Sony Ericsson Virtual Lab
Rating: Ooh baby lets get Virtual
by Rob Knight
If you are developing applications in Java TM ME for Sony Ericsson devices life just got a lot easier. Sony Ericsson and Mobile Computing have teamed up to bring you the Virtual Lab service. This allows the remote testing of Java Applications on Sony Ericsson handsets connected to live networks via a Global 24/7 online service which all runs via an Internet browser. This should enable developers to test their applications on new and existing models speeding up software releases and allowing publishers to respond to new devices and bring their products to market faster and more cost effectively.
From the Press Release:
Global service, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Convenient: no shipping of phones or firmware updating required – this is all handled by Sony Ericsson and Mobile Complete behind-the-scenes
Online session reservation, virtual view of phone and real-time results
Tests key presses and network behaviour of software
Two pricing packages available catering to more or less extensive test ing needs
Test phones representative of Sony Ericsson’s la test available Java Platform versions
Significantly reducing or eliminating expensive de vice and service plan purchases
Speeding up time to market for mobile applications and services to generate more revenue
“With the launch of this remote testing service together with Mobile Complete, Sony Ericsson is responding to consistent developer feedback in benchmarking surveys from the past few years about the importance of having early-access to phones and prototypes for testing purposes." said Ulf Wretling, General Manager and Head of Content Planning and Management at Sony Ericsson.
The service will launch with six of Sony Ericsson’s most popular handsets apparently. The Java Platform 7 (JP-7) based devices - the W580 Walkman® phones, the K550 and K810 Cyber-shot™ phones and the T650. Also available for testing will be the W910 Walkman which is based on the new Java Platform 8 (JP-8) which supports Mobile Services Architecture (MSA), the next-generation Java umbrella standard (JSR-248), as well as Java Binding for the OpenGL® ES API (JSR-239).
The technology behind this idea is provided by Mobile Complete’s DeviceAnywhere™ who also handle the timeslot reservation, payment, application upload and data exchange. “Java developers are increasingly looking for testing providers that can deliver a complete, integrated solution that addresses all of the stages of the product development lifecycle including testing, reporting and monitoring. Mobile Complete has great experience of offering this remotely and looks forward to delivering a cost-effective solution to Sony Ericsson’s developer community. Sony Ericsson is the first device manufacturer to offer developers this kind of service for pre-commercial phones,” said Faraz Syed, CEO of Mobile Complete.
We Say:
Anything that help developers/publishers speed up getting applications to market is a good thing. This is a great idea and something all handsets manufacturers should do follow I believe. At the moment when building your application, either for cost purposes or because the actual handset isn’t yet available you will run your application in an emulator via an SDK (Software Development Kit). Half the time these SDK’s never install properly let alone run smoothly. Yes, you can outsource testing to a 3rd party such as a Java Testing House which will run the tests for you but often they haven’t got the latest handsets and every time you re-sumbit your application it costs again. So, the ability to sign up to this service via the SonyEricsson developer Community for as little as $100 a month and test on real handsets on live GSM networks should be a major bonus. Nice one SE!
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