Background about mobile technologies

Operating Systems which are used in mobile Application Development

Android

§  open platform

§  can compile custom firmwares - good for hackers and other

§  good framework, extended on each new firmware

§  supports multitasking

§  nice IDE - Eclipse, NetBeans

§  development SDK is free

§  easy to debug, can send logs to developers

§  programming language is Java but bridges from other languages exist (C# .net - Mono, etc)

§  Java is a high level language that appeared in 1995. Android supports Java 1.5 and translates the byte code to its own custom Dalvik byte code optimized for mobile devices.

§  for the hardcore programmers, Android offers the possibility of programming in C using the native dev kit NDK

§  can run script languages like LUA, Perl, Python, etc

§  can install third party applications from sdcard, random sites - not locked to a specific market

§  applications can hook and override everything - email interface, SMS sending, custom keyboards, etc

§  supports widgets

§  can publish applications on the Android market instantly - initial one time registration fee is 25E

§  user has access to the sdcard and can use it as a USB disk.

Symbian OS

§  Designed by Symbian Ltd. , acquired by Nokia in 2008

§  Was made Open Source in 2010

§  Supports pre-emptive multitasking and memory protection

§  Application development can be done using Symbian C++

§  Supports Java ME

§  Devices :N8 , Nokia 5800

Palm OS

§  Developed by Palm Inc.

§  Applications are developed in C/C++

§  Development tool : Code Warrior

§  Devices :

§  Treo 300

§  Samsung SPH-i550

   iPhone

§  closed platform

§  no multitasking except for some Apple applications. multitasking is probably going to be introduced in the next vertion of the iPhone, the iPhone 4

§  development kit costs ~90E

§  programming language is Objective C - but bridges exist from Java, C#, etc

§  Objective C appeared in 1986

§  next version of iPhone is supposed to only allow Objective C code, this means the bridges are out and you must program in Objective C if you want to create an iPhone application

§  applications are not allowed to duplicate the iPhone functionality - ie no custom email interface, etc

§  does not support widgets - unless the phone is jail broken

§  user does not have access to the sdcard - user can only do synchronization via internet or LAN

§  third party applications can only be installed from the Apple store. For testing the applications, developers can use Ad Hoc publishing

§  publishing on the store is a very lengthy and tiresome process. Apple has many and bizarre rules. Many applications were rejected for strange reasons.

§  no Adobe Flash support

    Nokia

§  opened Symbian and says the future will be QT and WRT - they will cut support to any other environment including J2ME

§  QT is a framework that adds a layer of abstraction over gui, network, gps, etc.

§  QT is cross platform and cross programming language - C++, C#, Java, etc. the licenses are GPL and LGPL.

§  QT runs on Maemo, MeeGo, BlackBerry, Symbian, Android, iPhone, Windows Mobile, desktop PC, consumer electronics, car entertainment, etc

§  WRT - web runtime - a cool feature that allows users to write applications in HTML, JS and CS. You build the app like a normal web page, and you interact with the phone platform/hardware using the WRT bridge.
No need to learn any other technology. Just HTML, JS and CS. Very important: JS can call native code, but also the other way around. It seems you can call WRT JS with native code.

§  supports widgets

§  supports Adobe Flash Lite

BlackBerry

§  as it is now, the programming environment is Java native and J2ME - not worth mentioning since they will probably be extinct pretty soon

§  no Adobe Flash support yet. Probably will be available in Q2 of this year.

Windows Mobile 6.x

§  native C, C# with PInvoke - not worth mentioning since MS released WM7 and broke compatibility with 6.5

Windows Mobile 7

§  closed platform

§  MS breaks compatibility with WM 6.x - this is very bad

§  Programming environment is Silverlight and XNA.

§  no native programming ie no hooking and overriding keyboard, etc - they removed PInvoke

§  nice IDE - Visual Studio 2010

§  does not support multitasking for third party applications

§  third party applications can only be installed from the MS marketplace