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Views sought on cross platform development

Hi
I work for a small research firm/IT consultancy. I'm attending a meeting in a few weeks time, the meeting is being held by the University of the West of England (a UK Uni) and various local business groups. The aim is to discuss the development of a GPS-based program to help encourage children to exercise. As I have a bit of knowledge about various GPS-based software programs and platforms, I have been asked by a contact of mine to attend.
I've been thinking that by far the most obvious platform to target is the mobile phone - every kid has one and most these days have either GPS built-in or can access a bluetooth GPS device. Now, there are five mobile phone platforms, Java, Nokia's Symbian, Apple's iPhone, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Mobile. If an app could be developed across all five platforms, it would be pretty much available to all kids.
As I have very limited experience of these platforms, I was wondering if anyone cared to give any views on the difficulties involved in developing for all five platforms (is it even possible to cross-develop across all these five platforms, or would each one be a separate project?) and any other views pertinent to GPS-based programs for mobile.
Also, if you know of any Android developers (companies) in the South West of England, preferably Bristol, that would also be great.
Rupert Plumridge
Senior Research and Commercial Manager
OTR-Group
www.otr-group.com

All depends of the language that you choose, but remember that mobile devices have some limitations.
Here are some lists of the Windows Mobile limitations: DevBuzz - Windows Mobile Limitations

Cheers for the reply, yeah, I guess language is most important - Java seems the most cross platform - not sure if the iPhone can handle that though.

For iPhone the better choice is Objective-C(CocoaTouch Framework), but you will need to have a Mac if you want to develop for it. This was because I didn't buy a iPhone to start developing for it, I don't have a Mac
For Windows Mobile I suggest you to use C#(.Net 3.5) with Visual Studio 2008 Professional. It's the most featured environment for WM development, or you can try CeGCC.
For Android the best choice will be Java with a very good knowledge of XML. A good link to start is How-To Develop Android Applications
And for Symbian, the best choice will be C++, also take a look at Getting started with Symbian development
Now you choose

You can use C++ on iPhone, WinMobile, Android and Symbian using Airplay SDK - the same compiled app will run on all of them too.
This is a magic bullet for cross platform dev, enjoy!

"For Android the best choice will be Java"
think you get more kernal power in their c++ tdk then java

windows xp emulator for mobile phones

Hello, is there any emulator wich will alaud me to use windows xp app (like games) on mobile phones, or chance windows xp or vista or 7 to bi installed on mobile phone like htc for example?

helion222 said:
Hello, is there any emulator wich will alaud me to use windows xp app (like games) on mobile phones, or chance windows xp or vista or 7 to bi installed on mobile phone like htc for example?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont think so, windows xp needs a big ammount of ram and above 2ghz cpu dual core to even run properly these days, it takes alot of HDD space too.
Its very hard to make windows xp run natively on a phone, but emulating it is out of the question.
Emulating an entire operating system will result in major slowdown, you have xbox360 with windowsxp and its running horrible, it has a 3.2ghz tricore cpu too so imagine the speed of emulating it on a 1.0ghz dual core cpu and thats the top of the line phone these days.
So, windows will be very slow and when i mean slow i mean things like taking an entire minute to send a file to recycle bin and games would be out of the question as they are in majority D3D dependant and android cellphones use OpenGL.

As the above post says, no. It is possible to emulate a Winmo device from 2003 through 6.5.3 on your PC, but not the other way round. A phone, even the powerful ones do not have enough grunt, to do the job. WinMo emulators on the PC can now run native ARM code executables directly. No mean feat, even on a 3GHz PC
If the PC program was written in native x86 code, a phone cannot run it, but if it was written in .NET and used the core basic methods and properties of the same or a previous version of the .NET CF framework, there is a very slim outside chance that it may work, but the requisites are very restrictive.
Watch for the upcoming version of Windows 8. Microsoft is determined to get onto the latest ARM powered pad devices, having already lost important ground to the iPad and 'pad' versions of Android. This should see a much closer integration of the platforms, but next year may already be too late.

stephj said:
As the above post says, no. It is possible to emulate a Winmo device from 2003 through 6.5.3 on your PC, but not the other way round. A phone does not have enough grunt in it to do the job.
If the PC program was written in native x86 code, a phone cannot run it, but if it was written in .NET and used the core basic methods and properties of the same or previous version of the .NET CF framework, there is a very slim outside chance that it may work, but the requisites are very restrictive.
Watch the upcoming version of Windows 8, that Microsoft is determined to get onto the latest ARM powered pad devices, having already lost important ground to versions of Android. This should see a much closer integration of the platforms, but next year may already be too late.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This!
Buy a wm phone

Emulating the Windows CE kernel and WinMo in QEMU or BOCHS

I have seen several QEMU setups, specifically on the Nexus One, Evo 3D, Xperia Neo, and other devices, all running various versions of Windows XP, 98, or 95. I'm looking at the source now. Is there any reason someone hasn't tried to run the Windows CE (PocketPC or WinMo) kernel within QEMU or can it only emulate x86 operating systems?

http://wiki.osdev.org/QEMU#Supported_Architectures
http://wiki.embeddednirvana.org/ARM_Emulation_Using_QEMU
So according to these articles, ARM emulation is possible.
ARM
QEMU booted into the ARM port of Fedora 8
QEMU emulates the ARMv5TEJ instruction set and all the derivative processors families like ARM7, ARM9E, ARM10E and XScale. It emulates full systems like Integrator/CP board, Versatile baseboard, RealView Emulation baseboard, XScale-based PDAs, Palm Tungsten|E PDA, Nokia N800 and Nokia N810 internet tablets etc. QEMU also powers the Android emulator which is part of the Android SDK (most current Android implementations are ARM based). Under development is iEmu, emulator of Apple's iPhone. Starting from version 2.0.0 of their BADA SDK, Samsung has also chosen QEMU to help development on emulated 'Wave' devices.

metroidnemesis13 said:
I have seen several QEMU setups, specifically on the Nexus One, Evo 3D, Xperia Neo, and other devices, all running various versions of Windows XP, 98, or 95. I'm looking at the source now. Is there any reason someone hasn't tried to run the Windows CE (PocketPC or WinMo) kernel within QEMU or can it only emulate x86 operating systems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had limited success booting a custom x86 Windows CE 4.0 NK image with the newer WinCE QEMU port for the HD2 but I wouldn't call it usable. CE booted and I could see the mouse cursor but the desktop never appeared. There are real CE drivers for most of QEMU's hardware on x86, so it might just take a bit of fiddling if the ARM qemu builds aren't just broken.
Bochs was able to boot the image fine but it was pretty slow and only worked in the 320x200 VESA mode. One of the newer mobile Bochs builds for Android worked a little better and displays in a higher resolution but it's still slow and lacks networking. I haven't had as much success with QEMU. It seems like there are major differences between the generic c/c++ CPU core for all architectures and the x86 one and I"m pretty sure QEMU runs some x86 code natively even in user mode. It's either that or the mobile versions are quick hacks with some dirty workarounds that break the more obscure OSes. The difference in compatibility between different processor architectures in the same build is evidence enough of that. Though, I haven't tried them in an ARM debian build yet.
And as cross platform as it is, QEMU seems highly optimized for x86 these days. So many OSes that have problems on ARM qemu work just fine on a desktop. It seems to me like QEMU-x86 wasn't ever really extensively tested on ARM and the other less used archs. There is also a newer QEMU port based on 1.x in the Android Market called Limbo which I have yet to try but the current versions use VNC so video output is pretty slow.
If you want to give it a go, the following Windows CE based PDA platforms had x86 images available: Handheld PC 2000, Pocket PC 2002, Smartphone 2002, Pocket PC 2003/SE, Smartphone 2003/SE and of course the generic builds from 2.0-7.0. Most of these will boot on a sufficiently compatible PC with the right nudging and it should be possible to cook custom ROMs with appropriate HDD drivers if you prefer Windows Mobile and know how to modify WM2003 ROMs.
You might want to keep an eye on QEMU-KVM for ARM Linux too. If it ever works well enough on android, that may be able to virtualize an ARM CE image at near native speeds. QEMU does emulate a few CE compatible dev boards but I'm not sure if anyone ever successfully booted CE on them as they're mainly for testing Linux and don't emulate everything.
Edit: Here's a few YouTube videos I found demonstrating an early build of KVM-QEMU booting Android and Ubuntu on a Cortex A15 running Ubuntu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWzoanrsaCI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD5Nu-VrHKI
Color me impressed! If CE can be ported to one of the boards QEMU emulates, (almost) native CE on countless Android devices seems very possible. Porting it on an emulator/VM is likely easier than running it on the metal.
Also, here's a thread about the Raspberry Pi's debian and QEMU. Based on the comments, they seem to have the same odd issues the WinCE and Android ports have.
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=10635

What we know about microsoft windows 10

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Fizzip.com
Microsoft has released a new Technical Preview build of Windows 10 at this year’s Build developer conference. Although not all the new Windows 10 features that were announced at Build are available in this Insider Preview release, users will find improvements to Continuum, Cortana and more.
There’s a lot of visual changes on the surface with build 10074, with improvements to the general user experience. The translucent Aero Glass from Windows 7 is making a reappearance on Windows 10, and Microsoft is also adding support for high DPI displays as well.
Multitasking
There are notable improvements to multitasking and switching tasks between tablet and desktop views for users with two-in-one hybrids or tablets. The update makes Continuum more intuitive to tablet users.
“When you close an application in Tablet mode, we take you back to the Start screen instead of the desktop as you would expect when using a tablet,” Microsoft said of the change in a blog post. “You will see general polish on snapping, and the shared divider between two snapped windows now let’s you adjust the size.”
For multitaskers, Snap Assist now supports the ability to close apps.
Cortana
Cortana is now more integrated into the Windows experience on build 10074. You can now start to search for an app within the Start menu, and Cortana will take over. Cortana’s interface has also been revamped.
“The new Windows split view control has been added to Cortana’s left rail, offering quick access to key Cortana functionality like the Notebook, Reminders or Feedback on how Cortana’s doing,” Microsoft said, “This split view control helps anchor Cortana to the rest of the Windows UI and provides navigation consistent with many other Windows first party applications.”
Cortana can also now return results to more types of queries now. You can check for the flight status, perform mathematical calculations, convert units, ask Cortana to tell you a joke, find out the time in a different time zone, lookup definitions, check the weather and stocks, define words and also get tech help.
More updates
The new release also brings with it new updates to the Xbox, Music and Video apps inside Windows 10. The Windows Store Beta app, which is formerly a gay tile, is now a blue tile.
“Apps you purchased on a PC running Windows 8.1 will now show up in the Store Beta on Windows 10 as owned (and vice-versa),” Microsoft said as it is expanding its Store Beta more markets.
Windows Store
The update also adds new system sounds to Windows 10. Additionally, on the Lock screen, Microsoft is adding new learning experiences so Insiders can get the most out of their Technical Preview experience.
“This ranges from tips and tricks on the Lock screen, to helping users discover high quality apps through Start, the Lock screen and Cortana,” Microsft said.
The new Windows 10 build 10074 is now available through Windows Update.
Microsoft brings Android, iOS apps to Windows 10
Company says that it’s “building bridges” to developers on other platforms.
Things have sure changed since 2007.
Aurich Lawson
SAN FRANCISCO—Microsoft announced a four-pronged effort to bring developers and their apps to Windows at its build conference today. One of these prongs—a way for Web developers to present their sites as apps—was already announced at Mobile World Congress earlier in the year.
The second prong is logical but not altogether surprising. In Windows 10, developers will be able to specially prepare existing Windows apps, whether Win32, .NET WinForms, .NET WPF, or any other Windows development technology, and sell them through the Windows Store. Unlike the “traditional” Windows application installation experience, these apps will be guaranteed to install, update, and uninstall cleanly—one of the important things that Store apps do to ensure that users feel confident trying apps out and removing them if they don’t like them. Behind the scenes, virtualization technology will be used to provide this isolation and robustness.
Islandwood and Astoria
The next two prongs are the more surprising: Microsoft is going after Android and iOS developers. With Project Islandwood, iOS developers will be able to take their iOS apps and build them for Windows. Microsoft has developed an Objective C toolchain and middleware layer that provide the operating system APIs that iOS apps expect. A select group of third parties have been using the Islandwood tools already, with King’s Candy Crush Saga for Windows Phone being one of the first apps built this way. King’s developers had to change only a “few percent” of the code in order to fully port it to Windows Phone.
For Android, there is Project Astoria. Rumors of Android apps on Windows have been floating around for some time, and in Windows 10 Microsoft is delivering on those rumors. Astoria will allow Android apps to run in Windows. Specifically, Windows Mobile (and yes, that’s now officially the name for Windows on phones and sub-8 inch tablets) will include an Android runtime layer that’ll let them run existing Android apps (both Java and C++) unmodified. Unlike Islandwood, which will require developers themselves to recompile their software to bring it to Windows, Astoria will in principle work with any old APK, without requiring the developer to do anything but publish the app in the store—as long as the APK sticks to the APIs that Astoria will provide.
As we’ve written before, there are two aspects to Android: there is the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) that’s a mix of GPL and BSD-licensed open source code that anyone can take and fork, and there’s Google Mobile Services (GMS), an ever expanding closed-source set of applications and APIs that Google develops. Applications that need GMS, for example for its geolocation capabilities or its in-app purchasing, will not run on a plain AOSP platform. They’ll need GMS.
When we spoke to Microsoft about Astoria, the company would not tell us what proportion of the AOSP and GMS APIs would be supported, but it did confirm that it wouldn’t be 100 percent; there will be APIs that Astoria does not provide, and accordingly, APKs that use those APIs will not run.
On the flip side, Astoria will offer some integration points with Windows so that Android devs can, with minor alterations, support features like Cortana in their apps.
The broader theme of Microsoft’s work is to make Windows 10 the platform for developers. It will give them one app platform that spans phone, tablet, PC, hybrid, and console, and thanks to the free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8 users, it should be much less fragmented than Windows in the past. The company has the incredibly ambitious goal of having 1 billion users on the Windows 10 family within 2-3 years of launch.
The underlying strategy behind the four bridges is to allow developers to use the code they already have. Microsoft’s intent isn’t to make a BlackBerry 10-style capitulation, where the answer to the app gap is “just use Android apps instead.” Rather, the hope is that developers will still make Windows apps; they’ll just be Windows apps that happen to share a ton of code with iOS or Android apps.
Goodbye Internet Explorer, hey Microsoft EdgeWHAT WE KNOW ABOUT MICROSOFT WINDOWS 10
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Fizzip.com

Intel MOE - Android Java runnining on iOS

Intel lets developers reuse Android Java code on iOS — Yes, you read that right the first time. And the iOS Java apps running on iPhones have native Xcode UIs.
To the astonishment of everyone seeing Multi-OS Engine for the first time, iOS apps can be developed on Windows using Android Studio and debugged on Windows using a USB tethered iPhone or the iOS emulator Intel built for Android Studio.
Intel is courting developers with previews.