Packt Pub kindly sent me a copy of LWUIT 1.1 for Java ME Developers to review. Anyone who was
involved in professional Java ME development knows that one of the biggest challenges of
Java ME development is to write appealing and consistent UI across various devices. For the
past few years I found many Java ME UI frameworks on the web. Among those, LWUIT definitely is one on the top you should consider because:
- It is backed by Sun
- It is free and open source
- It is still under active development.
- It has a rich set of features and good development tool

Another question you may ask is: is Java ME still relevant? For the past two years, the landscape of mobile development have been changed dramatically. With the introduction of iPhone, Android, Palm WebOS and computer grade Maemo OS (Linux) based Nokia N900, mobile platforms are even more fragmented than before. However, if you want to target your mobile applications to majority of the feature phones and smartphones, Java ME is still the platform you should choose. (Sorry it will not run on iPhone).

Now back to this new LWUIT book. So far this book is the only LWUIT book available. It is a good tutorial and reference for Java ME developers who want to know more about LWUIT. To get more out of this book, you should have basic background of Java ME CLDC/MIDP, for instance the life cycle of MIDlet. But this book is written in an easy to follow manner to guide you through a comprehensive list of topics, including basic LWUIT architecture, UI components, layout, theme, custom font, animation/transition and other utility tools from LWUIT.

The author uses Sprint Wireless Wireless toolkit. That is also my favorite tool. It has built-in LWUIT support so it is very convenient to write and test LWUIT based application.

A couple of points missing from this book:
- The real world story
How does LWUIT perform on real handsets? - I read before that there were some technical challenges to make it run on Blackberry. I did not follow it closely so I did not know what is the current situation.
- Beyond CLDC/MIDP
Like on CDC, for instance this Java TV project

Overall it is good book to have if you would like to learn LWUIT. You can learn more about LWUIT new development beyond 1.1 by following Shai’s (one of the key developers of LWUIT) LWUIT blog.

The following is a sample chapter from the book:
[PDF] Using Themes

Here is the link to the original Chinese news, and a Google translated version.

Foxconn is the manufacturer who assembled the iPhone.

Yahoo! has decided to cease development of the Yahoo! Mobile smartphone app effective Wednesday, May 20th. So you will not be provided access to the beta program for this product.

For the time being, we will be focusing our efforts on the newly-launched Yahoo! Mobile experience for browsers (available at new.m.yahoo.com) and for the iPhone (available via the Apple App Store).

It is the time to open source the Blueprint platform?

You have previously registered on the AOL Developer Network site http://dev.aol.com to receive more information about the AOL Open Mobile Platform when it becomes available. This message is to let you know that the AOL Open Mobile Platform 1.0 code is now available for download on SourceForge.net at the URL https://sourceforge.net/projects/openmobileplt/.

Please use the SourceForge Developer Forums for the project to send questions to the OMP team.

As AOL promised, OMP supports BREW, Java ME, Blackberry, Windows Mobile (C++ only?), Symbian and even Maemo. Android and iPhone are not in the list, since this project is based on some work from AirMedia in 2005. The source code is released under Apache License 2.0, together with documentation and sample applications (MapQuest, OpenAIM, Photo Viewer, LBS Coupon, RSS Reader.) The server package is Java based.

The following quotes from the original announcement probably is the best summary about what it is:

The AOL Open Mobile Platform is based on proven technology acquired by AOL that has been deployed across more than 150 different handsets on carrier networks in the U.S. The platform will consist of three components: an XML-based, next-generation markup language; an ultra-lightweight mobile device client; and an application server. A dynamic presentation layer will allow for rapid deployment of new features and easy optimization for a wide variety of mobile devices, allowing developers to build and update applications once, and then distribute them across all supported devices and platforms.

In addition, it will be possible to integrate applications built using the AOL Open Mobile Platform with third-party APIs, as well as with AOL’s open APIs for AIM, AOL Mail, AOL Video, MapQuest, Userplane, Truveo, Winamp, and others. The AOL Open Mobile Platform will also give developers the ability to monetize their mobile applications by utilizing advertising resources, such as clickable banner ads, provided by AOL’s Platform-A.

Thank you Dave for sending me the link!

I did not notice Qualcomm’s new BREW Mobile Platform developer site until today. It is quite a surprise to me that everyone jumps to big version number (Java from 1.5 to 5.0 for instance), Qualcomm decided to move the number backwards from BREW 4.x to BREW MP 1.0. It seems to start all over again.

One very positive move is that Qualcomm now provides Eclipse based plugin in addition to Visual Studio based tools. GNU Compiler tool (MinGW) is officially supported. Before you had to have some hassle to use the GNU tool chain. In the early days I tried GNUDE, then WinARM. It was quite a pain, especially I am not an expert in C/C++ cross compiler settings.

This news seemed to be buried in other hot news in mobile industry such as Android related. Maybe it is because the close platform nature of Qualcomm BREW, there are only very few blogs cover BREW programming topics.

I got my T-Mobile G1 last week. I took this picture and then found this collection happens to cover a good range of different mobile OSes: Google Android, Windows Mobile Standard Edition, Symbian S60, an old Pocket PC Phone (now Windows Mobile Professional Edition) and Maemo. The last one is not a phone. It is a Garmin Nuvi 350. Gaimin actually is working on a mobile phone - Nuvifone. It seems to be delayed till some time next year.

There are a lot reviews about T-Mobile G1 and I do not want to repeat again here. The GMail push email works very well. Most of the time I receive emails from my phone first, then it appears on the desktop GMail web site. There are decent amount of applications available from Android Market to play with. The only complaint I have at this moment is the battery life. It is significantly shorter than the Nokia E61. I have to charge it everyday for sure.

In the mean time, I am also eyeing on the Nokia 5800. It is first touch screen phone from Nokia running S60 5th Edition. As a long time S60 user, this phone seems to be perfect to replace my two-year old E61. And ~$390 is about the right price tag. But I am not sure when it is going to be available for US market. Most likely it is going to be early next year. It is going to hit Asian market first, maybe I can get one this year from China? That will be perfect.

To bad I do not have a Web Runtime capable phone to play with it.

Via AllAboutSymbian

Games:

Tetris… you can’t go wrong with Tetris.

Be sure that FLASH PLAYER games stored locally could be played… The lists of games available on the web is amazing, and any developer can make is own game quickly.

Lifestyle:

Travel logger for all kinds of trips: bike rides, hikes, etc. Logging events (configurable) on the phone such has time, GPS coordinates, compass orientation, time, currently playing song, photos, local temperature, etc. Syncs to Google Spreadsheets.

Share your position with friends on your gTalk/IM list. e.g. if you want to meet someone, you can check where he is or pinpoint the location when you don’t see each other. Or, an alert when some buddy is approaching/nearby you.

Multimedia:

Podcasting app that lets you subscribe to podcasts, and automatically keeps a few downloaded for you to listen to.

I’d like to see a VLC portable application to see tv streaming from my internet provider!

Productivity:

An application to synchronize local contacts with Google contacts?

Would anyone like to see an android to do list?

Shopping:

Wishlist App. Scan any barcode, and that item is placed on a wishlist that you can view and share with family and friends. Adding a note to each item would be allow friends to understand the item. ex:”Rachel would love this for her birthday!”

Best prices: You are in front of an amazing sales, but you are not aware of the real price of the product… Type the product name and find the lowers prices on the web. (not sure an app is needed a lot of websites do that). More like a widget.

Tools:

PDF Reader

SSH client to remotely administer servers

I think some of them already exist. For example for SSH client you may try Connectbot. Compare Everywhere is all about instant checking to find best price. For the applications that are not available yet, it is the perfect time for mobile developers to jump in and code them. Personally the first one I wish I could have (or write) is a podcatcher application. Currently I am using Canola 2 on my N810 daily to download and listen podcast program. For me it is the top one I wish to have.

I am not sure when Android handsets will have Flash support. The T-Mobile G1 does not support Flash, but later Android models will according to Bill Perry from Adobe. To be able to download and store a Flash game locally is a good feature. For desktop computers, now you can drag and drop an Java Applet to desktop with new Java SE update 10. For iPhone and possibly Android you can create a desktop shortcut for a webpage. Be able to do it for Flash files is an intuitive thinking.

Maybe it is the time to get a T-Mobile G1 before it is sold out again