LG’s Java ME on Android
LG have recently announced the Android based GW620. What sets this phone apart for developers is that it will run both Android’s Dalvik version of Java AND Sun’s Java ME (MIDP 2.1).
My first question was as to the quality of the Java ME implementation. The Java ME provider is Myriad. It turns out Myriad is what was created from Esmertec and Purple Labs. Esmertec was previously very well respected for it’s Java virtual machine (VM). Hence, I think we can expect the LG Android phone to have a capable Java ME VM.
What will this mean for end users? In theory, they will be able to run a very large number of existing Java ME applications. However, it remains to be seen how they will discover these applications. There are also questions with respect to differentiation with Android Java applications both in users’ minds and on the phone itself.
I am not sure what’s in this for LG. Why are they paying license fees to include the extra Java ME runtime on Android? If you look at LG’s developer web site there’s an emphasis on Java ME and little or no mention of Android/Dalvik. One observation is that even their Windows Mobile devices include Java ME and while not unique, is also unusual. Maybe Java ME is there to provide a consistent programming platform across all their devices.
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