Mobile Phones Timeline
JAVA TECHNOLOGY PHONES
THE FIRST WIRELESS JAVA PHONE (2.4.2001)
The wireless revolution and business productivity took a giant step forward when Nextel Communications, Inc. introduced the first wireless phone in North America with Java technology. The i85s, manufactured by Motorola, is pre- loaded with several Java applications, including specialized business calculators and an expense pad. As more Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) -enabled applications are developed, Nextel customers will be able to download these applications onto their phones from the nextel.com website.
JAVA 2 MICRO EDITION
Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) is Sun's version of Java aimed at machines with limited hardware resources such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, and other consumer electronic and embedded devices. J2ME is aimed at machines with as little as 128KB of RAM and with processors a lot less powerful than those used on typical desktop and server machines. J2ME actually consists of a set of profiles. Each profile is defined for a particular type of device (cell phones, PDAs, microwave ovens, etc.) and consists of a minimum set of class libraries required for the particular type of device and a specification of a Java virtual machine required to support the device.
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2001/03/08/J2ME.html
J2ME provides the ideal environment for developing and deploying applications that allow Nextel subscribers to transform their handset in to a PDA. The combination of downloadable J2ME applications and Nextel's premier mobile IP based Packet Data network offers customers the opportunity to reduce the number of electronic devices they must carry and manage.
Nextel Communications, Inc., based in Reston, is the leading provider of fully integrated wireless communications services and has built the largest all-digital wireless network in the United States. The Nextel National Network offers a fully integrated wireless communications tool with digital cellular, Text & Numeric Messaging, wireless Internet access and Nextel Direct Connect® (a digital two-way radio feature). http://www.nextel.com
Connected Limited Device Configuration - CLDC
CLDC is the foundation of the Java runtime environment targeting small, resource-constrained devices, such as mobile phones, mainstream personal digital assistants, and small retail payment terminals.
Sun offers two virtual machines to support the CLDC. The K virtual machine (KVM) is a virtual machine designed from the ground up with the constraints of inexpensive mobile devices in mind. CLDC with KVM is suitable for devices with 16/32-bit RISC/CISC microprocessors/controllers, and with as little as 160 KB of total memory available for the Java technology stack.
The CLDC HotSpot virtual machine is targeted for newer generation devices with larger available memory. The CLDC HotSpot Implementation is suitable for devices with 32-bit RISC/CISC microprocessors/controllers, and with 512KB to 1MB of total memory available.
Combined with a set of device specific Java APIs, such as the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP), CLDC provides a complete J2ME runtime environment for small resource-constrained devices. http://java.sun.com/products/cldc/
J2ME Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP)
The Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) is a set of Java APIs which, together with the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC), provides a complete J2ME application runtime environment targeted at mobile information devices, such as mobile phones and entry level PDAs. The MIDP specification addresses issues such as user interface, persistence storage, networking, and application life cycle. http://wireless.java.sun.com/midp/
Java 2 Platform Micro Edition, Wireless Toolkit
The Java 2 Platform Micro Edition, (J2ME) Wireless Toolkit is a set of tools that provides application developers with the emulation environment, documentation and examples needed to develop Java technology applications targeted at CLDC/MIDP compliant mobile phones and entry level PDAs. This product is based on the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) and Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) reference implementations. http://java.sun.com/products/j2mewtoolkit/
Conclusions
Java technology offers great possibilities for the users of wireless devices. We can download applications, games etc. into our phones or PDA’s.
The biggest challenge is getting Java to adapt to different types of displays. Java is the platform, but the platform does not specify the hardware, so you can have Java on a color display, a black and white display, a big display, a small display, and developing an application that adapts to all kinds of displaysis very complicated.
These little and low resolution screens have brought game programmers back to Vic-20 or commodore 64 days. First games were black and white, because the phones didn’t have color display. After the announce of color displays (2 quater of 2002) programmers can implement software with 4096 colors.
Phones with color displays: Nokia 3510i and 7210 and Motorola i95cl (http://www.twomobile.com/content/1228.php).
List of mobile phones with java technology (arranged alphabetichally)