Abstract:
Mobile messaging using Short Message Service (SMS) is a popular way
to communicate easily and in short time. There are an estimated five million
mobile users in Bangladesh and the number is increasing by the day. The
majority is however unable to communicate in English, and without Bangla
language support in the messaging system, they are unable to use SMS.
Unfortunately, none of the mobile operators in Bangladesh provide native Bangla
language support. The challenges in adding Bangla support to SMS include an
input method for Bangla as well as a rendering system capable of rendering the
Bangla script on the mobile display. The input method can be implemented by
creating a key map – a reasonably straightforward task. The rendering system is
much more complex as most mobile devices do not include support for rendering
Indic scripts such as Bangla. As part of my thesis, I will address both of these
challenges and design a mobile application that will allow the users communicate
in Bangla via SMS. The application will be developed for the Symbian OS, and
will be tested on Nokia Series 60 mobile phones.
