In this Technical paper, the first of two, Twm Davies takes Qt for a spin. Part 1 is an introduction and quick primer for Qt for Symbian, and looks at what Qt has to offer C++ developers targeting Symbian phones, and introduces key Qt idioms that offer comparable functionality to native Symbian C++.

Part 2 will look more closely at the Qt Mobile Extensions, and will demonstrate how to write a custom extension that enables a compass application on the Samsung i8910 HD.

The reference Qt for Symbian release for this paper is the Tower 4.5.2 technology preview release (June 2009), which at the time of writing is the latest version of the Qt libraries signed for installation on Samsung phones, but these papers should be equally relevant to developers using the very latest Colossus 4.6 beta release (October 2009).

NOTE: The Mobile Extensions currently supplied by Qt include code that uses Nokia proprietary APIs and that will therefore only run on Nokia phones. The binary release of the Mobile Extensions required on device is therefore only available for Nokia phones. To explore the Mobile Extensions, you can build and sign your own versions, and you can look out for Twm's second paper that shows you how to roll you own.