Slashdot Mirror

Is it possible to run J2ME games in a PC using free software, proprietary software available at no charge, or proprietary software available for less than 100 USD for one seat?

Yes, just google for J2ME emulators, I think Sun even has one included when you download the J2ME development kit. I know for sure Sony Ericsson/Nokia/Motorola et al have emulators. You might have to register at their developer sites first, but it should be free if you are a student or doing non-commercial development. After all, they want developers to make software that works as good as possible for their own devices.

Mobile developer sites:
Sony Ericsson
Nokia
Samsung
Motorola

Some good intro sites:
J2ME Gamer
Midlet.org

Does this Bluetooth thing work even with phones sold by prepaid service providers? Or does, for instance, Virgin lock its phones so that I can't just buy a Virgin phone and a Bluetooth adapter for my PC and transfer games that way?

I don't know how things work in the US, but I haven't heard of anyone locking Bluetooth file transfers on the phone, it would defeat the whole purpose of having Bluetooth. So you should be able to buy a simple Bluetooth USB dongle for your PC ($20) and then use a OBEX push program to transfer the game. The phone senses what the file is (game, image, mp3...) and where to put it, and will ask you if you want to accept it.

Over the air transmission though (OTA) is often locked to the service provider you got the SIM from.

I used Mandrake 10.1 when I was playing around and all drivers and programs were available as official packages on the CDs. No compiling or configuring needed after install to get Bluetooth working, everything worked like a charm.

The developer pages of SE offer Mobile Java 3D Tutorials as well: http://developer.sonyericsson.com/site/global/tech support/tipstrickscode/mobilejava3d/p_mobilejava3d _tips_new.jsp

Why does this question always come up? All manufacturers have plenty of low-end phones that are cheap, reliable and contains no bells and whistles, just go to http://www.sonyericsson.com/ or http://www.nokia.com/ or whatever your preferred brand is. Just because they don't make headlines on the slashdot front-page doesn't mean they don't exist...

This could be a nice platform to experiment with, considering the many ways to get connectivity. I got myself a K750i a few weeks ago, and I was quite impressed by the grade of documentation SE offers; They also seem to like open data formats, since both the theme files as well as remote control definitions (you can use the phone as a bluetooth HID, very handy with media player software) use tar archives with packaged PNG/JPG/GIF and XML files, which is a very nice aspect if you use linux and can't use the windows software. You can also do some nifty stuff with the serial AT command interface, which seems to be designed for extension hardware - I'd like to try some things with a microcontroller if I find the time for it. I documented some aspects here.

I use my phone to carry data with me. I always bring it with me anyway, and it's got a 512 MB MemoryStick in it. When I feel a little bit more rich, I'll get a 2 GB one in it's stead.

Yes, I need a data cable but there's always one or two to borrow from co-workers.

Oh and it's got a very nice mp3 player and a 2 Mpixel camera to boot! I love that little thing... It's a Sony Ericsson W800.

The only special thing about the "ROKR" is that it plays iTunes. The phone is uninspiring in looks, software and specifications.

here... is about as close as you'll get these days I'm afraid.

Of course, that would require you to switch to a GSM carrier ;-)

I wasn't aware that PDAs have much of a future. That being said, I still really want one

Actually GSM phones and PDA's seem to be slowly merging. My guess is that the winner will be some form of hybrid between GSM phone, PDA and iPod like media player... GPS functionality (complete with maps and routeplanners) wouldn't be bad either.

If you are living in the "free" mobile world (outside USA) the by far best phone is the SonyEricsson K750i. It is small but packs everything you need; excellent color screen, superfast Java, an useful camera (2 mpix), bluetooth, ir, usb (cable included), mp3/aac-player (no wma allowed) with external buttons for play, pause, next, prev and sound, playlists, video, memory card (64 MB included, mine is 1 GB, stereo phones (included) and fantastic sound quality, almost a week standby time, animated backgrounds and tons of other features...

Listen up! Motorola is crap, Nokia has lost it and the Asian companies don't understand quality.

SonyEricsson rocks and the K750i is a masterpiece.

http://www.sonyericsson.com/k750/

If you are living in the "free" mobile world (outside USA) the by far best phone is the SonyEricsson K750i. It is small but packs everything you need; excellent color screen, superfast Java, an useful camera (2 mpix), bluetooth, ir, usb (cable included), mp3/aac-player (no wma allowed) with external buttons for play, pause, next, prev and sound, playlists, video, memory card (64 MB included, mine is 1 GB, stereo phones (included) and fantastic sound quality, almost a week standby time, animated backgrounds and tons of other features...

Listen up! Motorola is crap, Nokia has lost it and the Asian companies don't understand quality.

SonyEricsson rocks and the K750i is a masterpiece.

http://www.sonyericsson.com/k750/

I have a Sony Ericsson T637 and it works like a charm over Bluetooth.

Plus, with Sailing Clicker, I can actually control iTunes from my bed with the Mac on the other side of the room. It also allows me to use the phone as a wireless presentation controller - that always starts conversations at conferences.

Overall, I am happy with the phone.

've been waiting for *years* for a cell phone manufacturer to do the OBVIOUS and add a remote control function to a cell phone

they do !,its just you need a decent phone thats all, this is a IR Remote Control for the sonyericsson p800/900 phones, but iam sure any symbian phone with IR can do it, supports loads of devices too

enjoy

've been waiting for *years* for a cell phone manufacturer to do the OBVIOUS and add a remote control function to a cell phone

they do !,its just you need a decent phone thats all, this is a IR Remote Control for the sonyericsson p800/900 phones, but iam sure any symbian phone with IR can do it, supports loads of devices too

enjoy

... and for me, that is the SonyEricsson SEM100 / T100 / T105:

http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=gb&lc=en&ve r=4000&template=pp1_loader&php=php1_10002&zone=pp& lm=pp1&pid=10002

It does exactly what it is supposed to do; it is robust, it is extremely light - if only it supported GSM on 1900 MHz and 850 MHz too... Price? 60 Euro at the moment.

I actually prefer this phone to my other phone, the hugely popular Nokia 6230 (which is not bad, just ... lacking "focus").

Err.. yes. http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,42112,00.html and http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=gb&lc=en&ve r=4000&template=pp1_1_1&zone=pp&lm=pp1&pid=10002 and I can't be bothered to list EVERY SINGLE MANUFACTURER who makes a phone without a camera, mp3 player, garage door opener etc. etc.

I have a Sony Ericsson T610 wich looks startingly similar to this new phone (Nokia N91), but with the addition of the iPod -esque controls on the slider. The T610 is easily the best designed phone I've ever had, and I can't help thinking that Nokia took a few design tips from S-E (and aPple). So, I'm psyched about it!

a quaint relic of the 20th century

seriously the PDA is redundant now we have cell media devices

Like everyone else, I've been using touchscreen PDAs with my thumb since I had a Casio Cassiopia E-100 years ago. Granted this TDA can take two touches at the same time, but I work my PC with one mouse, and I don't think two would make me any more productive to have two.

I use my Sony Erricson P900 every day with my thumb.

I'm also unimpressed by the 4.5 colours that the display claims to have (according to TFA). I gave up CGA years ago!
However (again according to TFA), being able to run on a single AA battery for weeks sounds like the best invention in the last 10 years! They should just licence the power control circuit technology and make millions :P

You think that's irritating? Check out this, the Sony Ericsson P910a PDA phone with amazing 262K color screen.

Wow! 262K? That's even better than 256K!
Lord, I @#$%#!* hate marketing.

No, you're not being stupid. Their marketeers are. I can imagine the MIBP (Men In Black Polonecks) thinking, "Oh what a simply brilliant device! We'll just casually throw in the fact that it's nigh on useless!"

I can imagine the target audience thinking, "Oh what a simply brilliant device! I think I'll run out and drop some big bucks on a Walkman Phone and then not use it as a phone cuz it kills the battery. Brilliant!!"

Why oh why do companies do this? Nokia has been leading the pack lately in too big, too lame, too late. Now Son of Eric comes out with what looks like a piece of killer kit only it ain't. Wait for the beautifully-designed portable nuclear power pack to give your MP3s a half-life of 20,000 years.

Then again, I haven't researched the veracity of claims about the battery life. Notice nothing in the specs about the battery.

Nice to see big corporate like this using phrases like, " comes with CD ripping software " in their marketing material tho...

No, you're not being stupid. Their marketeers are. I can imagine the MIBP (Men In Black Polonecks) thinking, "Oh what a simply brilliant device! We'll just casually throw in the fact that it's nigh on useless!"

I can imagine the target audience thinking, "Oh what a simply brilliant device! I think I'll run out and drop some big bucks on a Walkman Phone and then not use it as a phone cuz it kills the battery. Brilliant!!"

Why oh why do companies do this? Nokia has been leading the pack lately in too big, too lame, too late. Now Son of Eric comes out with what looks like a piece of killer kit only it ain't. Wait for the beautifully-designed portable nuclear power pack to give your MP3s a half-life of 20,000 years.

Then again, I haven't researched the veracity of claims about the battery life. Notice nothing in the specs about the battery.

Nice to see big corporate like this using phrases like, " comes with CD ripping software " in their marketing material tho...

No, you're not being stupid. Their marketeers are. I can imagine the MIBP (Men In Black Polonecks) thinking, "Oh what a simply brilliant device! We'll just casually throw in the fact that it's nigh on useless!"

I can imagine the target audience thinking, "Oh what a simply brilliant device! I think I'll run out and drop some big bucks on a Walkman Phone and then not use it as a phone cuz it kills the battery. Brilliant!!"

Why oh why do companies do this? Nokia has been leading the pack lately in too big, too lame, too late. Now Son of Eric comes out with what looks like a piece of killer kit only it ain't. Wait for the beautifully-designed portable nuclear power pack to give your MP3s a half-life of 20,000 years.

Then again, I haven't researched the veracity of claims about the battery life. Notice nothing in the specs about the battery.

Nice to see big corporate like this using phrases like, " comes with CD ripping software " in their marketing material tho...

official site
more info

Ringtones let you have an 'unique' sound on your phone in order to be certain when it's *your* phone that's ringing... sure, only if it's unique enough.

I recently got a SonyEricsson T630 and it's a pretty good phone. I uploaded a bunch of MIDI songs to it via Bluetooth which I got on various websites, so I paid nothing for these ringtones. My default one is, however, the sound of an old classic phone. I've put some particular melodic ringtones (all of them of classic TV series) to specific persons so I know when one of them is calling while I'm not close to my phone.

Getting a bit offtopic, perhaps someone could help me out with this one. I've got my T630 to work flawlessly via Bluetooth with my PowerBook. I've found Romeo to be a great piece of software for a great part of the SonyEricsson line of phones (it lets you use your phone as a remote control for a lot of applicationes - iTunes, DVD, Keynote, etc. - and is fuly scriptable via AppleScript). What I haven't been able to find, however (and I'm not pretty sure that such a thing exists) is some software for OS X which lets me use my Powerbook as a handsfree set. That's it, whenever I get a call, besides of being able to see who's calling and to pick up the call, I also want to be able to speak through the microphone of the PB and to hear the calling party through the speakers - just like with iChat, and all this via Bluetooth. Has anyone seen that kind of software, does anyone knows if such a thing exists or if it isn't possible at all to do?

Regards,

" Man this took them forever. Call me a simple developer, however how hard can it be to add some more flash memory, better sound output through a headset, and modify the hardware to read MP3s. I've been pissed at the phone industry for nearly 2 years for not doing this."

It's not the first phone with those features, by far. My somewhat old Sony Ericsson K700i has ~ 40MB of memory and plays MP3s with good quality. I don't use it as an MP3 player in the traditional sense, but I use MP3 files as ringtones, much to the chagrin of the people around me. The FM radio has been surprisingly useful as well.

It's not easy to find in the US, but it's available online. I got an unlocked model on my last trip to Asia. A trip to Asia is a great way to remind one's self of how utterly backward the US mobile phone market is.

I have a Sony Ericsson T610, and it's very easy to push java apps to the phone straight from the desktop via Bluetooth. Several of the build-in games are Java, and while no speed deamons, some are quite elaborate and functional. Plus you can call web services (via HTTP), though most phones don't provide direct socket support.

I've recently hooked myself up with a similar set-up, and have recently been writing about it in my journal. I'll detail it a bit here.

Here's what I'm running:

• Cell Phone: Sony Ericsson T610.
• Handheld: PalmOne Tungsten C
• Laptop: Apple PowerBook G4 (12")
• GSM/GPRS Provider: Fido
• Handheld SSH software: pssh

How everything is connected:

• The PowerBook is outfitted with WiFi (802.11g) and Bluetooth, using WiFi when at home/office, and GPRS through the T610 via Bluetooth when on the road.
• The Tungsten C is outfitted with WiFi (802.11b) and InfraRed, using WiFi when at the home/office, and GPRS through the T610 via IR when on the road (technically I can get it online via WiFi if I use the PowerBook as a bridge in ad-hoc mode, but it is exceedingly rare that I'd ever need to have both the laptop and the T|C online at the same time when outside WiFi range).

So far, this is a set-up I'm quite pleased with. The only way it could be better were if the Tungsten C supported Bluetooth as well as 802.11b.

I can't recommend Bluetooth highly enough for this sort of connectivity either. So long as I'm within 10m of the phone, I can connect to it from the laptop. And Mac OS X's Bluetooth support is excellent -- I'm able to synchronize my contact list and calendar, transfer files back and forth, send and receive SMS messages from my desktop, dial phone numbers, and connect to the internet -- all without wires, or any set-up hassle.

SSH has been important for me, as one of my primary uses for this sort of connectivity will be CVS source repository access through SSH.

I've only had the phone for a week, but I'm quite pleased with it in general. I could have done without the camera portion I suppose (the resolution and quality is terrible), but might come in handy for something someday.

Overall, the set-up appears to be working well, and I'm as pleased as punch with it. Everything is nicely portable, and I have instant access everywhere I go. Set-up has been a snap, and everything works as expected. Now if only I could get cable modem speeds out of this set-up, I'd never work at a desk ever again :).

Yaz.

I have a Sony Ericsson T610 camera phone with T-Mobile service and a D-Link Bluetooth dongle. I can transfer whatever I want (MIDI ringtones, pictures, wallpaper, whatever) to and from the phone for free. Of course, I get charged if I take a picture and beam it to someone else through T-Mobile--but it's just as easy to move it to my Mac and email it.

Apple includes a very good Bluetooth utility for browsing and transferring files on the phone. And iSync automatically syncs my address book with the contacts in the phone. Awesome.

but if you want to put 80gb in my mp3 playing cellphone/pda , please do it quickly :)

this is the new PDA, unless Palm try harder (and not silly branding initiatives) they will be marginalized even further, palm are already considered last and if they dont buck their ideas up they are history left in the dust of the giants which would be a shame

If the issue is that Firefox users as a group have different tastes than IE users, then it's an opportunity rather than a problem: Detect Firefox and display ads for products we might actually appreciate learning more about.

I've been using a Sony Ericsson P800 for almost two years now. It has handwriting recognition and can do pretty much everything else the submitter raves about. It's been succeeded by the P900 which is a lot better still, although I'm still very pleased with my P800. I would recommend the line to anyone.

it looks terrible, if i wanted something clunky like that i would buy a RIM
SonyEriccson are still the leaders in design its just a shame Nokia couldnt take a few pointers from them and make something nice and functional like the p910i from SE (has handwriting recog already)

Check out the Sony Ericsson S700i, Same platform as the K700i but a nifty swivel form factor and a Memory Stick Duo Slot. http://www.sonyericsson.com/product/s700/

why bother with a big clunky PDA when i can now get the same functionality in my cellphone ?

the PDA has now been surpassed,the clever manufacturers discovered that there is no real need for it anymore, need something bigger than a cellphone, then a tablet PC should fit the bill

iam sorry to see PDA's go but thats progress for you

I'm assuming you haven't seen the Sony Ericsson P900. That's an amazing phone, the closest I've seen to a PDA. I'd love to have it, but I think it's about 800 USD.

You're right. I forgot what put me off about the Sony/Ericsson developer support. Part of it was they didn't handle MIDP2 back when I looked into it and part of it was the $500/$2500 membership if you wanted to be a developer who actually got your questions answered. I just checked the Java support page and see that they do handle MIDP2 nowadays...I should stay tuned or shut up.

I have one!!!

Well, I have a T100, not a satellite model, but you get the idea.

something like this?

Doesn't have the keyboard-plug, but it does have bluetooth and that should suffice.

I would guess this means the end of their "quirky" Bluetooth products like the Bluetooth remote controlled car (here) or the chat pen (here).

I would guess this means the end of their "quirky" Bluetooth products like the Bluetooth remote controlled car (here) or the chat pen (here).

my cellphone (se p900) has a bigger screen than this thing and thats right now
do these other industrial designers even take note of Apples attention to athestics ? are they blind or just stupid ? and yet the wonder why their devices fail (in terms of consumer acceptance) people dont read specs/features first, it has to be good looking enough for them to pick it off the shelf in the first place before even reading what it does, its like Palm , constantly making clunky devices and wonder why the .jp cellphones outsell them 100:1

oh and does it do Xvid ?

Has 42 mb built in memory, VGA cam that can also do 80 mins of video in .3gp format, built in pop3 & imap client, 176x220 tft (very nice & bright) display capable of 65536 colors, all the latest java features (midp 2.0, raw sockets), mp3-player (though 42mb isn't a lot of space for storing mp3's), gprs, bluetooth etc etc. It does all this nokia phone does, and is twice as fast and 10x sexier. (I just bought it a week ago, I love it).

Full specs
Pics

Trust me, it's the k700i you really want... :)

Sure, they should sell phones that are everything they could possibly be. They also should sell simple phones for people like me who don't want shortened battery life, slower operation, increased likelyhood of failure, to have to "update" software, to have to leave my phone everytime I enter a secure area because of the camera, more complex interface, risk of viruses or any of the other reasons there are for not wanting more complicated phones.

Here: no java, no camera, no color screen. I could find a hundred other simple phone models, and they are considerably cheaper then those with all the latest features.

So what are you whining about exactly?

my phone already has 1 gig of storage right now (via a stick), how long till they put a 20 gig mini-hd in ? i give it 1yr at the most so enjoy that iPod like you enjoy cassette tape

Two new phones coming out soon both look good: The Ericsson 910 and Nokia 9500 Communicator. These phones both use Symbian OS7. The Nokia has GPRS, Bluetooth and WLAN!

Outside North America, Japan and South Korea (perhaps Taiwan too), the world uses the GSM standard. Most of Europe, Africa, Asia and South America are just one huge area of a single standard.

Now that GPRS (data for GSM) is widespread, people are starting to use mobile phones in different ways. I know people who chat with me over Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger using Nokia 6600, or a SonyEricsson P900. The latest fancy models have Symbian in them and semi-decent color screens that can be used for browsing, chat, ...etc. Free applications abound for Symbian.

The main points for GSM is that:

• The end user gets to chose the phone from ANY manufacturer, not pick from a limited selection provided by the network provider. One can change phones without changing networks, and change networks without changing phones.
• Roaming is much easier, since there is just one standard among these areas.

The person I know using Nokia 6600 is happy with it so far (he has been using it for a few weeks).

The downside? The person I know who uses the Nokia is almost exclusively a Linux user. He keeps Windows on his laptop to sync the phone to it! Darn!

Cell phone user cares about two things: One, the phone looks good to them, and right now this means flip phones.

My last phone My current phone
If you ask me these phones look good.

I'm a bit disappointed that I couldn't buy a nokia this time but they just didn't have what I was looking for. I hope that when I buy next phone (1.5 years left on contract) I can get a Nokia. I'm not sure what has gotten into Nokia lately but there phones are going the wrong direction in terms of size. Smaller is better. Buttons in a semi-circle is stupid. Put a compact flash mp3 player in a tiny phone phone and you will own the market.

Who would ever need a Nokia when SonyEricsson has the P910!
The _perfect_ phone/PDA.

Curious: How much did that cost you? I was under the impression that S-E phones were quite pricy.

Well it wasn't too bad - however I did have recurrent technical issues with it - SonyEricsson maybe a little expensive, but it was worth it for the service I received from them. I bought the T600 phone from a third party supplier, and when it stopped receiving network the third-party quoted several weeks to have it repaired, but suggested I drop by the local SonyEricsson shop to see if there was a firmware update that might fix it. SonyEricsson took it in for the afternoon, and 4 hours later when I returned just replaced it with a brand new one, no issue at all. Six months later when that also had the same problems I went back to the SonyEricsson shop, they offered to replace it with another new one, but after 2 identical failures I wanted something else so they gave me 200 euros credit towards any other phone. I now have a T610, it's a bit larger but I appreciate the bluetooth integration.

In fact I use two phones, I have dual sim cards (only one of the phones may be active at once, but I don't have to move a sim between them to keep the same number). My "work phone" is a Qtek2020, and when I'm out and about I just carry the T610. Just for reference, checking one supplier I see the Qtek2020 is retailing for around 800 euros, and the T610 is about 270 euros (from http://www.proximus.be/).

-- Pete.