Dirk van SchalkwykSupervisor: Prof Greg Foster

Co-Supervisor: Mrs Madeleine Wright

Project Title:A Comparative Study of JME and Flash Lite

for Mobile Data Services

Presentation OutlinePresentation Outline

• Problem Statement

• Project Objective

• Approach

• Analysis and Results

• Conclusion

• Questions

Problem StatementProblem Statement

• High investment in mobile technologies• In 2006, voice calls declined by 28% for

prepaid and 22% for postpay customers (UK)• Mobility companies turn to mobile data services• Need the right development tools to ensure the

rapid and efficient creation, deployment, and management of custom content on mobile phones

DefinitionsDefinitions

• Mobile data service: any service on a mobile phone other than voice e.g.

SMS (Short Message Service), Mobile Chats, Number Portability [Vodacom, 2007]

• Flash Lite a version of Adobe Flash Player designed for mobile

phones

• JME (formerly J2ME) a Java Platform consisting of a set of technologies and

specifications developed for mobile phones

Project ObjectiveProject Objective

• Develop a prototype incorporating selected APIs developed under Flash Lite and JME.

• Test effectiveness of competing standards.• Conclusions drawn will enable a trade-off

decision as to which platform to use for a particular mobile data service.

ApproachApproach

JMEFlash Lite

Client/Server communication across a wireless network

XML server response

SQL commands

Web Server

Database

DemoDemo

Analysis and ResultsAnalysis and Results

• Foundation Language

• Available IDEs

• Emulator platforms

• Dynamic XML handling

• GUI designing

• Multimedia capabilities

• Persistent Storage

• Packaging and Deploying

• Mobile device diversity

Foundation LanguageFoundation Language

Comparison and Evaluation:

• Both languages allow platform independence.

• Java is more robust and secure as JME applications never escape from the confines of the JVM and therefore will not write to device memory that does not belong to the JVM.

Flash Lite JME

ActionScript 2.0 Java

Available IDEsAvailable IDEs

Comparison and Evaluation:• Various IDE options are available for JME each providing better

features for writing code whereas Flash Lite offers a powerful GUI designer not available in JME.

• Adobe Flash Authoring IDE is an expensive proprietary software and therefore JME is recommended if financial resources are limited.

Flash Lite JME

Adobe Flash Authoring IDE NetBeans, SunOne Studio, Eclipse

Proprietary Open Source

Features include:•code auto-complete•debugging•powerful GUI designer

Features include:•code auto-complete•syntax highlighting•refactoring•extensive debugging•obfuscator

Emulator PlatformsEmulator Platforms

Comparison and Evaluation:

• Key features are provided by both platforms including memory analysis, network management and monitoring, object creation (JME only) and persistent storage monitoring.

• JME provides a more comprehensive feedback in the form of graphs and tables allowing for better application testing.

Flash Lite JME

Adobe Device Central (bundled with IDE)

Sun Wireless Toolkit, S60 SDE for MIDP

Dynamic XML handlingDynamic XML handling

Flash Lite JME

Automatically parses the XML document

Programmatically parse the XML using SAX, XmlPull or DOM

Write code to access specific nodes within the XML tree

Manipulates data in the XML tree using a set of API methods

Required 11 lines of code Required 29 lines of code

Dynamic XML handling cont… Dynamic XML handling cont…

Comparison and Evaluation:

• Flash Lite is recommended as it parses the XML faster and requires less coding, reducing possible errors, application size as well as the time to create the application.

Time (milliseconds)

GUI DesigningGUI Designing

Comparison and Evaluation:

• Flash Lite provides fast, easy and efficient creation of rich GUIs not possible with JME.

• Flash Lite’s stronghold in the mobile industry.

Flash Lite JME

Flash Authoring toolkit No graphical designer

‘drag and drop’ graphical components

Programmatically create graphical components

Multimedia CapabilitiesMultimedia Capabilities

Flash Lite JME

Depends on the Device video player for video playback

The JVM handles video playback

Methods include play, pause, resume and stop

Available methods control features such as volume, rotation, scaling and screen size

Only streaming possible on Nokia devices

Mainly http download possible though streaming also possible

Multimedia Capabilities cont…Multimedia Capabilities cont…

Comparison and Evaluation:• JME allows greater portability and video control compared to Flash

Lite which relies on the capability of the device.• Flash Lite video streaming is recommended when dealing with large

video files as play starts quicker and they do not take up a lot of device memory.

• Caution required when opting to stream video as it may be blocked by firewalls.

Time (milliseconds)

Persistent Storage Persistent Storage

Comparison and Evaluation:

• JME is recommended if other applications are required to access stored data.

• Flash Lite is an advantage if considering the lines of code required and this could also reduce error occurrences and speed up application development.

Flash Lite JME

Storage size determined by the device

Specifies a minimum of 8KB and a maximum of 30KB

Does not support sharing of stored data with other applications files

Other JME applications can access stored data

Required 7 lines of code Required 27 lines of code

Packaging and DeployingPackaging and Deploying

Comparison and Evaluation:

• Both platforms produce small packaged file sizes and deploy them through USB, Bluetooth and OTA.

Flash Lite JME

.swf (Flash file), .sis (Symbian installer), .cab (Windows installer)

JAD and JAR files

File size of 355KB (.sis) File size of 209KB

Mobile device diversityMobile device diversity

Comparison and Evaluation:

• Both platforms provide effective features to address device diversity.

Flash Lite JME

Defines different versions of Adobe Flash Lite runtime engines for specific groups of mobile devices

Divided into configurations, profiles and optional APIs standardized through JSR 185

ConclusionConclusion

• Analysis and tests showed various strengths and weaknesses of the JME and Flash Lite platforms enabling trade-offs to be made when developing specific mobile data services.

• Generally, JME provides more control and functionality through its numerous APIs whereas Flash Lite allows for the rapid creation of applications with rich GUIs.

Questions?Questions?