Which SDK for OVI

[williamzanelli]

Hi guys,

I've read through most of Nokia's documentation and I'm finiding it difficult to follow.

I want to publish an app via the Nokia OVI store.

I have a Java programming background, and would like my app to reach as many people as possible.

Now I see alot of phones have different SDK's, does nokia really want us to develop a diff app for each platform?

How different are these platforms? How much work does it require to port from one platform to another?

What is likely to be the most common platform in 18mnths/for new phones?

Thanks for your thoughst

Will

[ltomuta]

Hi William,

welcome to Forum Nokia.

Yes, there are many platforms but life is not as complicated as it seems.

Nokia's development platforms are: Series 40 (Nokia proprietary OS with a J2ME application framework), S60 (Symbian OS powered, supports J2ME as well) and Maemo (Linux based). These platforms exist and develop in parallel, powering devices and services targeted at different market segments.

From performance point of view he S60 and Maemo platforms may be considered the more relevant ones. In terms of market reach the advantage is obviously on Series 40's side.

Ovi Store is a distribution channel that can be used on both S60 and Series 40 devices.

For each of these platforms there are several SDKs, corresponding to as many platform releases/iterations. With notable exceptions the SDKs are binary compatible (backwards compatibility) which means that for example an application developed with S60 3rd Edition SDK MR (aka S60 3.0) would work on all S60 3rd Edition devices but also on those developed with later S60 releases, like S60 3.1, S60 3.2 and even S60 5.0

There might be a need however to use the most recent SDK compatible with the targeted device in order to access some of its special features. E.g. the S60 3.0 based application will work on an S60 5th Edition device but to have the application fully optimized for touch or to use hierarchical lists you may want to use the S60 5th Edition SDK and the APIs and documentation it introduces.

That's pretty much it. Chose your platform(s) and programming languages and then use the resources available on this site to get you started with your application development. Good luck!

[williamzanelli]

ltomuta Thanks for the detailed reply!!

My main issue at this stage was Nokia's N97 and S60 SDK.. why does the N97 have a different SDK.. what would happn if I developed in the S60 SDK, would my programme be compatible with the N97 SDK??

The App I'm looking to develop will require a lot of 3G connection, as in connect to a webserver and get the latest data.

Thanks

Will

[ltomuta]

Excellent question Will

Yes, Nokia N97 is an S60 5th Edition device and it is fully compatible with the S60 5th Edition SDK v1.0

It has however some specific features wich yould require emulation, like the keyboard in the hardware side and the home screen widgets as a software feature. At some point a decision was taken that it is easier to create a new SDK for this device than to create a plug-in that would add the needed support to the S60 5th Edition SDK.

Fact is that the only reason to use the Nokia N97 SDK is if you plan to add the home screen widget to your application. For everithing else, including keyboard handling really, you can rely on the S60 5th Edition SDK and have your application deployable on Nokia 5800 as well.

With a bit of extra work (Scalable UI and Application Level Roaming support) your application should be infact quite easily doable on all 3.x and 5.0 but then you will need to use at least 3 SDKs for it. S60 3rd Edition MR for the basic stuff and scalable UI, S60 3rd Edition to add ALR support and S60 5th Edition to test/develop the touch support.

[williamzanelli]

Just one more question (promise)..

Which platforms are available via the OVI store.. ie. Can I write apps for the S40 and publish via OVI or is it just apps for S60?

Thanks for your thoughts in advance. You've been wonderful thus far. :-)

[mazebo]

Ok, I'll extend the "wonderfullness", and give you a hint from above:

Ovi Store is a distribution channel that can be used on both S60 and Series 40 devices.

Best Regards,
Mats Hillborg, Autophonics - The Creator of MusAic