Nokia Opens the S60 Browser Source Code

segphault writes "Nokia has released the source code of it's S60 WebKit browser for mobile devices. Based on the HTML rendering components used in Konqueror and Safari, the S60 WebKit has a multitude of advanced features designed specifically for web navigation on devices with small screens. Nokia decided to release the source code under the permissive BSD license in order to promote adoption by other mobile device companies. From the article: 'the power and scalability of WebKit-based browsers and the highly permissive license under which the S60 WebKit source code is available make it a good choice for companies that want to add mobile web browsing to their devices. I think it will be particularly interesting to see how this affects Opera, whose revenue primarily comes from distribution of its own virtually ubiquitous embedded browser.'"

Symbian 91. is a closed platform

[S3D]

As the Nokia s60 became effectivly closed platform with introduction of Symbian Signed and Developer Cerifications in Symbian 9.1 this is open sourcing of the browser mostly irrelevant. And so called "self-signing" for less essential capabilities still require developer certificate to test/debug application on the real phone.

Re:Notice one thing.

[somethinghollow]

"Lots of people don't want a [convergent] device."

That's why there are carriers like Verizon that make tons of money crippling their phones and selling phones that are pretty much useless, like the LG Mio [lge.com], for a premium. You just never hear about them because geeks want "just a phone" as much as Batman wants "just a belt." In other words, you are reading the wrong website if you are looking for news about just-a-cell-phone. That probably would have had heavy coverage in 1973 [about.com] (or the early '80s when they were available to the public), but not any more.

As far as Nokia's nomenclature, I agree they don't "get it." But as far as their product goes, it's exactly what a different group of "lots of people" want. For me, the fewer things I carry around in my pocket, the better... especially if it is a Nokia N80.

KHTML is a rising star.

[Anonymous Coward]

We're really starting to see the versatility of KHTML show. Besides being a very solid web browser in the form of Konqueror, it has also been adapted by Apple for Safari, and by Nokia.

It will be very interesting to see what happens when KDE 4.0 is released. KDE 4.0 should theoretically include support for Windows, due to the availability of a free Windows port of Qt and an emphasis on portability during the development of 4.0. We might even see Konqueror rival Firefox and Opera as the main competitor to Internet Explorer.

If KDE 4.0 is done correctly, we could very well see Konqueror itself running on various mobile and portable devices.

Re:Notice one thing.

[maggard]

Ever notice how people who want to buy a cellphone keep complaining that they can't just get a bloody phone? Lots of people don't want a digicam/game/text/browsing/fishing rod/floor wax device, they want an f'ing phone.

For the same reason that [insert disliked pop star here] does so well: It's what sells.

Not just the phones (the phones in the US are hugely subsidized to avoid sticker-shock); it's the add-on services that make the $$$. A simple cell plan makes diddly on return, but internet access, ringtones, games, text messages, online shopping, music downloads, tv show downloads, all of those are some serious PROFIT. So nobody gives a damn about the "I just want a phone" crowd, they have little influence because they have little economic clout with the cell companies. However the kids & gadget hounds paying top dollar for a digicam/game/text/browsing/fishing rod/floor wax device do.

BTW, I got myself a new phone this week, and there were several models of "just a phone" at the store. Indeed the one I chose is "just a phone" but for a camera (eh) & apparently a built-in radio, which requires the earpiece to use (whatever.) Those two extras are only on my phone because I insisted on a model with Bluetooth. But it seems pretty sane to use, folds up, fits in my pocket, and the price was right. The model down from it was sans camera, radio, and Bluetooth, not a floor waxer or dessert topper to be seen on it.

Nokia promoting patents, not open source

[nnos]

This must be a misunderstanding. Nokia has not open-sourced their browser. They have open-sourced a port of WebKit to their own proprietary S60 platform. The usefulness of this for other developers is limited. The UI of their browser is closed source and Nokia -- being a strong lobbyist for software patents in Europa -- are probably patenting it. Here is a quate from an article that at least asks some critical questions:

Opera Software's chief technology officer, however, doesn't expect Nokia's move to have much of an impact. "It has limited value for the open source community," said Hakon Lie, CTO for Opera. The amount of code that Nokia released is relatively small compared to the amount it kept proprietary and the innovations Nokia has made are unlikely to be useful to developers of mobile phone platforms other than S60, he said. [lookcfind.com]

"What I'm seeing is they're flirting with open source and trying to get the open source community interested in their platform, but it's more of a marketing thing rather than a real technical contribution," he said.

Re:Symbian 91. is a closed platform

[Anonymous Coward]

You can install a self-signed version of the Python S60 interpreter on a Symbian 9.1 device. The only visible effect of self signing are a few annoying confirmation dialogs during installation.

Opera S60 passes Acid2 test

[porneL]

Latest build of Opera for S60 passes the Acid2 test [operawatch.com] and it does support AJAX, so Opera Software certainly won't let be beaten easily.

Re:Is it really that good?

[Hamton]

You're not using the S60 3rd edition khtml browser then. Which is very good, the best I've ever used on a phone.

I got my Nokia N80 last week, here you can see a sample screenshot [friendlyhamster.com] I took of the BBC website using the phone's khtml browser. It's running at a fairly decent resolution, although it appears much smaller in real life as it's on a 2.1" screen.

I mentioned it indepth with more photos here [gamesasylum.com] and here [blogspot.com].

Basically, it's a very good browser that renders web pages pretty much perfectly, and has functions like zoom in/out, full page preview scrolling, visual back/forward tabs (the N80 also has an inbuilt WAP browser, which by comparison is rubbish). I did notice it crashed a lot if you went to a web page over 1Mb in size (including images, flash, etc), but otherwise it's great.