Best Smartphone for development ?

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

I know this topic has probably been beaten to death, but with new devices coming up, things change fast.

What would you think is currently the best Smartphone for doing development ?

i.e. it needs to be fully application-unlocked (so that *debug* is possible with the eVC++ debugger) and of course SIM-unlocked.

I know MoDaCo sells a "C500 Developer" for about $510.

Expansys has the following:

- i-mate SP3i Smartphone (US - Worldwide Version) $460

- Motorola MPx220 Smartphone (EU Version) $500

- Mitac Mio 8390 Smartphone (Asian Import) $380

Has anyone been able to use any of those for development ? (i.e. can you DEBUG an application on those phones ?)

Any other suggestion ?

Thanks!

[Guest muff]

personally I no longer use the phone for debugging directly

I used to use an original SPV in full debug mode, but nowadays I've developed our own engine that allows me to compile in VC++ and debug the game code in windows rather than on the phones themselves

I did briefly attempt to set the c500 into debug (just to do it really) - but it didn't appear to work, and with the new engine meaning that I didn't require it, I didn't revisit it

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

Thanks.

Is anyone here developing smartphone applications and debugging on the Smartphone ?

[Guest muff]

curious, why is it essential to use a device for debugging ? (btw the SPV I used to use was an off the shelf SPV that I set into debug mode)

Edited March 3, 2005 by muff

[Guest CEO]

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[Guest The PocketTV Team]

curious, why is it essential to use a device for debugging ? (btw the SPV I used to use was an off the shelf SPV that I set into debug mode)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It depends of the type of software you develop. If your software accesses the hardware directly for efficiency reasons (e.g. video, games), it may be necessary to debug on the actual device.

[Guest Pondrew]

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[Guest muff]

It depends of the type of software you develop.  If your software accesses the hardware directly for efficiency reasons (e.g. video, games), it may be necessary to debug on the actual device.

I know that when I first started doing stuff on the smartphones I was using the debug mode a lot, but as I've said since I switched over to writing most of the code on the PC and it's a LOT quicker to work with

the only real OS specific stuff I use for games is the calls to handle the backlight behaviour and of course GAPI - but for the PC version I've changed the usage of GAPI to a PC compatible final blit function that essentially does the same thing on the PC

I obviously still use the actual devices for testing on though

I suppose you could always consider the emulator for debugging? but in my experience it was a pain in the ass to use

nowadays the only thing I'd use the actual device for debugging would be actual ARM code (but I'd still write a PC compatible version for working with the rest of the app on the PC :D )

at the end of the day I guess it comes down to personal preference (assuming they can be put into debug mode)