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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?"
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.
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.
I read the script, and I think it would help my character's motivation if he was on fire. -Bender
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
Enjoy science fiction? "Turing Evolved" - AI, Mecha, Androids and rail-gun battles. What more could you want?
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.
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.
Gabriel Ricard
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.