Text: UIQ has always been something of a poor cousin to Nokia's Series 60, fewer devices, fewer licensees. UIQ 3.0 could dramatically change that. While Series 60 still has a year or more before it incorporates the features of the short lives Series 90, UIQ is promising support for a wide range of form factors, from a single code base, this year.

UIQ 3.0 now supports both portrait and landscape screen formats, with the ability to switch between them on-the-fly. Out-of-the-box it supports QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) format with physical screen sizes between 55mm and 71 mm. However it is not limited to this screen resolution. Device creators are able to easily create versions for other screen resolutions. In addition to the familiar touchscreen with menus UIQ 3.0 now supports a softkey interaction, enabling single handed us of UIQ devices

These new options, UIQ clearly hopes, will spawn a wide range of devices from tablets to folding palmtops as well as more traditional phone like devices.

Interestingly UIQ 3.0 not only support pen and softkey interaction on different devices but these different modes can be used on the same device. So a device may have an interior main screen using a pen and menus and an exterior screen using softkeys.

For developers the main advantage of UIQ 3.0 is that an application will require only one version to address all the device variants. For device manufacturers it also means significant savings. They will be able to add differentiating features to a range of dramatically different devices with one codebase.

UIQ has also been updated to improve the operator's ability for to add its own look and feel to a device. The Operator Configuration Package (OCP) also goes beyond this including not just UI themes but pre loaded content, fonts, embedded links and more.

UIQ 3.0 runs over Symbian OS v9. This means developers, operators and users get the benefits of the improved security model to protect data and the device its self. However it will mean that existing applications need to be modified for the API changes that have taken place in securitizing the Symbian OS. The extend of changes will vary between applications, games may need few alterations, while connected web applications will need many more.

UIQ has always had an appeal to device manufactures like Sony Ericsson that Nokia's Developer Platforms could never have. Now that UIQ allows its licensees to address a broad constituency of devices it could be poised for significant new wins. UIQ have certainly been hinting at this for some time, indeed recent comments from CEO, Johan Sandberg, suggest the far east is the place to watch.

UIQ 3.0 is commercially available now. The developer SDK is expected to be ready shortly. At this stage support for Microsoft, Borland and CodeWarrior tools is expected to be retained. Support for the Symbian OS version of the free Eclipse tool is also likely to be added. There is currently no word on when we will see the first UIQ 3 devices, however SymbianOne would expect them before the end of the year.

For more information, see www.uiq.com.