Application development using J2ME : evaluation of intrinsic platform limitations

Abstract

The operating system Symbian OS and the programming language Java have existed in a symbiosis since the first version of Symbian OS arrived on the mobile scene. This thesis will explore important aspects of the mobile version of Java, namely the Java 2 Micro Edition, on Symbian OS based mobile phones. Part one of the thesis reviews the structure and evolution of Java 2 Micro Edition and the Symbian OS, and the symbiosis between them. This is done through a thorough theoretical investigation of the programming interfaces offered to the developer. Particularly certain problem areas such as hardware control, wireless messaging, network services and file access will be investigated. To evaluate the maturity and feature richness of the platform, a test application has been made which incorporates features depending on all these areas. We found that Java 2 Micro Edition platform was quite easy to use when implementing features like camera recording, HTTP/Servlet communication and Graphical User Interface programming. However, we also experienced that the platform is lacking some advanced options in each of the mentioned features. The individual part investigates security and functionality issues related to accessing hardware on Symbian OS mobile phones. In addition, investigate whether there might be limitations in the Java 2 Micro Edition standard or the strategy behind it that would reduce the scope of future application development. Access restriction to privileged resources is one of the key security elements in the Java 2 Micro Edition platform. In order to investigate whether access to device hardware could impose security issues, a test application, which requests to use phone features like camera recording and file access, has been executed under different security levels. Fortunately there were no deviation between assumed and actually behavior. In addition I have investigated whether there might be any factors in the platform strategy, like weaknesses in the hardware access or possible security threats, which could affect future application development. The Optional Packages concept, which gives access to hardware, clearly works and will most likely let future developers to make even more versatile applications. There is one flaw in the low level configuration that could be a security issue for the standard. This problem could however be avoided using so called signed applications.