Mobile Solutions

Mobile Solutions - J2ME

Java Platform, Micro Edition (generally referred to as J2ME) is one of the most common development platforms for mobile applications. J2ME applications may run on a wide range of handsets of most popular manufacturers, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung and others. The main advantage of J2ME is its ability to use the same code on a wide range of devices, giving access to a large customer base which uses the same application. J2ME has a few drawbacks. Since modern handsets are very different in their capabilities, the applications running on them should be adopted to each particular phone. This process, porting, is usually extremely time consuming and may take more time than the actual application development (in cases when one application targets dozens of handset models).

DataArt is skilled in minimizing the porting time and effort. We use Mobile Distillery’s Celsius framework to decrease the amount of code changes necessary for each platform, reducing porting time and simplifying application support.

Case Studies

The goal of the project was to develop an embedded client application for a video sharing website, which would perform the following tasks:

• video capture
• video management and viewing on the handset
• upload to video sharing website
• parameter management on the website

DataArt designed an application that allowed video sharing with J2ME-enabled mobile devices: video creation, playback, and upload from a mobile phone to a portal, with additional editing of sharing parameters and groups after the upload.

The Midlet was created to work on a specific model of mobile devices (SonyEricsson W880), with the following features provided by the client:

• video recording by a mobile phone camera (allowed sound recording)
• customized user interface (with proprietary design colors, buttons and icons)
• upload of video files to a server in a background mode

Technical Highlights
The process of uploading video files to the server is performed in the background mode without interrupting the regular use of a handset. The application uses the intermediate proxy server to upload video to the production server, where video data transfers partially to the proxy server and then to the portal server. This architecture allows bypassing the usual MNO internal limitations on the size of files which can be uploaded at once.

Technologies
J2ME

Industry
Mobile Technology

Project Timeframe
2 months

Push E-mail Client

DataArt developed an e-mail client and server application that allow push e-mail functionality on java-enabled handsets. The e-mail client has a rich user interface, allowing to view, attach and save images; supports numerous user accounts, and comes pre-configured for most popular e-mail services (Gmail, Yahoo mail, Hotmail). A push e-mail proxy server supports clustering and load distribution.

Technical Highlights
The application was developed using cross-platform J2ME libraries and released on numerous J2ME phones.

Technologies
J2ME, Celsius cross-platform toolkit

Industry
Mobile Technology

Project Timeframe
6 months

Integration
Mail services