Nokia has released Qt 4.6
(http://qt.nokia.com/whatsnew), the latest
version of the cross-platform application and UI
(user interface) framework. The upgrade features
new platform support, l new graphical
capabilities and support for multi-touch and
gestures.

Qt 4.6 includes support for the Symbian platform
for the first time, and also adds Mac OS X 10.6
("Snow Leopard"), Windows 7 and the upcoming
Maemo 6 to the list of Qt supported platforms.
Also available is community support for real-time
operating systems QNX and VxWorks. Support for
Maemo 5 is also currently in development, with
the second technology preview being released
today.

Qt support for Symbian and Maemo creates the
first opportunity for developers to target both
of these platforms from the same codebase,
according to Sebastian Nyström, vice president,
Application Services and Frameworks at Nokia.
Also released today is a technology preview of
new Qt APIs from the Qt Mobility project. These
cross-platform APIs (application programming
interfaces) that provide developers with
functionality such as location for
navigation-type devices, as well as messaging,
contacts, and bearer management.

Qt 4.6 builds upon the graphical improvements of
4.5 and enhances them with the addition of new
Animation Framework -- including state machine
functionality -- plus new advanced graphics
effects like opacity, drop shadows, glow, and
filtering. The new version also adds the ability
to create multi-touch applications.

Performance improvements come in the form of an
optimized, re-written Qt GraphicsView rendering
algorithm, a new OpenGL paint engine, WebKit, 2D
vector graphic support using OpenVG, and new
DirectFB support. Complimenting the release of Qt
4.6 is an updated release of Qt Creator, a
cross-platform IDE for Qt development. Qt Creator
1.3 and Qt 4.6 form the Qt SDK which contains
everything developers need to create
cross-platform applications.