The general releases of versions 3 and 4 are anticipated for the first quarter of this year and the end of 2010, respectively, Symbian representatives said on Friday afternoon. The OS is supported on mobile phones from such companies as Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Version 3 will offer capabilities such as a multipage home screen and HD video support, with backing for files of more than 2 GB, said Victor Palau, a member of the Symbian release team, in a . One-click connectivity in version 3 provides a simpler connection dialog. Also featured is remote contact lookup, via a plug-in framework and HDMI support for audio, video and images.

"So Symbian^3 is progressing nicely, and at the same time Symbian^4 is starting to build up a substantial contribution plan with already 60 Package Features," Palau said. Version 4 is primarily known for a "complete overhaul" of the UI environment but also features a reference implementation of the ECAM camera API from ISB.

"It will provide the capability to use a PC development environment (and consequently a better debugging experience) for camera applications, which until now can only be tested using a production hardware," Palau said