Bluetooth Everywhere

As an application developer, you can easily understand the difference between the capabilities of a mobile device as opposed to those of a desktop or server. If you’re a Java developer creating mobile applications, you may have experienced some of the limitations of either the handset itself, the mobile operator’s network, or the Java ME framework on the device. The Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) 2.0 implementation is the most widely deployed Java ME framework, with over 2 billion mobile phones worldwide that are Java technology-enabled.

Continue reading the article at java.sun.com

Bluetooth 2.1 technology allows two devices near each other to communicate at a maximum speed of 3 Mb per second. In the grand scheme of wireless communication, Bluetooth is roughly two times faster than the data throughput of a 3G wireless phone but still 10 to 20 times slower than today’s Wi-Fi speeds.

More than one billion Bluetooth-enabled devices are currently on the market, and Bluetooth does a good job of transferring files that are smaller than 10 MB in size. However, due to the inherent nature of most wireless communication protocols, Bluetooth devices need to discover other Bluetooth devices, even if both devices are right next to each other. Finding a remote Bluetooth device is great, but what services does that remote Bluetooth device offer? If the remote device is a printer, does it offer the commonly used Basic Printing Profile (BPP) or the more advanced printing service known as the Hard Copy Cable Replacement Profile (HCRP)?

To find the available services on a remote Bluetooth device, you also need to search for a service. Bluetooth device-discovery and service-searching capabilities are great when you are trying to find any remote Bluetooth device in the vicinity that can suit your needs.

But device discovery and service searching are extremely time-consuming and frustrating to use when you’re trying to communicate with a device that’s right in front of you. This article shows you how to get Bluetooth applications to completely bypass the device-discovery and service-searching processes simply by using Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology and JSR 257: Contactless Communication API.

You can also find this article in the list of all articles on this site.

Every developer in their software development lifetime will eventually have to create user interfaces. For some developers, this stuff is easy. However, for folks like me, creating a good user interface is HARD. Of course, I know a slick user interface when I see one, it’s just very difficult for me to create one from scratch. Therefore, any frameworks that help in the process of creating a quick and pretty (not quick and dirty) UI is something that I always want to be aware of.

So if you’re a Java ME developer, and if you have created user interfaces, then you’re aware that there aren’t many UI frameworks available. One of the most recently announced UI toolkits is LWUIT (pronounced “lew-it”) and here’s a rundown of it’s features:

• LWUIT Designer - Allows creating themes and resources for LWUIT
• Swing Like MVC (Model View Controller)
• Layouts
• PLAF (Pluggable Look And Feel) & Themes
• Fonts
• Touch Screen
• Animations & Transitions
• Rich widgets
• 3D Integration
• Painters
• Modal Dialogs
• External Tools
• I18N/L10N
• SVG Integration

Well, the wonderful folks at Packt Publishing have graciously allowed me offered to offer to my readers Chapter 10 of the book, “LWUIT 1.1 for Java ME Developers”.

If you’d like to know more information about this book, and to see a full description, then browse over to the Packt website for more information. When my copy arrives this week, I hope to give you all a good review of the book later this month.  However, I think that you’ll enjoy the free chapter of the book, especially since it’s 26-pages-of-meaty-Java-ME-UI-goodness.

Ok folks,

I’ve been commissioned by Sun to write the first article on MIDP 3.0 technology. Cool, huh? So, if you missed the MIDP 3.0 sessions this year at JavaOne, or if you have a burning question about the next Java platform that will be on billions of mobile devices in the coming years, then this is your grand opportunity for you to ensure that the article will answer your question. So, if you have a question about MIDP 3.0, then post it below!

Alright,

This happens every year. For whatever reason, you need to get started with a Java ME project. Usually it’s one of the following reasons:

1. Your boss has a great idea, and he wants to see a mobile app
2. You’re a graduate student, and you think it’s really cool to write mobile apps
3. You’re trying to participate in a contest
4. You have a client who needs a mobile app

Either way, for whatever reason, you need to get started *now* on creating that application. Now, if you’ve never created a mobile Java application before, then I feel sorry for you because there’s alot of information available to confuse a newbie. However, there’s hope!

I just wrote an article for Sun describing alot of the free Java ME tools that are available for Java ME developers. The article is entitled, “Java ME Tools: The State of the Union, Q2 2009” and it will be updated regularly to help developers on how to get started with the best tools available.

By the way, if you like the article (or not) then feel free to rate the article, or provide comments. At the time of this writing, there’s currently a lively discussion going on regarding Mac and Linux support.

Well,

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my two-part series on how to use a Bluetooth-enabled GPS receiver. Since that time, alot of you tried the examples with the MPowerplayer, and you found out that they changed how it handles JSR-82 API implementations. So, I wrote a quick follow-up article that answers all of your questions that were posted on the java.sun.com site. As always, you can find a link to all Java Bluetooth articles on the main site.

Now, if you’ve never written an application that uses the Bluetooth protocol with OBEX before, then (in my opinion) the effort can be a little daunting. Of course, The Bluetooth specification gives you plenty of options on how to send data, but the best way to send files between two devices is truly the OBEX protocol in the Bluetooth specification. Below are links to two articles that I wrote for IBM a few years ago, and the code provides some great examples for developers. Additionally, if you’re looking for help in developing a desktop application that uses Bluetooth and OBEX, then the example code in these two articles will be invaluable to you since all the examples were written using the JSR-82 API on the Java SE JVM.

The first article is entitled, “File transfer with JSR-82 and OBEX“, and shows you how to create an OBEX server using Java code. The second article is entitled, Creating the Bluetooth Music Store, and it shows you how to create an OBEX client application. At the end of second article, there’s another example application presented (which extends the basic OBEX client application) which is called the Bluetooth Music Store.

The articles got high ratings by the readers on the IBM site, so I figured that you would find them of interest. Of course, you can find links to all the mobile computing articles in the “articles section” on main JavaBluetooth.com site.

For those of you who don’t know, I work as an Architect at Accenture. Well, it turns out that some of my coworkers who read my blog, had no idea that there’s a whole section on my main website (JavaBluetooth.com) that is dedicated  to Java Bluetooth articles that I wrote after I finished the first edition of my book. So, if you’re in that case as well, be sure to check out those articles since they have great example code that you can copy, paste, pillage, and steal for your own nefarious purposes.

Now, two of the articles on the site provide detailed instructions on how to use a Bluetooth-enabled GPS device to get your location, and plot it on a map using one of the free web-based mapping services. So, be sure to check it out if you haven’t already done so.

Thanks!

Ok,

So, if you’re a mobile developer like me, then you’ve heard of Java FX before. However, you may have the following questions in your mind, such as:

• What’s the difference between JavaFX and JavaFX Mobile?
• What is the syntax for JavaFX Mobile?
• What advantages are there for using Java FX Mobile?
• Will my target platform support JavaFX Mobile?
• Are there emulators available for JavaFX Mobile technology?

So, coming from the perspective of the mobile developer, I wrote the first article on JavaFX Mobile technology. Be sure to take a look at the article and drop a note (or rate the article) on the Sun website. Below is the basic architecture diagram for Java FX.