Qtopia - 4.1.0 Release Notes

Enhancements

1. 802.11 Wireless IP support

   The existing functionality has been completely rewritten and new features have been added- in particular support for roaming and rule-based network selection.

2. Appearance

   Usability has been improved, that is:

   • currently selected items are highlighted
   • the user can choose a display style from the menu bar
   • selection is effective immediately so the user receives visual feedback about the choice.
3. Bidirectionality

   Qtopia 4 is able to provide user interfaces that work for right-to-left (RTL) languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew. All user interface elements including text and widgets will support bidirectional layouts.

4. Bluetooth
   • Support for GAP, SDAP and OPP profiles.
   • GAP support includes authentication and pairing functionality.
   • OBEX Object PUSH client implementation.
   • OBEX Object Push server implementation.
   • Support of Bluetooth Obex VCard send/receive in the addressbook application.
5. Calculator

   A separate calculator library has been integrated into the application for simplicity.

6. Call Forwarding

   Improved usability includes:

   1. allow user to select the type of the call first and then forwarding conditions
   2. cache forwarding information to reduce waiting time for the user
   3. suggest a previously used number before displaying Contacts
   4. allow user to type number as well as selecting a number from Contacts
   5. provide feedback when a provided phone number is not valid.
7. Digital Rights Management

   OMA DRM v1 Forward Lock (FL) compliance is enabled by means of a 3rd-party DRM solution. Files and content subject to Digital Rights Management are able to be transparently (to the user) browsed, launched, moved, deleted and examined for their properties in the same way as other files. File operations for example copy, move, rename will be handled via the QContentMetaInfo API and will follow OMA DRM standards for DRM controlled files.

8. Document Management

   The Documents API has been completely rewritten and provides a more sophisticated media management such as playlists, supporting MP3 ID3 tags, EXIF tags in JPEG photos etc.

9. GPRS

   The existing functionality has been largely rewritten and now provides a much better structure and easier debugging facilities.

10. Helix

    An initial integration of Helix has been implemented.

    Note:

    • When Helix is enabled at configure, the Qtopia media player acts as a media server and all sounds are played through it.
    • If Helix is not enabled at configure the Qtopia media player will not be present and sounds are played using the Qtopia Core sound server (QSS).
11. Internationalization

    Two new languages have been added, Arabic (ar) and Korean (ko).

12. Internet

    Added routing support, that is, the user can have several internet connections at the same time.

13. Launcher

    Improved modularity by loosening the cohesion between HomeScreen, PhoneLauncher and PhoneManager.

14. Multitasking

    A phone-centric user interface for multitasking is provided. The user is now able to:

    1. launch another application by pressing the Home key to return to home screen without terminating current application.
    2. switch between previously launched applications by multi-pressing the Home key to cycle between all applications and the home screen.
    3. terminate current application by the normal use of the Back button.
15. Music/Videos

    Multimedia applications have been redesigned to use Helix DNA as the basic foundation and to provide playlist support. Improved support and performance can be expected for the following formats:

    1. AAC and aacPlus
    2. AMR-NB and AMR-WB
    3. H.263
    4. MP3
    5. MPEG4
    6. RealAudio and RealVideo

    In addition support for the following streamed formats are expected:

    1. AAC and aacPlus
    2. MP3
    3. RealAudio and RealVideo
16. PIM

    All PIM application now make use of an SQL database for all content.

17. Pictures

    The user can create photo playlists for slideshows and play background music while viewing the slideshow.

18. Plug-ins

    Plug-ins have been redesigned to suit the new Qt plug-in mechanism.

19. Profiles

    Improved support for profiles, that is, selecting, viewing, editing and deleting profiles.

20. Rich Text

    Rich Text support is now available for all user interface strings (labels, etc) and for message (e.g. HTML formatted email).

21. SIMToolkit

    Now passes LAUNCH BROWSER requests onto the WebAccess service.

22. SQL Database

    An SQL database is used for Qtopia features involving permanent storage of data that can be represented as a table of information. This includes the PIM applications, Categories and Document system. Using an SQL database improves performance and flexibility of classes requiring permanent storage.

23. Telephony

    Split serial port, AT chat handling, and multiplexing to a separate library.

24. Time

    Date and time formats support localized formats.

25. Device Driver support
    • Drivers are now implemented as plug-ins for various reference boards. These can be built as plug-ins or into the QPE static binary in single execution mode.
    • All device specific code is now contained in its own directory tree and support for new devices can be add without patching the Qtopia source code.
    • Interfaces for keypad and touchscreen are clearly defined.
    • Customers are able to copy their device specific code cleanly and quickly from one package version to the next.
26. Volume control

    More fine-grained control, the user can set different volume levels for ring tones and other sounds.