The Zoom 2 looks like ‘the’ model to be reckoned with. It is being deployed through Symbian Foundation as its first official reference design.

For a high-end model, the Zoom 2 has all the gadgetry you’d hope for as a developer. Specifications include WVGA display, capacitive touchscreen, HDMI out, WiFi, Bluetooth, FM transmitter, 3G radio, 8 megapixel cam, full QWERTY keyboard, and a top-of-the-line OMAP3430 core.

As announced earlier today, the Symbian Foundation has selected the Zoom 2 – or to give its full name, the Zoom OMAP34x-II MDP (Mobile Development Platform) – as the first hardware reference execution environment for the Symbian Platform. The commitment of the Symbian Foundation is that, every two weeks, the platform test code will be run on the Zoom 2 where things will run as follows:

• Every two weeks, the Symbian Foundation will make available the latest version of the Symbian^3 PDK (Product Development Kit);
• This kit will contain a large number of binaries, built from the appropriate versions of the source code from all the components that will make up the platform release;
• Scripts and tools will be provided to combine these binaries along with binaries from TI to produce a software “image”, which people can flash into the Zoom 2 device;
• The Zoom 2 should then boot up and run the Symbian Platform code.

[via Symbian]