Free Development Systems for Cell Phones?

mongoose(!no) asks: "Does anyone know of a free development environment for cellular phones? Right now, my phone has support for Qualcomm's BREW. Qualcomm offers a free SDK, to develop applications. However, to put the application on a phone, it costs $400 to become a BREW authorized developer. I am in the market for a new cell phone and am looking for one I could write applications on. Smart phones running Palm, and Windows CE are too expensive for my budget. Do I have any options or am I pretty much locked out of writing software for my cell pone?"

Comments

Cell phone SDKs

[MasterLock]

I've been trying to get my hands on the interface spec for the Samsung phones (specifically the A500) so I can sync the calendar and todo list. Samsung says themselves that the information is "proprietary" and they don't release it.

Hello, Samsung, I want to write a FREE app so people can use your phone!

Good luck.

Re:Cell phone SDKs

[jm92956n]

And the little script-kiddie (or perhaps his more advanced older brother) wants to write a FREE virus for the phone, too.

No, probably not: that scenario isn't very plausible, but I suspect Samsung is wary of potential malicious threats. "Samsung publishes interface specifications" wouldn't even make a 10-page deep headline; "Samsung phones are susceptible to a new phone virus" would be big news, and that could seriously harm them.

Re:Cell phone SDKs

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

That's disappointing. So much for "Everyone's Invited"...

j2me?

[DavidNWelton]

I'm not much of a Java fan, but j2me is available on a fairly wide range of phones, and costs nothing to develop for.

It's "free" as in free beer, and who knows, if enough people contribute to efforts like Classpath, maybe open source java will become more common.

In any case, I've done some experimentation with j2me, and while it's nothing fantastic, it seems to work alright.

Symbian might be another option, but that's going to limit you some more in terms of which phones it runs on, although you can write code in C++ or even Python!

Audiovox SMT5600

[tongue]

I know you said Windows smartphones were out of your budget, but if you're up for changing providers, Amazon is offering the Audiovox SMT5600 for $25. I own this phone and i love it. not only can you develop applications in any of win32-CE, .Net Compact Framework, or J2ME, but it also offers most of the functionality of a pda and MP3 player in a tight package. The phone is only slightly larger than my ericsson t610 was.

its totally open to develop apps on too--you don't need any of that crappy developer signing BS to put your apps on it.

if that's out of the question, then the best advice i have for you is stay away from verizon and tmobile--both of them required belonging to developer programs beyond the budget of the casual developer, at least when i was using them.

Re:Audiovox SMT5600

[cookd]

Even better if you don't want a 2 year comittment, the slightly-outdated Mpx200 is available for cheap, even without long contracts. I have one in my pocket now, and I've written a few little programs for it. Works great.

The standard version runs Smartphone 2002, so you can download eVC 3.0 and the SP 2002 SDK and start hacking.

Some editions of this phone also have Java support. But not all. So if you expect to program in Java, double-check before buying.

If you can find one that has been upgraded to Smartphone 2003 (i.e. hacked, since there never was an official release of this OS), you can program using .NET Compact Framework and/or eVC 4.0.

What about java?

[RadikalEd]

I am a cellphone application developer, specializing in Qualcomm's BREW. It's true that getting you application onto an actual handset is quite an ordeal. You have to be authenticated, then send any handsets to Qualcomm, to become "test-enabled", that will allow you to cable-load applications to the phone.

But what about java enabled devices? I haven't actually done any developement in that area, but it would be wise to see if the same restrictions apply. You can probably find information from Sun, I believe most devices use J2ME (http://java.sun.com/j2me/). I know that most of Sprint's handsets are Java-enabled. Also, distributing your applications is MUCH easier for java handsets, as opposed to BREW's distrobution system (it's called a "walled-garden"), completely controlled by the carriers. Whereas with java you can distribute via WAP pushes, and links.

Symbian

[cybereal]

Development for Symbian devices is open. Just take a look at Frozen Bubble for series 60 phones as an example. As for phones, the best smartphone on the market is UIQ/Symbian (Sony Ericsson P910a) and a variety of other phones use this excellent embedded OS. I personally bought an N-Gage QD simply to play with Symbian.

Treo 600 on contract in UK is £100

[Cato]

Subject says it all really - as long as you have a monthly contract on Orange of £15-20 or so (less than US$30-40) the Treo 600 is just £100 ($180), which is pretty cheap for a smartphone.

Palm has free as in beer and speech development kits (GCC toolchain) and free emulators, so you could even develop for Treo without having a Treo, though it would be harder to ensure it really worked well on Treo and you'd need one for final testing and support.

Usually depends on the service provider

[CE@UIC]

In the US its usually up to the service provider as to which toolkits their phones support. For example, Verizon only allows Brew apps on their phones whereas SprintPCS only allows J2ME. With J2ME your can develop and download to the phone for free, with Brew you can't. Google for "j2me" and "sprintpcs" and you'll find more.

Don't understimate remote access of HTML/CGI

[GrpA]

I needed to build some apps for work. Database access, call logging, client timesheets etc.

I started to develop for Symbian at first - which is pretty good, and the SDKs are free, and there are a number of languages supported also.

But then I began developing web-apps for the phones that were sensitive to the phone's high bandwidth cost. Keeping the graphics to a minimum.

Now I can access databases remotely, pull down maps, and perform all the tasks I was going to run on the phone via the built in web browser.

It costs me five or ten cents per task for bandwidth on average... But that's nothing compared to SMS costs, and because it's not phone specific ( it is afterall, just a webpage ) now some of my co-workers have started to use the apps on less smart phones...

I think we'll see more webpages designed for 208x320 resolution in the future.... We could use a small banner "This website best viewed at 208x320" - but that's just a waste... Would cost me 0.1 cents per banner... :)

GrpA

Re:Don't understimate remote access of HTML/CGI

[bhtooefr]

What about using "mobile" stylesheets?

That's how you're supposed to do it - same content, but different formatting for mobile, desktop, fullscreen, print, etc., etc.

Java

[tonsofpcs]

Most phone manufacturers have custom SDKs (including emulators), usually freely available, that support either their own language or Java. Search the manufacturers site, these are usually well hidden inside the business section.

Siemens has a good toolkit:
http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javatools/jssta ndard/reference/techart/siemens.html
https://communication-market.siemens.de/portal/mai n.aspx?LangID=0&MainMenuID=2&LeftID=2&pid=1&cid=0& tid=3000&xid=0

http://tuxmobil.org/phones_linux.html Has alot of info/links on Cell Phones and programming for them

I'll second J2ME

[uradu]

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.

Re:I'll second J2ME

[qqtortqq]

I have a motorola a630, and you have to use the phone service tools to enable the java app loader, but once you do that, it is a piece of cake to load your own apps onto the phone, either by usb cable, or by putting them on a web server and pointing the phone at them.

Run away from Brew, fast

[Anonymous Coward]

Stay well away from Brew. Did you read the full agreement? You cannot put the application on your phone without getting it certified (pay more money for that). You also have to have a revenue sharing agreement with your carrier. There is no legal way for an individual developer to make Brew apps for their phone. There is no legal way for a Brew developer to make apps and give them away for free. Most of the recent phones require the apps to be signed, usually with the serial number of the phone to even run. You really are SOL with Brew.

The purpose of Brew is to lock you into a walled garden where you can only get the experience your carrier wants you to have and only if you pay what they want. You cannot go outside of that. It is not about choice for the users and developers - it is about locking in revenues for the carriers.

Take your money elsewhere to any other carrier that does allow writing your own apps for your own phone. Generally the best is J2ME but some of the Windows derivatives allow you to as well.

Look to the manufacturer

[gabe]

Some phones have IDEs provided by the manufaturer. Check out the Nokia Developer Forum and Blackberry's SDK (though you have some limited functionality with Blackberries unless you get your app signed, from what I've read.

With the free SDK, JDK, J2ME, J2ME In a Nutshell & Learning Wireless Java I was able to whip up a simple app for my phone in no time at all.

J2ME is what you are looking for

[n2rjt]

Stay away from BREW, which is pushed by Qualcomm and Verizon. Go with Cingular or T-Mobile, or any other GSM/GPRS carrier, and a Java (J2ME) phone. Do some research ahead of time: not all J2ME phones are useful. MIDP-1.0 is okay, but MIDP-2.0 is better. The development kit is free from Sun or from the phone manufacturer. Be aware that although J2ME has APIs for everything (TCP/IP, video, blueteeth, etc) your phone will only run what it supports. So shop carefully for the phone, and you'll be quite happy with Java.

Hiptop/Sidekick

[gseidman]

Don't forget the Danger Hiptop, a.k.a. T-Mobile Sidekick. You can sign up to be a developer at no cost, and you'll be able to load your programs on your phone if you can convince Danger that what you are developing is of any real interest (not that tough). The SDK is Java so it works anywhere, and program loading is done via USB.

Re:Cell phone SDKs - Samsung protocols

[saw]

The protocols for phonebook, calendar, and todo reading and writing are known for a number of Samsung phones. Samsung uses ASCII AT commands for these. The BitPim project is currently adding phonebook, calendar, wallpaper and ringer support for several Samsung phones. The A500 likely has a similar protocol to other Samsung phones. You can see some notes on Samsung AT commands in the file samsungnotes.txt in the BitPim CVS.