Sony Ericsson and handset management solutions provider Mobile Complete announced the Sony Ericsson Virtual Lab, a remote testing service that promises to reduce the time and resources required to develop and test Java ME-based applications. The online service, available to all members of the global Sony Ericsson Developer World community, provides support for pre-commercial mobile phones released by the manufacturer, connecting developers to live mobile networks in real time via Internet browser. The Sony Ericsson Virtual Lab goes live with six handsets: The Sony Ericsson W880 and W580 Walkman, the K550 and K810 Cyber-shot phones and the T650 derive from the Java Platform 7, while the W910 Walkman is based on the new Java Platform supporting Mobile Services Architecture (MSA), the next-generation Java umbrella standard (JSR-248) and Java Binding for the OpenGL ES API (JSR-239).
The Sony Ericsson Virtual Lab service is powered by Mobile Complete's DeviceAnywhere platform and hosted as a dedicated service exclusively available to Developer World community members. After connecting and registering, developers must download a Java client that manages the remote testing session (including timeslot reservation and payment and application upload), showing a virtual view of the phone and transmitting results. The cost for using the service depends on the specific testing demands and requirements of each individual developer.
The Sony Ericsson Virtual Lab is in part a response to a March 2007 global developer benchmark survey conducted by Recom Research that reported that irrespective of developer program membership, developers desire improved testing access. "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 Sony Ericsson GM and head of content planning Ulf Wretling in a prepared statement. "The Virtual Lab gives us a fair-for-all, affordable and resource-effective means of being able to offer pre-commercial phones for testing to all Sony Ericsson Developer World members, not just the Premier Partners, and helps the community speed up the development process of new applications for our phones."
For more on the Sony Ericsson Virtual Lab:
- read this release
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