Test on pre-commercial Java ME phones

The new Virtual Lab service gives registered Sony Ericsson Developer World Community Members early access to pre-commercial, Java™ ME based Sony Ericsson phones for real-time testing of Java ME applications and games. This on-line service enables developers to remotely test on 2007 phones that are not yet commercially available, maximizing the valuable time window to perfect applications and have them ready for the market launch of a new phone.

Sony Ericsson Developer World's Virtual Lab service is managed by Mobile Complete using its DeviceAnywhere™ technology and hosted in a dedicated section for Sony Ericsson Developer World members on Mobile Complete's website. The service launches with six of Sony Ericsson's most popular mass-market feature phones announced in 2007 with more phones becoming available as soon as possible after Sony Ericsson's official press announcements. All phones run the latest available, generic firmware.

Five of the phones available for remote testing - the W880 and W580 Walkman® phones, the K550 and K810 Cyber-shot™ phones and the T650 - are representative of Sony Ericsson's Java Platform 7 (JP-7). The W910 Walkman phone is based on the new Java Platform 8 (JP-8) supporting Mobile Services Architecture (MSA), the next-generation Java umbrella standard (JSR 248), as well as Java Binding for the OpenGL® ES API (JSR 239).


Virtual Lab overview:

- Global service, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Convenient: no shipping of phones or firmware updating required
- Selected 2007 phones, representative of both JP-8 and JP-7
- Tests key presses and network behavior
- On-line session reservation, virtual view of phone and real-time results
- One-hour testing slot per phone, at $18-20 (USD) per hour depending on which monthly pricing package is selected

"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. 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," says Ulf Wretling, General Manager and Head of Content Planning & Management at Sony Ericsson.

How it works
The Sony Ericsson Virtual Lab service is available to anyone registered as a Community Member of Sony Ericsson Developer World. Once connected and registered, you download a Java client called DeviceAnywhere Studio that manages the remote testing session, including timeslot reservation and payment, application upload, showing a virtual view of the phone and communicating results.

This software acts as a virtual user, remotely controlling and operating the mobile phone located in Mobile Complete's lab, pressing keys using electrical signals, using audio capture and streaming to listen to ringers and speakers and viewing displays using video capture and streaming. You can do anything on a Virtual Lab phone that you could do if the phone was physically in your hand. An overview of the Mobile Complete's DeviceAnywhere technology can be found here>>

Exclusive to members
As this is a members-only service, login and click on "MySettings" to access the "MyVirtualLab" page for more information, known firmware issues per phone, terms and conditions, and the link to Sony Ericsson Developer World's Virtual Lab hosted on Mobile Complete's website.

If you are not a registered Community Member yet, it only takes five minutes to register and when you log in to Developer World, click on "MySettings" and then "MyVirtualLab" to access the Virtual Lab service.

In addition to accessing the Virtual Lab, other benefits of membership include:

- Post forum questions/replies
- Participate in the Wiki
- Manage your personal navigation dashboard
- Subscribe to monthly developer newsletter
- Ability to purchase dedicated technical support incidents
- Register here>>