Every time I look for mobile phone development I see Android, WinMobile, iPhone, RIM, etc...
Are small phone applications dead? I remember having a small collection of games and apps that run on motorola, sony ericsson and any other java-compatible phone. My Question is:
How do I start developing those applications? Is there some kind of market for them? And, last but not least, Are these applications dead with the arrival of complex UIs and devices like iPad, iPhones, Android, etc...?
thanks and hope someone can throw some light on this.
I bought a cheap phone for my mom today that used Brew as its O/S. Those small Java apps would be ideal for such a phone, and it was humbling realizing that still the majority of the world don't really use "smartphones". However, the problem is there's so many different phones, different brands, and no centralized market place, making such an attempt difficult at best. If you want to program Java apps for mobile phones, Android still uses Java.
David i think these simple application have market but not really comparable to new technology.And, In my views the first step must be J2me.
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The reason why most people would ever make their android project in javafx would be to have the same codebase across different platforms (such as ios, desktop, android, maybe even web using Bck2Brwsr/teavm/doppio)
But my question is, is there any advantage in javafx ui framework itself when compared to android ui framework?
I have never ever written even a hello world application for android, but I intend to do it now. So I am wondering if having the code in javafx is worth the effort when I can develop directly on android apart from the benifit of portability.
This type of question might result in a subjective/opinionated answer but I think it is a good question so I will provide my assessment.
Having the same codebase across all those platforms is huge. Do not dismiss this. I'm using Gluon Mobile to port aspects of the Deep Space Trajectory Explorer (DSTE) to Android and iOS. As you can see from the video its extremely complex application. There's no way I would rewrite that in native Android... it would be a no-go from a cost perspective.
Starting development from JavaFX makes it easier to make complex visuals. I don't just mean traditional 2D GUI forms. Again looking at the DSTE you will see we use Canvas to do dense renderings and JavaFX 3D along with the FXyz library to do 3D renders. These things are easy in JavaFX and again using Gluon simply "just work" on Android/iOS. In fact it only took about a day to get those aspects of the DSTE code base to work on a Pixel C tablet, most of which was getting the Gradle build setup properly. Now imagine having to port 3D code from JavaFX to a Native framework? I'm a 3D guy and I still wouldn't try it.
Testing is so much easier on the desktop than a mobile device. This doesn't mean the testing is 100% on desktop. Sometimes something that works on desktop "doesn't work" on the mobile platform and you have to tweak accordingly. However you can save a LOT of time standing up the application using JavaFX knowing that 90% of it will work the same on your mobile device.
Word of advice though... remember that a desktop application is NOT a mobile application. You will be tempted to just "port" your desktop app to your device. I was my first time. You can get into other issues where the interfaces and layouts you design for a desktop "work" on the mobile device but are not appropriate and so the usability goes down. Start slow when you port. Think of what aspects of your desktop workflow should be mobilized. Only port the things you absolutely belong in a mobile workflow. Save yourself some headaches.
I have very old Siemens CX70 in working state and just don't want to throw it out. My idea is to use its math power and peripherals (GSM module, USB, Camera and screen) to build some simple applications for home use (multichannel termometer, timer and cheap security system - for examples).
I know I should use Java ME and IDE (I love Netbeans, for example). Can you tell me what I need more to start developing? I know Java well, I just need to make an environment to developing, debug and deploy. Mobile library documentation will be very helpful too.
Thanks.
There are so many online tutorials about this topic that the only right thing to do is to refer you to google.com
Search after "getting started with j2me".
However, there's something else you should know upfront before getting too excited.
The security model in JavaME will prevent you from doing much useful stuff, in relation to some of the things you mention.
Every time you try to access certain things in the phone, like e.g. the camera, or send SMS, or read/write a file on SD card, etc etc - the phone will show a popup "This app is trying to access camera. Allow this?". And the app will only continue after a manual click on Yes.
As you can imagine, this of course renders a lot of ideas useless.
In order to prevent these popups, you can sign your app with a certificate you buy from Thawte or Verisign. But as that'll cost you $300 a year, it's not the way most sparetime hobby developers chooses.
Personally, I found another way, but it requires you to use a phone from Sony Ericsson.
Because the old Sony Ericsson phones can be patched in order to remove the Java security. After doing this on one of my old phones, I've been having fun making apps like the ones you mention. For example, an app that keeps an eye on my home when we're out, by taking a picture every second. If it detects a difference in the picture, it sends me an MMS with the picture. :-)
I have searched a long time for patching options for other brands, but I just can't find anything useful. Nokia should supposedly also be patchable, but I just can't find anything useful about it.
So in short: If you'd like to make some sparetime hobby apps on a phone like that, you should either find a Sony Ericsson phone and patch it - or go dig up an old used Android device.
Good luck.
i want to program a simple java game, what should i consider to make it maximal portable? i'm pretty new to java, which grafik and rendering libraries should i use to make it easyly portable to mobile java (for mobile phones)?
i can't develop it directly for mobile java, because i also need a pc version.
or should i jast develop strait forward for pc and do a completele new mobile version later?
I'd say do the PC version first (portable across Mac, Linux, Windows if that is a priority for you), and develop a (or even several) completely new version for mobile handsets.
There may be some code (and art work) that you can re-use, but not too much, as a (good) game will have to be very different for a mobile phone than for a PC, not just screen sizes and input methods, but the major changes in game play that those differences probably result in to make it still fun to play.
The code that you can reuse will likely need to be adapted for J2ME or Android, but better to worry about that later than trying to be overly cross-platform from the beginning (which would place limitations on functionality on the PC version, and eat up a lot of time, without being sure if it ever pays off).
Again, if anything, worry about portability within the several desktop environments, and within several handsets, but not too much about portability between the two.
Of course, if your game has a server-side component, it would be ideal to have only one version of the server code that can talk to clients on all platforms.
I think it's feasible to create a game that is portable across a wide range of platforms. While a desktop version of a J2ME game may look primitive, it does enable your users to preview the game before installing it. Check out my project JGame, which enables writing a game that works without changes on J2ME, Android, and PC. I believe the Slick project also has a working Android version.
Here's my requirement:
I often receive calls from unidentified numbers on my mobile phones. I would like an application which would use a reference list like this, and show me the carrier name and the area of origin along with the number on screen.
Mobile make : Sony Ericsson
Model : C902
Operating System: Propreitary
J2ME: MIDP 2.0
Here are my questions:
Is it possible to do something like this? I have installed a lot of java apps on my mobile, and all of them have to be launched seperately, can be run in the background, but they never seem to access anything native.
If it is possible, which area of J2Me should I start with, for creating an application that achieves the above requirement?
If it is not possbile, what are my alternatives?
I'm pretty sure this isn't possible. I dabbled in J2ME for a while, and came to the conclusion that it's basically just a big joke hard to do anything meaningful. Sorry.
can be run in the background? yes using Push Registry. access anything native? it depends on which native thing you want to access.
It is not possible.
On this model, you don't have alternatives, but on Symbian you can try Qt with help of Qt Mobility Project
I have an L6 phone from motorola, a usb cable to connect it to my computer, and the Tools for Phones software so I can do things like upload my own custom ringtones or download pictures from the phone's camera.
I have some ideas for programs I'd like to run on the phone, and it supports java, but I don't see anything in the software that I have for uploading them. Even if they did, I wouldn't know where to get started.
Does anyone have any info on how to get started building apps for this or similar phones?
I've never used Morotolla's SDK but from my limited work in JME the real hook in the 3rd party tools are the emulators. Setting up a JME dev environment quickly is something that Sun got surprisingly right. Just get NetBeans with the JME pack and there is a regular emulator right in the IDE, and then you can hook in other proprietary emulators such as those from Motorolla.
Not sure what kind of apps you are looking to do, but if you're interested in games I thought Beginning Mobile Phone Game Programming was a great starting point:
Perhaps Motorola's own site
link
I have not used the new Motorola development studio, because my experience with Motorola's development tools has not been a joyous one. When working with Motorola devices I tend to stick to the standard emulator (or sometimes the Sony Ericsson emulators as those are the best I have worked with by far).
The problem with Motorola's tools is that I always seemed to spend way too much time trying to figure out how to work around them. I would run into emulator specific issues and bugs, and I honestly don't have time to waste trying to figure out why the application runs on the target device but crashes on the emulator. It should be the opposite.
A good emulator is very important for mobile development though as that is where you will do 90% of your development, testing and tweaking, only periodically trying it out on the phone.
Finally, I agree with bpapa...Netbeans is an excellent IDE for J2ME development and here is a book that I recommend (get the original if possible, not the second edition as the second edition focuses way too much on MIDP 2.0 and assumes you know the basics).
http://www.amazon.com/J2ME-Game-Programming-Development/dp/1592001181/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221692983&sr=1-3
Yeah, the act of asking the question pointed me in the direction of an answer, and I found this:
https://developer.motorola.com/docstools/motodevstudio/
I could still use some pointers from someone of what to expect if anyone has done this before.