Flash Lite Phone Recommendation
Posted by Ali Mills Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:14:00 GMT
If you’re interested enough in Flash Lite to (like me) buy a phone to experiment on, I’ve got some recommendations for you. My recommendations are based on experience spent on two recently completed Flash Lite projects (one Flash Lite 1 and one Flash Lite 2) where I worked with over twenty different phone models during the past three months.
From a Flash Lite performance perspective, I recommend a Symbian S60 2nd Edition phone. The S60 2nd Edition phones consistently worked better for me than all others and never crashed. It’s funny. I’d think that if “2” is good then “3” would be better, but that’s not the case here. Flash Lite performs better on S60 2nd Edition than the S60 3rd Edition. I recommend the following phones in the following order based on Flash Lite performance:
- Symbian S60 2nd Edition phones
- Symbian S60 3nd Edition phones
- Symbian S40 phones
- Verizon Wireless supported handsets
- Windows Mobile 5.0 devices
From a money-making perspective, I recommend a Verizon Wireless supported handset. The LG Chocolate performs best, but supposedly more customers have a RAZR, so the RAZR gets the recommendation since we’re taking the money angle. You’ll have to jump though insane hoops just to get started testing your content (and even more to publish it), but Verizon undoubtedly has the best Flash ecosystem in the US. I recommend the following phones in the following order based on money-making potential in the US:
- Verizon Wireless supported handsets
- Symbian S60 2nd Edition phones
- Symbian S60 3nd Edition phones
- Symbian S40 phones
- Windows Mobile 5.0 devices I already mentioned why Verizon gets the top slot in the list above, but let me explain why the other phones are ordered the way they are. The Symbian phones get the next three slots because Handango provides a service to sell and distribute content for Nokia handsets. The S60 phones are first in the Symbian division because with with some custom work you can wrap the product with an installer and application icon (2nd Edition is above 3rd because SWF3SIS is available to build an installer with icon for S60 2nd Edition running Flash Lite 2.0 and earlier). Then come the Symbian S40 phones. These just barely made it above Windows Mobile 5.0 devices because I haven’t seen a way to make an installer and icon for them. Also, and more importantly, on S40 phones Flash Lite is treated as a second-class citizen. For example, on my Nokia 5300 SWFs are nested under “Menu” > “Applications”. I’ve tried but am unable to get SWFs to rest on my phone’s main menu beside “Applications”. It’s possible that I’m syncing incorrectly – it did take me a little while to realize that on S60 phones putting SWFs in the “Others” folder when syncing places them in the Flash menu – but doubt that’s the case. The Windows Mobile 5.0 devices come in last from a money-making perspective because there’s no system in place to distribute content to them and no prebuilt installers that I’ve seen.
Hold on. That last line is a little odd. How can it be that, “there’s no system in place to distribute the content”? Why do we need a network like Handango when we have the SMS/MMS network and the internet? Personally, I hope to distribute all of my Flash Lite content in one of the following ways: server SMS/MMS to device, email program SMS/MMS to device, and Bluetooth from device to device. The Verizon network is ridiculously locked down with proprietary installers, though, so we do need to use their network to get content on their BREW devices.
OK, back to recommendations. Unless there’s a way to make Flash Lite a first-class citizen on Symbian S40 phones, I feel strange even recommending them. I was pretty disappointed when my phone arrived and I couldn’t get a content icon on the main menu.
In conclusion, if you’re interested in buying a phone to experiment on with Flash Lite, I recommend getting a Symbian S60 2nd Edition or a Symbian S60 3nd Edition. I’ve bought my last three phones from Mobilebee.com, so if you can’t find a used S60 2nd or 3rd Edition somewhere (you should be able to find a used Nokia 6600) you might want to try them.
Have fun!
MacromediaAdobe to deliver on the promise of Flash Lite for so long, I've almost lost hope that there will ever be target devices in circulation for me to develop for and share my developments with on my own. I thought I had figured out the process with my Flash Lite 1.1 Mobile Google Calendar, but just when Symbian S60 2nd Edition phones started shipping in the US (I bought a Nokia N70 with Flash Lite pre-installed), Flash Lite 2 was announced. Everyday it becomes clearer to me that the Flash Lite business model is about selling high-priced servers to service carriers and player licenses to OEMs. Sometimes, I think it shouldn't even be called Flash. Which leads me to...erixtekila,
I agree with you on every point. So far, I've refused to install the FL2.1 player on my three phones because of the splash screen and am running FL2.0 instead (although that may change if input text in FL2.1 doesn't leave the app). I build installers with icons for all my apps using SWF2SIS because it results in a more professional end product that's a first-class citizen on my phone. Btw, what is the N60 mobile?
Thanks for commenting guys, and thanks Alessandro for the pointer to create a Jar/Jad type of installer and the 3GSM photo. I'll look into the installer.
Ali
I also want to add that I do like Flash Lite and plan to start a third project this weekend. I don't fault Macromedia or Adobe for the issues surrounding it. I blame the cell phone industry...