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We build applications for all sorts of different phones, and despite the hype, many of the development tools and platforms we use are fairly stable: (MMS, SMS, Flash, Flash Lite, C for PPC etc).
The one technology that we seem to be endlessly tweaking is Java for phones (J2ME), because despite the good-karma that surrounds java's "runs on any device" ethos, the harsh reality is that each phone is different, and J2ME applications need to be tweaked endlessly to deal with new phones.
In fact, we have a huge box full of ex-ebay phones we use for testing.
But how do we know WHICH phones to test on, and which to build for?
It is a bit of a black art, and we rely heavily on our friends (thanks Wolf!) but here are a few useful links:
1. top seller lists are a good start:
http://www.ciao.co.uk/charts.php/ListId/3
2. then, you need to try to get some "install base" lists. This is a lot harder to do, as you need access to some insider knowledge, or very expensive reports. Here is a UK list for jan07:
but this still doesn't help you narrow down to your target group. What we do for this group is:
3: We make our own lists. Because we offer free previews of many of our java games, we log all incoming connections against phone types.
That way we can spot trends, as well as see new phone-variants we don't support yet and do some preventative development!
here is a sneaky screen dump from one of our games. You can see there are two columns - the red (pre-support) shows the number of downloads we missed out on, and the green (post-support) are the success stories. For total attempts you need to add these together.
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Learn English
Which phones are my students using?
We build applications for all sorts of different phones, and despite the hype, many of the development tools and platforms we use are fairly stable: (MMS, SMS, Flash, Flash Lite, C for PPC etc).
The one technology that we seem to be endlessly tweaking is Java for phones (J2ME), because despite the good-karma that surrounds java's "runs on any device" ethos, the harsh reality is that each phone is different, and J2ME applications need to be tweaked endlessly to deal with new phones.
In fact, we have a huge box full of ex-ebay phones we use for testing.
But how do we know WHICH phones to test on, and which to build for?
It is a bit of a black art, and we rely heavily on our friends (thanks Wolf!) but here are a few useful links:
1. top seller lists are a good start:
http://www.ciao.co.uk/charts.php/ListId/3
2. then, you need to try to get some "install base" lists. This is a lot harder to do, as you need access to some insider knowledge, or very expensive reports. Here is a UK list for jan07:
| Nokia | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
but this still doesn't help you narrow down to your target group. What we do for this group is:
3: We make our own lists. Because we offer free previews of many of our java games, we log all incoming connections against phone types.
That way we can spot trends, as well as see new phone-variants we don't support yet and do some preventative development!here is a sneaky screen dump from one of our games. You can see there are two columns - the red (pre-support) shows the number of downloads we missed out on, and the green (post-support) are the success stories. For total attempts you need to add these together.
- Can My M-learning Course Run The Same On Every Phone?
There are a few m-learning conversations that pop up again and again when talking to clients about mobile courses. It often starts with a seemingly simple question: ?I want richly interactive content for any phone? ?Will it do Blackberry? And iPhone?...
- What Is This Android Thing?
You may have heard the word Android being mentioned recently around the mobile phone world, well here is a quick post on what the fuss is all about. Android is a new-ish Operating System (OS) that has been developed by around 50 big names across the device...
- Gphone Anyone?
Finally, some tangible news about the gPhone, or "Google phone"! It turns out there isn?t going to be a physical device at all, but rather a heavy-weight alliance (the open handset alliance ) who are getting together to create an open source platform...
- Free Sim Cards?
if, like us, you have a lot of mobile devices hanging around for trialling and testing, you will also be familiar with the pain of SIM swapping. (picture the scene. You have 10 different phones you need to test your new phone game on. Each of the phones...
- Buying A Mobile - Conversation With Salesgirl
Visitor: Excuse me. Salesgirl: Welcome, sir! Visitor: Could you show me a good mobile phone? Salesgirl: Between which range sir? Visitor: Any good camera phone. Salesgirl: Please come to this side. Here are a few latest models of Nokia, LG and Samsung....