Mobile messaging using Bangla

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.