Wendong’s Smart Phone Weblog

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.

I stopped by a local T-Mobile store this Saturday. I pretty much made the decision to buy one T-Mobile G1 if it is available. Just as I suspected, there in no G1 in stock in my local area, although T-Mobile started to sell G1 “nation wide” from 10/22. The G1 poster was right in front of store entry, but the sales guy was not sure when they will have them. It looks like I will have to go to a store in Boston to get one. Or I just need to order one online and wait it shipped to me.

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.

It seems to me that BBC is always ahead of mobile technology usage. In 2006, BBC offered Headlines application based on Java ME and Flash Lite. Java ME was not new, but Flash Lite was pretty new at that time. Now BBC has a streaming media application which uses Web Runtime.

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

Via AllAboutSymbian

The new launched Google Moderator has this question as one of the featured votes. And here are some top ones in each category at this moment:

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