The Nokia N70 smartphone, released in 2005, was the first device in history to sell over one million units, eventually reaching tens of millions in total sales. The device featured the Symbian OS 8.1 operating system, which was based on the EPOC32 architecture developed by Psion in the 1990s.
Development for the platform primarily utilized C++98 with specific idioms for memory management, such as the 'Leave' mechanism and the Cleanup Stack. Applications were structured around the Application, Document, AppUi, and View components, with the S60 platform utilizing the Avkon UI framework.
Modern development for the N70 is possible on Windows 11 using the original SDK. The build process relies on ActivePerl 5.6.1 and the GNU GCC cross-compiler included within the SDK. Binaries are generated as PE files and converted into the Symbian E32 format via the PETRAN post-processor.
The system architecture follows a multi-layered, microkernel-based approach where applications are technically E32 modules. Developers must define application resources in .rss files and manage memory manually, as standard C++ exceptions and automatic destructors were not supported in the 8.1 environment.
