| Sun blesses Java phone |
May 17, 2006
 SavaJe, a spinoff of Lucent Technologies, threw its hat -- or, rather, cellphone -- into the ring at the 2006 JavaOne Conference in San Francisco this week, with the unveiling of a "sophisticated" handset that runs a unique, Java-centric operating system. The Jasper S20 mobile phone, made by Group Sense Limited PDA (GSPDA) and running SavaJe's Java-based SavaJe Mobile Platform, also garnered JavaOne's "Device of the Show" honors.
Why create a Java-based phone OS, when the mid- and high-tier mobile phone market appears to be locked in a three-way battle among Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Linux?
The answer might best be summed up as, "It's the apps, stupid!" According to recent reports, over 700 million mobile phones are now equipped with Java application execution environments (aka Java Virtual Machines, or JVMs), making Java the most widely used software platform for mobile phone applications. Additionally, the New York Times recently quoted Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz as saying, "More teenagers recognize Java than they do Microsoft, because that is what they have in their pocket on their cellphone."
Why is Java so popular? Consider these three touted benefits of Java in mobile devices: - "Managed" execution -- JVMs are designed to protect the system from misbehaving applications (mobile phone vendors and wireless operators really like this)
- Application portability -- based on Java's claimed "write once, run anywhere" capability
- Developer friendliness -- millions of developers know how to program in Java
Still, in virtually all of the Java-enabled 700 million mobile phones, the JVM is simply a software component that sits on top of a more substantial embedded operating system, such as Symbian, Windows Mobile, Linux, or a proprietary real-time OS (RTOS). So why change that?
SavaJe's approach basically turns the JVM into an OS, moving nearly all system functions and applications into the Java space. There's still an OS-like component, which the company describes as an "optimized multi-tasking, multi-threaded kernel integrated with [the] Java Virtual Machine." But in the SavaJe scheme of things, the kernel has a very limited role to play -- SavaJe's mobile phone OS is essentially all about Java. Well, not entirely.
"We do not claim that we are Java to the metal," a company spokesperson told DeviceForge. "We implement in C/C++ where appropriate [or where] performance is needed. All applications are written in Java. The middleware is a mix of Java and C/C++. Most of the kernel and low level OS is in C." The kernel is several megabytes in size, and integrates a "highly optimized" JVM, the spokesperson said.
The differences between SavaJe's Java-based OS and the typical OS approach are illustrated in the following graphic, provided by SavaJe:
SavaJe's Java phone platform compared to the typical alternative
SavaJe promotes its Java-based OS as "the industry's most advanced mobile phone to deliver the full benefits of the Java platform." Additionally, the company says that SavaJe is "the first mobile platform 'built from the kernel up' for Java."
SavaJe says its Java-based SavaJe Mobile Platform OS offers flexible customization and theming capabilities, and supports both the CDC and MIDP Java profiles. Additionally, an "early access version of JSR-209 ... provides Java developers with the ability to create advanced user interfaces for mobile phones and devices using Swing and Java2D," according to the company.
Supported Java libraries and standards are said to include: "JSR-209 is a set of specifications that include Advanced Graphics and User Interface Optional Package, previously available only in the Java Standard and Enterprise Editions," SavaJe notes. "This allows application developers to utilize Swing, Java2D Graphics and Imaging, and Image I/O. As a result, developers gain the functionality necessary to develop advanced applications for mobile phones and devices such as the Jasper S20 much more efficiently than they can under the constraints of MIDP."
Minimum system requirements necessary to support the SavaJe Mobile Platform include an ARM 9 processor such as TI OMAP 730 or Intel XScale, along with 32MB of RAM and 64 MB of flash memory, according to SavaJe. Reference implementations are currently available from GSPDA and LG.
The Jasjar S20
 
GSL's Jasper S20 Java phone, front and back
(Click each image to enlarge)
The Jasper S20 is based on a TI OMAP 730 processor, and it is equipped with 64MB of RAM. The processor integrates an ARM926EJ-S core and is supported by ARM Ltd.'s Jazelle Java acceleration and Swerve Client 3D graphics acceleration technologies.
The S20 includes an SD card slot that can accommodate cards up to 2GB in capacity, according to SavaJe. Supported content types includes mp3 (audio), mp4 (video), jpg (image), gif (image), png (image), 3gp (audio or video), and aac (audio). Supported content and MIDP-compatible games can be downloaded OTA (over the air) or brought into the device through an SD card, for the user viewing and playing, the company says.
The S20 supports sync-to-PC via a USB cable and a third-party application, both of which are supplied with the phone.
Alan Brenner, VP of the Sun Microsystems Client Systems Group, stated, "The SavaJe-based Jasper S20, powered by the same Java technologies found in set-top boxes and Blu-ray devices, showcases how developers can leverage their Java assets to deploy compelling services across a wide range of consumer devices."
Interestingly, the formation of SavaJe Technologies was announced by Lucent Technologies almost exactly six years ago; the company's existence was unveiled at JavaOne 2000 in June of 2000. The company announced that it was entering the mobile phone market nearly two years later, in March of 2002.
The GSPDA Jasper S20, expected to ship in Asia this summer, will be the company's first shipping mobile phone, according to SavaJe. The company says it is also working with several other ODMs (original design manufacturers) and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), but that the relationships are currently confidential due to NDA (non-disclosure agreements).
(Click here for further information)
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