Archived:Adobe Flash Lite
We do not recommend Flash Lite development on current Nokia devices, and all Flash Lite articles on this wiki have been archived. Flash Lite has been removed from all Nokia Asha and recent Series 40 devices and has limited support on Symbian. Specific information for Nokia Belle is available in Flash Lite on Nokia Browser for Symbian. Specific information for OLD Series 40 and Symbian devices is available in the Flash Lite Developers Library.
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Flash is a multimedia authoring tool originally brought to prominence by Macromedia in the late 1990's. Macromedia merged with Adobe in 2006.
Based on vector graphic and time line animation, its success has been largely due to the ease of learning curve, and its evolving and extending Actionscript language.
The tool has gone through some important changes in its lifetime, notably in moving away from proprietary and limited scripting toward more object oriented methods.
Notable changes occurred with version 4, when interactive support boosted the basic animation engine. With v.5 and v.6, changes were made to create a more robust scripting structure, using dot rather than slash syntax. The use of classes and functions were also introduced.
With version 6.5, video streaming was added, which has quickly established Flash as the emerging standard for video delivery on the internet. The penetration of the Flash player into the desktop market has helped this move into video delivery.
Flash versions 7 and 8 have extended further the sophistication of the interface, and added new features such as components, as well as increased player speed, and extended capabilities.
Flash Lite 1.1
Flash lite is the cut down version of Flash that has been designed to run on mobile devices, originally shipping with version 1.1. It used similar code syntax and capabilities as desktop Flash v.4 - and also came with a lot of depreciated scripting terms.
Flash Lite 1.1 was taken up with great success in the Far East markets, as it was integrated with various operator packages. The market for Flash lite screen savers, games and applications has developer far in advance of either Europe or the Americas - helped also by a successful content subscription model.
Nokia began shipping handsets with Flash 1.1 pre-installed in Europe during the last half of 2006. However, without the same operator support, ecosystem and subscription models that exist in the East, it has taken some time for the platform to be adopted by developers. Without an established revenue model - such as that enjoyed by Ring Tones or Java games, Flash Lite development has been a "kitchen industry" essentially for small developers doing R&D.
However, the tide is beginning to turn. Some channels are opening up, and it is now possible to see a financial return on flash development projects.
Flash Lite is now distributed on a huge number of S60 and Series 40 handsets.
For a brief overview of the capabilities that each version offers - refer to the Flash Lite Comparison Chart
Can do:
* load text data over http/https * load swf (Flash 1.1 or 4 version) over http/https * invoke the SMS, MMS, Tel, Email mobile phone system * invoke browser using getURL API * retrieve IMEI * retrieve some specific phone information via Fscommad2 API
Cannot do:
* cannot save data (text or binary) to the phone * cannot directly load images (jpeg/png/gif) * cannot directly load sound * cannot define functions (there are some tricks to simulate functions!) * no arrays (there are some tricks to simulate arrays!) * no Video
Flash Lite 1.1 is preinstalled on Nokia Series 40 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 devices and on S60 3rd Edition devices (as well as on selected S60 2nd Edition Feature Pack 3 devices)
Flash Lite 2.0 and 2.1
In 2007, Adobe made the move to open up the Flash to more developers. A developer version (there is a 6-second splash screen on this player which cannot be removed - the embedded clients will not have this splash animation) of the new player was made available for free download, and real improvements were made to the tool set and engine. The ActionScript syntax is much closer to later desktop flash code (basically ActionScript 2.0, similar to Flash 7), releasing the developer from re-learning or acquiring obsolete code techniques.
Flash Lite 2.0: can do everything Flash Lite 1.1 can do plus,
* save data as Mobile Shared Objects (pretty much cookies) * load text data over http/https * load images (jpeg, png, gif) via http/https * load sound (mp3, aac...) via http/https/local file/embedded * play video (3gp, mp4, mov) via streaming http/rtsp, local files/embedded * define functions and classes * define arrays * and more ....
Cannot do:
* streaming audio * cannot save binary data
Flash Lite 2.0 is preinstalled on Nokia Series 40 3rd Edition feature Pack 2 devices and on Nokia S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 devices.
Flash Lite 2.1: can do everything supported by Flash Lite 2 + inline text and XML Sockets
Flash Lite 2.1 is preinstalled on Nokia Series 40 5th Edition devices.
This article is incomplete - please dive in and add/correct/edit, as you see fit.
"Adobe merged with Macromedia in 2006."
should be..
"Macromedia merged with Adobe in 2006."
The article is recommnded for the beginers to know about FlashLite and its evolution.
Authors(as it is edited by many) have very well compiled the infromation about evolution of FlashLite and the migration from one version to other. The article also desrcibes the possibilities and the limitations of each of the FlashLite version and hence its very useful for the bginers. The details as which version is preinstalled on which devices is really useful.
Hamishwillee - Merge with "Flash_Lite"?
Flash_Lite has overlaphamishwillee 09:05, 18 October 2011 (EEST)