Slashdot Mirror
Cell Phones For Easy App Development?
linnrose writes "When I purchased my current cell phone — a ATT/Samsung Sync — my primary reason for selecting it was Samsung told me I could install custom Java applications on it via USB or the microSD card; turns out they lied to me. I would really like to have a phone that is open enough for me to install simple Java (or whatever language; I'm primarily a C# developer) apps without having to download them from a server. And it doesn't have to be cutting-edge/feature-rich; gimme a nice color screen and good call quality. I'm thinking Nokia might have something useful, but I'm not sure. Any suggestions?"
My current phone is a Sony Ericsson W580i. I can just upload those micro Java apps onto my phone via Bluetooth and they work.
At least here in the EU, I don't know it it is the same in the US, but every nokia phone I bought (now I own a 6111) has had the capability of installing j2me apps from the memory card, vie USB or simply by copying them from the PC to the mobile over bluetooth.
If you are a developer and would like to hack your mobile, maybe you could have a look at the Freerunner?
I just don't trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn't die.
I'm pretty sure that the submitter dosen't want to pay the $99/year Apple developer tax, especially just to run "simple Java apps".
If you roll in the Java world, then check out the Blackberry. It's really easy to develop for, there's a bunch of tools out there, and installing and removing apps is a breeze through the USB cable. (or a server for that matter)
You'll have that sometimes...
I have one of the Veriozon windows mobile phones, it has .net compact framework, and even compact sql server.
I got it mainly because I could write my own c# apps for the thing. Visual studio even has a nice emulator built in.
If ignorance is bliss, the world is full of blissful people
If he's looking for something cheaper, I can vouch for RAZRs working with Java apps. There's a simple USB Mini port on the side (cable not included) that can be used to hook it up to a computer and transfer applications.
I have also been told that many Nokia phones allow Java programs to be installed, but I do not know the details of those.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
First, why is it sad? Second, I have had extensive experience developing for Windows Mobile (alongside some poor slobs who were saddled with having to develop the same application for Symbian and Java). While I can say that I had a very positive experience, my compatriots were not so lucky. The tools (Embedded Visual Studio) were free. And as a big bonus, I was able to do 90-95% of my development on the desktop the same source could be built and run on a desktop Windows box and then, with a small smattering of #ifdefs, built and deployed onto either a pocket PC style (touchscreen with stylus) or Smartphone style target device. As you can imagine, source-level debugging an application in desktop Visual Studio is orders of magnitude more efficient than fiddling around with simulators or worse, tethered devices running in some sort of half-speed debugger mode under control of a desktop. I also dabbled with BREW (uggh) though not for terribly long. For my money, Windows Mobile is definitely the way to go if you want to develop applications for personal consumption.
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
To be honest, I'm really suprised your phone doesn't let you just upload J2ME apps and run them, most phones (RAZR, etc) let you do it, some might require you buy a $6 cable, but its nothing serious.
If you want more choices:
1)Symbian based phones. You can run native C++ apps, and J2ME based ones. A popular example would be the N95.
2)Iphone, although you'll need to go through the iTunes store or jailbreak it.
3)Windows mobile phones, not sure which one to reccomend here.
4)OpenMoko, although I hear this phone still needs a while to go before it becomes something someone will want to use as their primary phone
5)Wait for an android based phones.
However before purchasing new phone see if you can get a cable or modify your phone in such a way you can load java apps onto it, because I'm really surprised its that heavily locked down.
As a heads up it uses European frequencies, and only has the higher frequency for North America. Its fine for T Mobile which only uses 1900mhz, but if you use it with At&T you'll find it wont work indoors as much as other phones, which have both North American bands.
A Nokia S60 phone (I have an E61) + Nokia S60 Python interpreter have been enough for my personal development needs. The nice thing is, I can develop Python applications on the road only using the phone itself.
Information about the interpreter: http://opensource.nokia.com/projects/pythonfors60/
The latest version is available at the Sourceforge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pys60
It actually depends on the type of RAZR you have. I have a RAZR v3m and I can not put Java apps on it. If you have access to a Linux desktop, I would recommend grabbing Moto4Lin. I messed around with this and it allowed me to easily mod the RAZR by giving me access to parts of the RAZR filesystem (I think Motorolla hides parts of the FS).
Anyways, my RAZR can only run BREW apps. To develop BREW apps, one has to pay a licensing fee...
Android cant get here soon enough in my opinion
The "sim chip thing" is GSM, which most places (T-Mobile, AT&T, etc) use.
If you need it for day-to-day use, QTopia is stable and pretty. You can then develop using Qt, which isn't bad, as long as you like C++ (or you can use Python bindings or whatnot).
If you want to explore, install the FSO image, and develop using Vala, which has a C#-like syntax, but compiles using an intermediate C step. It's fast, efficient, and not a bad language, even if it *is* modelled on C#.
It has easy access to accelerometers, GPS, WiFi, and the GSM modem. It's hobbled by slow video access, and the stupid video chipset manufacturer is a little less than helpful on the 3D accelerator specs. But, if all you want is a good hand-held computer that doubles as a phone, it's a damned good choice.
I love my Freerunner. I'm working on it right now.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
I can load Java ME apps onto my Sony Ericsson K800i by using either the supplied USB cable, or via Bluetooth. Java ME doesn't provide all of the libraries that come with Java Standard Edition; so be prepared to work around the lack of Lists which is something that I have found frustrating about it.
Phone is easily reflashable including mods that add telnet and FTP ;-)
If you're in the US, two general choices:
Sprint will let you load pretty much any Java ME app that does not use protected APIs on your phone. For their CDMA phones, you'll need a special developer unlock to use protected APIs (easy to get). For their Nextel phones, you can sign any apps that use protected APIs using the iDEN SDK they have available. Visit their developer site (http://developer.sprint.com) and you'll find links to tools to do Over-the-air (or cable installs in the Nextel case) of Java apps on your phones.
Pretty much any GSM phone with Java ME you can use to download apps over the air. AT&T does not make this difficult, and lets you download applications over the air to any of their Java ME capable phones. If the application uses a protected API, you'll probably have to get it developer enabled as well -- their developer website (http://developer.att.com) should help you with what you need.
T-Mobile also has wide open phones for Java ME apps, as long as they're not using protected APIs.
For Verizon, you're SOL.
BlackBerry devices are all pretty open and you can install whatever you want on them as long as it's not locked up by your system administrator. The APIs are as rich as they come.
***Foucault is watching you..***
On Symbian you can also self sign.
One that hath name thou can not otter