Series 40
Series 40 (5th Edition) showing the Menu, on a Nokia 6267
Developer	Nokia
Working state	Discontinued
Source model	Closed source
Package manager	.jad,.jar, .mid, .mod
Supported platforms	ARM
License	Proprietary
Support status
Obsolete, unsupported

Nokia Series 40 Platform, often shortened asS40, is asoftware platform and applicationuser interface (UI) software that was previously used onNokia's broad range of mid-tierfeature phones from 2002 to 2014, as well as on some of theVertu line of luxury phones. It was at one point the world's most widely used mobile phone platform and found in hundreds of millions ofmobile phones.^[1]

Series 40 was more advanced than Nokia'sSeries 30. It was not however used forsmartphones (where Nokia usedSymbian at the time, and laterWindows Phone) and differentiates from them by not supporting true multi-tasking and do not have a native code API for third parties and thus do not support installable applications other than (with few exceptions)MIDlets that are written inJava. However, the simplicity of the system made it more responsive compared to Nokia'sSeries 60 smartphones.^[2][3]

The final Series 40 phone was released in 2013, after which Nokia feature phones switched to a different platform,Series 30+.

The first Series 40 handset was 2002'sNokia 7210 with a 128x128 pixel, colour display.^[2][4] However in a retrospective press release from 2012, Nokia, possibly as a typo error, cited the first Series 40 phone to be theNokia 7110 released in 1999,^[5] which had a 96 × 65 pixel monochrome display and was the first phone to come with aWAP browser.

Nokia announced on 25 January 2012 that the company had sold over 1.5 billion Series 40 devices.^[5]

In 2012 and 2013, several Series 40 phones from theAsha line,^[6] such as the 308, 309 and 311, were advertised as "smartphones" although they do not actually support smartphone features likemultitasking or a fully fledgedHTML browser.^[7]

The final mobile phone running Series 40 was theNokia 515 from 2013, running the 6th Edition. In 2014,Microsoft acquired Nokia's mobile phones business. As part of a licensing agreement with the company, Microsoft Mobile was allowed to use the Nokia brand on feature phones, such as the Series 40 range.^[8] However, a July 2014 company memo revealed that Microsoft would end future production of Series 40 devices.^[9] It was replaced bySeries 30+.

The original version of Series 40^[10] was classified by Nokia as: "a UI category for Nokia 128x128 pixel screen resolution. It comprises a passive matrix colour screen with two soft keys."^[11] The earliest products running these wereNokia 7210 andNokia 3510i. An improved resolution of 128x160 and a three soft keys interface^[12] was first seen on theNokia 6650 (globally released in second quarter 2003^[13]). This also appeared onNokia 7600.

The second generation of the Series 40 platform, often called the 2nd Edition, first shipped with theNokia 6230. This new version updates Java support toMIDP 2.0.^[14] In 2005, the Nokia 6230i was introduced with a higher 208x208 resolution display and this also appeared onNokia 8800 and 8801.^[15][16]

Series 40 3rd Edition was launched in 2005, the first handsets shipping with it being theNokia 6111,6270 and6280. This new version is more closely aligned to theSeries 60 user interface and introduces Active Standby, a more detailed idle screen with quicker access to apps and displaying of calendar and notes. This version also supports improved higher resolution QVGA (240x320 pixels) displays,^[17][18] although some handsets continued to use lower 128x160 resolution such asNokia 5200 and 6111.^[19][20] The updated Feature Pack 1 of S40v3 adds support forAdobe Flash Lite mobile 3D graphics.Nokia 6233 and6125 were some of the earliest to run this version.^[21] Feature Pack 2 added further additional features, including a new music player, playing in background,A2DP profile for Bluetooth, and the possibility of using Flash LiteSWF format animations as live wallpapers.Nokia 5300, 7373 and7390 were the first to run S40v3 FP2.^[21]

Series 40 5th Edition (skipping the number 4 as was Nokia's habit) was released in 2007^[22] with the earliest shipping devices beingNokia 6500 classic,Nokia 6500 slide andNokia 7500 Prism.^[23] This version of Series 40 also upgrades to version 2.1 of Flash Lite.^[24]

Series 40 6th Edition first shipped withNokia 7510 Supernova in late 2008. This version has updated Flash Lite 3, has support forWMA 10 andWMV 9, an improved web browser, and UI animations.^[25][26][27] The updated Feature Pack 1 of the 6th Edition addstouch support for the Touch and Type phones such asNokia X3-02 andNokia Asha 300.^[28] Subsequent versions were named Series 40 Developer Platform.

Series 40 provides communication applications such as telephone, Internet telephony (VoIP), messaging, email client withPOP3 andIMAP4 capabilities andweb browser; media applications such as camera, video recorder, music/video player and FM radio; and phonebook and otherpersonal information management (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 overBluetooth to be placed. User-installed applications on Series 40 are generallymobile Java applications.Flash Lite applications are also supported, but mostly used for screensavers.^[29]BREW applications are also supported too, but for some Qualcomm based Nokia CDMA phones only.

It is possible to customize the look and feel of the UI via comprehensivethemes.^[30]

The integrated web browser can access most web content through the service provider'sXHTML/HTML gateway. The latest version of Series 40, called Series 40 6th Edition, introduced a new browser based on theWebKit open source components WebCore and JavaScriptCore. The new browser delivers support forHTML 4.01,CSS2,JavaScript 1.5, andAjax. Also, like the higher-end Series 60, Series 40 can run theUC Browser web browser to enhance the user's web browsing experience. The latest feature phones from the Asha lineup come with theNokia Xpress Browser which uses proxy servers to compress and optimize web pages in a similar fashion asOpera Mini.

Support forSyncML synchronization of the address book, calendar and notes with external services is present. However, with many S40 phones, these synchronization settings must be sent via anOTA text message.

Series 40 is anembedded software platform that is open for software development via standard or de facto content and application development technologies. It supportsJavaMIDlets, i.e. JavaMIDP andCLDC technology, which provide location, communication, messaging, media, and graphics capabilities.^[31] S40 also supportsFlash Lite applications.

A small number ofCDMA network Nokia phones were released based onQualcomm processors which run Series 40 on top ofREX OS, such as theNokia 3806. These Series 40 devices supportBREW platform applications.^[32]

The following is a list of Series 40 devices released by Nokia:

Nokia 1xxx series

• Nokia 1680 classic

Nokia 2xxx series

Nokia 3xxx series

Nokia 5xxx series

Nokia 6xxx series

Nokia 7xxx series:

Nokia 8xxx series

Nokia Cseries:

Nokia Xseries (Not to be confused withNokia X Family):

Nokia Asha series

• Nokia Developer Platform Architecture - fromDeveloping Scalable Series 40 Applications: A Guide for Java Developers

• Media related toSeries 40 at Wikimedia Commons

• Series 40
• Mobile software
• Embedded operating systems
• Mobile operating systems
• 1999 software

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• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• CS1 Russian-language sources (ru)
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