Best Smartphone for development ?

[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!

[Mike Temporale]

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

The C500 Developer isn't from MoDaCo. It's actually offered by Orange. ;)

Of all the phones you have listed, I would go with the i-mate. The advantage here, is that it comes unlocked - both application and SIM. (at least I think the application lock is off. If not, it's easy to toggle)

However, I can't comment on the debugger question. :)

[Kris Kumar]

I believe the newer phones are unlocked for general applications. But applications that need to access the core APIs (like mail etc) requires certificate to run. :-(

I would prefer the i-mate SP3i. Mostly because they have provide ROM updates.

Regarding the debugging, in the past I have debugged apps running on my Smartphone (MPx220/MPx200/Red-E. have not tried SP3i) using Embedded Visual Studio v3/4. And it should work the same with VS.NET. Basically any application that I could run without the certificate could be debugged. In fact I don't remember needing a certificate for debugging. :?

[The PocketTV Team]

I believe the newer phones are unlocked for general applications. But applications that need to access the core APIs (like mail etc) requires certificate to run. :-(

I would prefer the i-mate SP3i. Mostly because they have provide ROM updates.

Regarding the debugging, in the past I have debugged apps running on my Smartphone (MPx220/MPx200/Red-E. have not tried SP3i) using Embedded Visual Studio v3/4. And it should work the same with VS.NET. Basically any application that I could run without the certificate could be debugged. In fact I don't remember needing a certificate for debugging. :?

Thanks!

The MPx200 is known to be completely un-locked and it allows using privileged API without having a privileged cert. So is the Red-e. But those two are obsolete devices. I don't know about the MPx220, but maybe it is also completely unlocked like the MPx200.

On most other smartphones, in order to use the debugger, you need a privileged cert, and in general that's something you don't have. The fact that un-signed applications (that don't use provileged APIs) can run does not mean that you can use the debugger. The debugger requires using privileged API's, so for development you want a smartphone that does not lock privileged API's. There are not too many of those.

So the recommendation is i-mate ?

Smartphone developers, what phone are you currently using for development ? (besides the MPx200 and the Red-e!)

[Kris Kumar]

I agree MPx200 was totally unlocked.

But the MPx220 and SP3i (also other HTC Typhoon devices) are not completely unlocked. I know for sure that priviledged API access requires a certificate. [Certain Pocket Outlook plugin apps like HTTPMail Provider and Cingular XPressMail requires trusted certificate to run

Regarding the debugger not sure.