Wendong’s Smart Phone Weblog

Since Android Dalvik VM supports a collection of core Java SE packages, you can imagine porting an existing Java application is fairly easy, including a Java ME emulator implementation. Poliplus Software has ported ME4SE to android:

Since the Android SDK came out last week, I’ve been toying with the idea of porting ME4SE into Android as to make it as easy as possible to port over current JavaME code. With ME4Android, I wanted the porting to be done automatically so no lines of JavaME code would need to be modified but only the build scripts, so targeting Android would only require a rebuild of current JavaME code.

On my first pass at ME4Android, I used our rather large JavaME app called FlyerApp as the test app. This code is done completely on top of Canvas so it only uses JavaME’s low level user interface libraries. The code uses a few threads, supports animations and does networking. I figured if ME4Android can run FlyerApp, it will be able to run a lot of Java games too.

Ok, I can not really forget about Android considering the amount time I spent on reading and digesting all information available after the SDK announcement.

Everything is perfect. But I would like a real phone in my hand. Playing with emulator on a PC can not replace the excitement of seeing Hello World application running on a real handset. I remember that a few year ago (2003?) when Windows Smartphone 2002 was launched, Microsoft sold a developer package (with a prototype handset in it) to developers. Google should do the same thing. What do you think? I believe there are many people are willing to pay for it.

Forget about Android, let’s play with maemo!

I am one of the fortunate applicants to get a Nokia N810. When it hits the US market, I will buy one at roughly $150 (thanks to a substantial discount from maemo team)!

So what can you do with this baby?

The maemo platform currently offers a native C runtime for developers complemented by officially supported C++ bindings. A complete set of Python bindings are provided by the community, and the runtime will be officially supported by Nokia during 2008. Web runtime with Mozilla Gecko engine and Flash 9 will also be implemented in 2008. Mono, Java and Ruby runtimes are provided by the maemo community, among others.

It will be able to run both CDC applications and Tomcat server.

According to the press release, Esmertec is providing Java ME VM on top of Android.

Thanks to the availability of our Jbed™ Java™ VM on the Android platform, we offer immediate compatibility to the standard Java ME world to enable Java ME-based mobile services with the Android platform.

It is disappointing that Sun is missing from the Open Handset Alliance member list, although its Java FX Mobile is running on top of Linux kernel. Motorola (as a founding member of Android) has its own Mobile Linux and Apache licensed MIDP implementation (2.1 and 3.0). I am not sure how Motorola and Google to cooperate the Linux code base, but those Java ME projects seem to be a nature fit.

gOS is not Google OS, but gOS team “recommend Google for just about everything… Gmail, Gtalk, Calendar, Maps, Docs and Spreadsheets, and more. We’d like to welcome you to the idea that Google already is your ‘operating system.’”

Today’s New York Times revealed The Man Behind the Google Phone:

The company refuses to comment on the Google Phone, but Mr. Rubin’s responsibilities, as well as recent leaks from the as-yet-unannounced alliance that Google is building to develop the software, indicate that the company plans to do more than merely develop an operating system for cellular phones: it plans to muscle its way into the center of the business at a time when people worldwide are searching the Web from just about anywhere they happen to be.

CNet News: Google to unveil ‘Android’ phone software:

Google isn’t just looking to expand its ad monetization technology to new platforms, but also to shake up the telecommunications industry and its “walled garden” approach that limits what handsets, carriers, and services consumers can use, industry experts said.