1) What is the difference between J2ME and BREW? Are they just different platforms (like Windows and Mac)? 2) I see most cellphone games say things like "Only for Motorolla v40 and v60 handsets" or whatever... Does that mean that their only potential market is for people with those exact models? Do all carriers allow all types of phones (Motorolla, Nokia, etc.)? 3) How do you decide what devices to develop for? If you make it on J2ME, does that mean all phones, by all makers, that use J2ME can support it? Please fill me in! Thanks.

Quote: 1) What is the difference between J2ME and BREW?
Are they just different platforms (like Windows and Mac)?

The difference between J2ME and BREW are that they are entirely different runtime equivalents with separate programming languages.

J2ME - Java 2 Micro Edition is basically standard java with some mobile specific information.

BREW - Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless is Qualcomm's runtime envrironment for mobile devices. BREW is generally developed in C++.

Quote:2) I see most cellphone games say things like "Only for Motorolla v40 and v60 handsets" or whatever...
Does that mean that their only potential market is for people with those exact models? Do all carriers allow all types of phones (Motorolla, Nokia, etc.)?

The reason you will see that is because those games were made for either J2ME or BREW. Nokia devices are always J2ME while motorola will have both J2ME and BREW devices.

Quote:3) How do you decide what devices to develop for? If you make it on J2ME, does that mean all phones, by all makers, that use J2ME can support it?

Deciding what to develop for is a personal preference, however it is easiest to get started with J2ME because Java is a little easier to get running on a device and the Sun Wireless Toolkit is a very easy development tool with a lot of help online.

Quote:Original post by trojanman

Quote:2) I see most cellphone games say things like "Only for Motorolla v40 and v60 handsets" or whatever...
Does that mean that their only potential market is for people with those exact models? Do all carriers allow all types of phones (Motorolla, Nokia, etc.)?

The reason you will see that is because those games were made for either J2ME or BREW. Nokia devices are always J2ME while motorola will have both J2ME and BREW devices.

It's not only J2ME or BREW. You basically have to make a separate version for every phone or class of phones in both platforms. In BREW the binaries need to be recompiled, while in J2ME you "only" have to make adjustments for screen size, input handling, different optional APIs, and workarounds for the many bugs on the phones. Commercial mobile games can have hundreds of SKUs.

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Quote:3) How do you decide what devices to develop for? If you make it on J2ME, does that mean all phones, by all makers, that use J2ME can support it?

Deciding what to develop for is a personal preference, however it is easiest to get started with J2ME because Java is a little easier to get running on a device and the Sun Wireless Toolkit is a very easy development tool with a lot of help online.

J2ME is certainly the best choice for a start. It's got a lower learning curve and it's an open platform, so you can usually just load your apps on the phone and they'll install automatically. BREW apps can only be distributed through official BREW servers, and you need to become a registered developer to get phone you can test freely on with a cable.

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