Ericsson R380). The palmtop part of the OS is dubbed Crystal, the handheld Quartz and the smartphone is pearl.

Here on the right we can see concept drawings as defined by Symbian Quartz is on the left and Crystal on the right. Pearl is still in the works, and there is very little information about it at the moment. It is expected to be part of a later ER6 release, and will probably be available sometime in the 3rd Quarter of 2001.

The cleverest thing about ER6 and that which makes it unique is it designed for the purpose it is intended. This may seem strange but think of it competitors - Windows CE is limited by the need to look and feel windows like and is part of an end to end solution (i.e. use an OS in everything from servers to PDA's). Palm is designed specifically for handhelds and is starting to look a lit bit long in the tooth thanks to a lack of multi tasking and its reliance on the dragonball chip. ER6 on the other hand is designed for the PDA and designed for the modern PDA. This means it is very lean and very well designed for its purpose. Hopefully as you look through this site you'll understand what I mean. But as an idea ER6 supports integral phone and communications meaning it can be a phone and act as a messaging entre, indeed a main theme is as a messaging / communication platform. Symbian terms this as theme as integrated wireless communication.

All three levels of device are based on what Symbian terms Generic Technology (GT) - i.e. a central shared set of code. They all operate of the same OS and code, the way that is then presented (the GUI) and the interaction with the OS and its applications are different on each device. The idea is summed up rather nicely by Symbian diagram as shown on the right. As you can see this also includes Symbian Connect (a.k.a. PsiWin or Epoc Connect). This is how the devices link, exchange, and synchronize data with the PC. The EPOC Kernel is the shared code, and each device then has extra code that essential codes for the differing input devices, GUI and applications that are included with each device. The Kernel contains all the code on how to do things at a system level (such as messaging protocols, and task processing), but things such as the display of the system screen reside within the code for each device. As Symbian puts in the GT contains the multi-tasking EPOC kernel, data management, communications, graphics, multimedia, security, application engines, messaging engine, browser engines for WAP and HTML, Java� runtime environment, and support for data synchronization and worldwide locales. Phew! I hope you understand this.

So to explain the core idea that is spread across all three designs we have to look a bit deeper. The heart of R6 in the Contacts program. This links in with the Phone, Agenda, and other programs, moving between programs is seamless (i.e. it just happens - for example when you click on a telephone number in contacts the phone app dials it). Agenda and Contacts are core to both devices, as they are one of the most essential and useful functions. The other part of wireless communication is WAP and Web allowing you to get information. This is shared across both Quartz and Crystal. Symbian sums it all up (again!) - Application engines shared by Quartz and Crystal include contacts, schedule, to-do list, sketch, word processor, messaging, WAP and HTML browsing, voice recorder, and viewers for external data formats including Microsoft Word email attachments.

The other shared aspects include intra device and PC communication and security. Symbian says: Communications protocols include GSM for wireless telephony, Bluetooth and IrDA for personal-area networking and data interchange, RS232 and dial-up TCP/IP for internet access. To provide the security needed for m-commerce, Symbian�s generic technology includes full-strength encryption and certificate management, secure communication using SSL and WTLS, and digitally signed application installation. Note that m-commerce is mobile commerce. This built in security is a considerable advance from ER5 and is just one reason why the new OS is so much more powerful.

To sum up what Quartz and Crystal are I've taken this information from the Symbian website. However there is a lot more about each in the relevant section:

So how do the devices come from this OS? Well the manufacturers take the appropriate part of ER6 - having designed something to fit one specification or the other - and then combine the two. The OS cane be heavily customised [or at least the GUI can], at first glance its not always going to be easy to see they are the same OS even within the two types. The manufacturer provides the phone application and can add or take away programs as they feel appropriate and that's that!

There is one more aspect of the current release we should examine. ER6 is based on unicode (16 bit characters as opposed to 8 bits in ER5). What this means is that internationalisation of the product is much easier. All languages are supported because that is what the international unicode recommendation enables.

What next for ER6 you may ask? Symbian have laid down a few pointers and as a last thing in this introduction here is a taste of things to come...

• Version 6.1 see GPRS-based packet data (often referred to a 3G mobile phone technology), WAP 1.2, and additional Bluetooth functionality. Pearl will be in this release. It should be around in the first half of 2001.
• Release 6.2 comes with support for W-CDMA, CDMA and TDMA networks, and will also extend the support for Bluetooth. No release date yet.

This introduction was written with my own knowledge and the help of this document. It presents a very good summary of what ER6 is all about. Its available at this address: http://www.symbiandevnet.com/techlib/techcomms/techpapers/papers/v6/over/sp/index.phpl

And if you managed to get through all that - well done. Pat yourself on the back. What's that I hear you say. 'I want a device now'. First look through the rest of the site and use it to console yourself, that there probably wont be anything until mid 2001 at the earliest...