UIQ is a user interface maintained by UIQ Technology, which has been used in many touch screen based devices, and it's still being developed. Nokia has used UIQ in just one of its models, Nokia 6708, but it's likely that there won't be more UIQ devices from Nokia, because

• currently the Maemo platform is used in Nokia's touch screen devices
• in the future the S60 v5 user interface will have a touch screen support.

At first Symbian called UIQ "Quartz." The word UIQ however stands for "User Interface Quartz." Its description was the following: "Pen-based information-centric mobile phones." Yet nowadays UIQ supports operating with finger in addition to stylus.

A part of UIQ devices look like S60 phones, but a majority has a huge touch screen in the front cover and some command keys next to it. In some models there is a numeric keypad on top of the display, that can be bent down when the user wants to utilize the whole screen.

There are only two screen resolutions for UIQ, and below is a list of them.

There are three main versions of UIQ published, like S60. And just like in the S60's case, UIQ v1 and v2 programs are binary incompatible with UIQ v3 platform. A list of all UIQ versions:

UIQ v1.0

UIQ v1.1

UIQ v2.0

UIQ v2.1

UIQ v3.0

UIQ v3.1

This page has images of different UIQ versions' desktops. The page opens in a new window.

Memories

UIQ v2.0 and v2.1:

ROM drive Z:

Contains the operating system's and user interface's files. It's on a Flash memory chip in "read only" form, and it can only be edited during the firmware update.

ROM drive A:

Contains operator specific files, e.g. operator's own ringtones, themes, screensavers and starting animations. This memory is write-protected, just like the Z: drive.

User drive C:

This drive can be used as a storage area of the user's own files; the user can save his files and install applications here, and it won't empty although the device gets switched off.

User drive D:

This drive is a memory card, which can be attached into the device. Like the C: drive, it can be used as the user's own storage, and it won't lose its data although it wouldn't get any power.

Program memory - RAM

This is a memory for running programs. For example when the user opens an image file, the image and the image viewer applications gets loaded onto this memory. When the device is switched off, this memory gets empty. So basically this memory works like the PC's RAM memory.

UIQ v3.0 and v3.1:

UIQ v3.x platforms' memory structure is similar to that of UIQ v2.x, but only the A: drive is missing. That means the operator can't install its files onto this device.

There are considerably more UIQ devices manufactured than S80 and S90 devices, but way less than S60 devices. Below is a table of UIQ devices manufactured so far.

- BenQ P31 and Nokia 6708 are basically the same device. Nokia has licensed the device to itself, and therefore, in principle, BenQ P31 doesn't exist.

- The i and c letters after Sony Ericsson phones' model numbers (e.g. Sony Ericsson P1i) are there for different market areas. For example, SE P1i is for European market and P1c is for Chinese market.

- UIQ v1.0 and v1.1 haven't been used in any commercially available device.