Giovanni's blog: How about new Java based phone apps? (and a new Symbian-like RTOS while you're at it)
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
How about new Java based phone apps? (and a new Symbian-like RTOS while you're at it)
Need<br>an idea for a new tech company/product? How about a new Symbian-like<br>RTOS phone with and OpenJDK? There's Zulu and Liberica and a few others, at the bottom of this article.
In<br>beginning my 5th day of working on the Intel Galileo board, I stumbled upon some<br>Java application, JNI, or Java Native Interface, that can be used to connect to the board, both in<br>native and embedded packages (ME).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMOgQnypzss&t=41s
Around<br>the same time that the Galileo board was released, Java 6 & 7<br>lost extended support by their parent company, and thus a new 3rd<br>party began to offer support:
https://www.azul.com/products/azul-support-roadmap/
https://endoflife.date/azul-zulu
Which<br>led me to wonder about my Nokia Symbian phones, the E51 and E63 (and<br>the C5-03), which supported Java Micro (embedded) for application<br>development. It was the equivalent of downloading an .exe file that<br>Microsoft didn't officially support before they created the Windows<br>store, and would still work on the phone if it wasn't included with<br>the locked or unlocked phone. It was a glorious era (ok not super<br>perfect, but still compact and quick to use).
So<br>this led me to wonder, why not create a big open source hardware<br>project that works closely with a lightweight open source Java SDK<br>and an open source Symbian OS? The hardware could be manufactured on<br>a RISC-V chip with ARM9-like performance, and packages could be<br>small, and not humongous like 100MB Android apps.
remember Symbian switched to Qt late in their product development<br>(around 2010), but the phones after the early 2005-era Symbian phones<br>pre certificate signing were actually fast and fun to use. Yes, there<br>were worms and other vulnerabilities, but it could serve as a solid<br>template on how to start an independent phone company- even<br>vertically integrated, but it doesn't have to attract every customer,<br>just one who likes the simplicity of an RTOS. And it can include<br>TouchScreen support, just like the later Symbian versions did, not<br>that it should get rid of physical Qwerty keys altogether, but offer<br>options and an open marketplace store like F-Droid, except not super<br>robot themed. From my searches:
"Although<br>Symbian was difficult to program for, this issue could be worked<br>around by creating Java Mobile Edition apps, ostensibly under a<br>"write once, run anywhere" slogan.[27] This<br>wasn't always the case because of fragmentation due to different<br>device screen sizes and differences in levels of Java ME support on<br>various devices."
https://www.techtarget.com/searchsoftwarequality/definition/program
Application<br>development
From<br>2010, Symbian switched to using standard C++ with Qt as<br>the main SDK, which can be used with either Qt<br>Creator or Carbide.c++.<br>Qt supports the older Symbian/S60 3rd (starting with Feature Pack 1,<br>a.k.a. S60 3.1) and Symbian/S60 5th Edition (a.k.a. S60 5.01b)<br>releases, as well as the new Symbian platform. It also<br>supports Maemo and MeeGo,<br>Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.[44][45]
Alternative<br>application development can be done using Python (see Python<br>for S60), Adobe<br>Flash Lite or Java<br>ME.
Symbian<br>OS previously used a Symbian specific C++ version, along<br>with CodeWarrior and<br>later Carbide.c++ integrated<br>development environment (IDE),<br>as the native application development environment.
Web<br>Runtime (WRT) is a portable application framework that allows<br>creating widgets on<br>the S60<br>Platform;<br>it is an extension to the S60 WebKit based<br>browser that allows launching multiple browser instances as separate<br>JavaScript applications.[46][47]
https://web.archive.org/web/20100603124720/http://www.forum.nokia.com/Technology_Topics/Web_Technologies/Web_Runtime/
Java<br>on Symbian S60 (primarily Nokia devices) relies on Java<br>ME (Micro Edition) ,<br>typically utilizing the CLDC (Connected<br>Limited Device Configuration) and MIDP (Mobile<br>Information Device Profile) specifications. Java programs ran as<br>MIDlets (bundled in .jar or .jad files)<br>and were integrated directly into the main applications menu.<br>[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
How to Run Java Apps on S60
Running<br>a Java app or game (.jar file) on a physical Symbian device or an<br>emulator is straightforward: [1, 2]
Transfer: Send<br>the .jar (and<br>optional .jad descriptor)<br>file to your phone via Bluetooth, or transfer it using a memory card<br>reader.
Install: Use<br>the phone's built-in File Manager to locate the file and click it to<br>trigger the installation.
Run: The<br>app will be treated like a native program and will appear directly<br>in your app menu. [1, 2, 3]
Symbian<br>UI variants, platforms
Symbian,<br>as it advanced to OS version 7.0, spun off into several<br>different graphical<br>user interfaces,<br>each backed by a certain company or group of companies.<br>Unlike Android<br>OS's<br>cosmetic GUIs, Symbian GUIs are referred to as...