Series 40 is a software platform and application user interface

User interface

The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...

 (UI) software on Nokia

Nokia

Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...

's broad range of mid-tier feature phone

Feature phone

A feature phone is a mobile phone that, like smartphones, combines the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone.Today's models typically also serve as portable media players and camera phones with touchscreen, GPS navigation, Wi-Fi and mobile broadband access.Feature phones is...

s, as well as on the Vertu

Vertú

Vertú is a jazz fusion band consisting of bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White , keyboardist Rachel Z, violinist Karen Briggs and guitarist Richie Kotzen. The band released one eponymous album in 1999....

 line of luxury phones. It is the world's most widely used mobile phone platform and found in hundreds of millions of devices.. Analyst estimates place the total number of devices shipped with S40 close to 1.5 billion, as of the end of 2010.

Applications

It provides communication applications such as telephone, internet telephony (VoIP)

Mobile VoIP

Mobile VoIP or simply mVoIP is an extension of mobility to a Voice over IP network. Two types of communication are generally supported: cordless/DECT/PCS protocols for short range or campus communications where all base stations are linked into the same LAN, and wider area communications using...

, messaging, email client with POP3

Post Office Protocol

In computing, the Post Office Protocol is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP and IMAP are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern...

 and IMAP4

Internet Message Access Protocol

Internet message access protocol is one of the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval, the other being the Post Office Protocol...

 capabilities and Web browser

Web browser

A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...

; media applications such as camera, video recorder, music/video player and FM radio; and phonebook and other personal information management

Personal information management

Personal information management refers to the practice and the study of the activities people perform in order to acquire, organize, maintain, retrieve and use information items such as documents , web pages and email messages for everyday use to complete tasks and fulfill a person’s various...

 (PIM) applications such as calendar and tasks. Basic file management, like in Series 60, is provided in the Applications and Gallery folders and subfolders. Gallery is also the default location for files transferred over Bluetooth

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...

 to be placed. User-installed applications on Series 40 are generally mobile Java

Java Platform, Micro Edition

Java Platform, Micro Edition, or Java ME, is a Java platform designed for embedded systems . Target devices range from industrial controls to mobile phones and set-top boxes...

 applications. Flash Lite applications are also supported, but mostly used for screensavers.

Web browser

The integrated web browser can access most web content through the service provider's XHTML

XHTML

XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....

/HTML

HTML

HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....

 gateway. The latest version of Series 40, called Series 40 6th Edition, introduced a new browser based on the WebKit

WebKit

WebKit is a layout engine designed to allow web browsers to render web pages. WebKit powers Google Chrome and Apple Safari and by October 2011 held over 33% of the browser market share between them. It is also used as the basis for the experimental browser included with the Amazon Kindle ebook...

 open source components WebCore and JavaScriptCore. The new browser delivers support for HTML 4.01, CSS2

Cascading Style Sheets

Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...

, JavaScript

JavaScript

JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....

 1.5, and Ajax

Ajax (programming)

Ajax is a group of interrelated web development methods used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications...

. Also, like the higher-end Series 60, Series 40 can run the Opera Mini

Opera Mini

Opera Mini is a web browser designed primarily for mobile phones, smartphones and personal digital assistants. Until version 4 it used the Java ME platform, requiring the mobile device to run Java ME applications. From version 5 it is also available as a native application for Android, iOS, Symbian...

 web browser to enhance the user's web browsing experience.

Synchronization

Support for SyncML

SyncML

SyncML is the former name for a platform-independent information synchronization standard. The project is currently referred to as Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronization and Device Management...

 synchronization with external services of the address book, calendar and notes is present. However with many S40 phones, these synchronization settings must be sent via an OTA

Over-the-air programming

Over-the-air programming refers to various methods of distributing new software updates or configuration settings to devices like cellphones and set-top boxes...

 text message.

Software platform

Series 40 is an embedded software

Embedded software

Embedded software is computer software that plays an integral role in the electronics it is supplied with.Embedded software's principal role is not Information technology , but rather the interaction with the physical world. It's written for machines that are not, first and foremost, computers...

 platform that is open for software development via standard or de-facto content and application development technologies. It supports Java

Java (programming language)

Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

 MIDlet

MIDlet

A MIDlet is an application that uses the Mobile Information Device Profile of the Connected Limited Device Configuration for the Java ME environment...

s, i.e. Java MIDP

Mobile Information Device Profile

Mobile Information Device Profile is a specification published for the use of Java on embedded devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. MIDP is part of the Java Platform, Micro Edition framework and sits on top of Connected Limited Device Configuration , a set of lower level programming...

 and CLDC

Connected Limited Device Configuration

The Connected Limited Device Configuration is a specification of a framework for Java ME applications describing the basic set of libraries and virtual-machine features that must be present in an implementation...

 technology, which provide location, communication, messaging, media, and graphics capabilities. S40 also supports Flash Lite applications.

Operating system

Series 40 is a simpler operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

  than the higher end S60

S60 (software platform)

The S60 Platform is a software platform for mobile phones that runs on Symbian OS. It was created by Nokia, who made the platform open source and contributed it to the Symbian Foundation. S60 has been used by mobile device manufacturers including Siemens mobile, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Panasonic...

 (which is based on the multi-tasking

Computer multitasking

In computing, multitasking is a method where multiple tasks, also known as processes, share common processing resources such as a CPU. In the case of a computer with a single CPU, only one task is said to be running at any point in time, meaning that the CPU is actively executing instructions for...

 Symbian OS). Because S40 devices do not support true multi-tasking and do not have a native code API

Application programming interface

An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...

 for third parties, its user interface may appear to be more responsive and faster than other Nokia platforms on similar hardware.

History

The first Series 40 devices (introduced in 2002) had only 128x128 pixel

Pixel

In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....

 large displays with lower color capabilities. Over the years, the S40 UI has evolved from a low resolution UI to a high resolution color UI with an enhanced graphical look. The third generation of Series 40 that became available in 2005 introduced support for devices with resolutions as high as QVGA (240x320). It is possible to customize the look-and-feel of the UI via comprehensive themes

Theme (computing)

In computing, a theme is a preset package containing graphical appearance details, used to customize the look and feel of an operating system, widget set or window manager....

. A list of all Series 40 devices can be found on the Nokia web site.