Sprint Treo Update, Java JVM, SuperWaba

Posted By: Ryan on Wednesday, November 02, 2005 12:48:18 PM

Sprint Treo 650 Update
Palm has released a small update for the Sprint Treo 650. The E911 firmware update is designed to improve the ability of emergency response personnel to locate users who dial 911 from the Treo.

Palm Java JVM
The latest version of WebSphere Everyplace Micro Environment (CLDC 1.1 /MIDP 2.0) is now available for users of the Treo 600 and Treo 650 smartphones, Tungsten T5, Tungsten C, Tungsten T3, Tungsten E2, Tungsten E, LifeDrive, and Zire 72 handhelds. The Tungsten W, Tungsten T2, and Zire 71 handhelds are no longer supported. Thanks Dave.

SuperWaba 5.5
SuperWaba 5.5 has been released. SuperWaba is a VM for PDAs and Smartphones. Because of the way SuperWaba was written, you can use Java to develop for it. The SuperWaba SDK allows for cross platform apps on Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian and Linux. New in this version is a faster ARM native virtual machine and better database handling.

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SuperWaba rules!

SimpleIsBetter @ 11/2/2005 3:41:22 PM #

SuperWaba is an outstanding development platform (I'm just a satisfied user, that's all). Unlike the official Palm Java VM, it runs on ALL palm devices, as well as all the other platforms mentioned in the article. I find with the new ARM-optimized VM my Java code runs as fast as the native C code I am replacing! It's worth checking out if you want to use the same cross platform code base.

RE: SuperWaba rules!

cervezas @ 11/2/2005 3:55:04 PM #

For the developers on the forum I enthusiastically second that endorsement. SuperWaba shines where the weak Websphere JRE has totally disappointed: rich GUI API, access to PIM databases, powerful SQL database engine, cross-platform desktop synchronization, support for native interfaces, great cross-platform support on Palm, Windows Mobile, Symbian and Linux, and totally open source to boot. The release of the ARM native VM for Palm is absolutely an awesome achievement.

Any Java developer thinking about targeting smartphones or PDAs instead of dumb feature phones should seriously consider SuperWaba. The VM is free (unlike the J9 Java VM) and you can redistribute it with your apps.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
Software Everywhere blog
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: SuperWaba rules!

T_W @ 11/2/2005 5:35:30 PM #

Can SuperWaba apps be made to look like native apps? All the screenshots look decidedly un-Palm-like.

RE: SuperWaba rules!

cervezas @ 11/2/2005 7:10:02 PM #

Can SuperWaba apps be made to look like native apps? All the screenshots look decidedly un-Palm-like.

Generally they can. Unfortunately the SuperWaba guys *do* need to put up some better screenshots so people understand this. I say "generally they can" only because there are certain things like modal dialogs, the datepicker, and the onscreen keyboard that look somewhat different by default. The good thing is that can be changed if you want. The other nice thing is you get some widgets that you don't normally have for Palm OS like radio buttons, tree controls and tabbed forms. There's even an HTML container that works as a very basic embeddable browser control, something people have been clamoring for in the Palm OS API for years.

The look when you run on Windows Mobile is also a good simulation of the native "flat look" UI. It's fairly easy to write apps that will adjust how they render based on what OS and screen resolution they are running on. Although there isn't a Symbian look-and-feel, as far as I know. You'd have to roll your own (which is quite possible).

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
Software Everywhere blog
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: SuperWaba rules!

SimpleIsBetter @ 11/2/2005 7:52:45 PM #

Just to clarify even more, you can choose between 3 different UI styles. One is supposed to mimic the Palm look and feel, and the other two mimic the Pocket PC look and feel. You might be looking at screen shots with the "wrong" UI style, but the developer can control this.

RE: SuperWaba rules!

edevoe @ 11/3/2005 8:45:37 AM #

I agree that SuperWaba is indeed promising, but I have been disappointed by the lack of applications for it. Are there some great SuperWaba apps out there that I am missing?

"Despite the high cost of living, it remains popular..."

RE: SuperWaba rules!

cervezas @ 11/3/2005 2:00:50 PM #

I haven't really looked to see what kind of consumer-oriented apps there are for SuperWaba, but my impression is it's been popular for vertical business applications. That's how my company uses it.

One impressive example of a consumer oriented SuperWaba application that a colleague of mine wrote is CoPilotMap: http://www.copilotsoft.com/pages/Overview.htm

If you're a private pilot I recommend taking a look. I think he's working on the Palm version now that the ARM VM is available. This is a case of an application where 100% cross-platform compatibility isn't possible, at least not without some tweaking.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
Software Everywhere blog
www.pikesoft.com/blog

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