Development version of Qt 4.7 for Symbian^3 released

The Qt developers at Nokia have released a developers only version of Qt 4.7 for Symbian^3 devices. The developer release of the open source user interface framework for C++ will install on devices such as the Nokia N8 and C7 and replaces the Qt 4.6.3 libraries that come with the devices. The in place replacement is required because the developers say they want "to ensure as efficient usage of system resources as possible". Nokia plans to ship updates to Symbian^3 devices which will allow developers to deploy Qt 4.7 based applications in the first quarter of 2011. At the recent Qt Dev Days in Munich, Nokia's CTO, Rich Green, placed Qt firmly at the core of Nokia's mobile phone application strategy for its new Symbian^3 based phones and future Meego based smartphones.

Qt 4.7 adds support for Qt Quick, a declarative UI framework which allows developers and designers to either use Qt Creator 2.1, currently in beta, to generate QML files, or to hand craft their own QML files. QML files encapsulate their applications user interface layout and components, supplemented with JavaScript like actions to add programmed behaviour to those components. Because Qt 4.7 adds a lot of new functionality, Nokia say they are releasing the libraries now to allow developers to test their existing Qt based applications so that when it does release the update next year, those applications will still work.

The libraries are available to download from Nokia's site. The developers say the libraries will be updated over the coming months as they continue to improve performance.

See also:

• The Qt Future - Mobile on Nokia, a feature on Qt Dev Days 2010 from The H.

(djwm)