Java Development

[lewellyn]

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Kshmire wrote:

Have they told you if it will have normal functions like calling etc enabled soon?

What have they said about sharing all their APIs to developers with this new OS?

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1) If you call the number associated with a SIM inserted into the Dev Alpha, it rings and you get a missed call notification. So, pieces are already there.

2) They're developing BB10 very much in the open. Some of the Jam sessions were regarding things which aren't ready for anyone to use yet, but we'll want to use them as soon as they're ready. Also, they're trying to make sure that all APIs are available to all SDKs.

[ekke]

I can second all what Simon already wrote.

Cascades is a great chance for all the Java developers to move forward to BB10.

I'll also go this way and I know Peter Strange will do so, too.

Last months I didn't gave much feedback at the forums, because I'm now focused on Cascades.

Now Cascades is public beta and so I will continue to support here in the forums additional to my blogs and tweets.

BTW: @Simon @Peter Strange - was great to meet you at BB10Jam in orlando

ekke

[Kshmire]

Thanks simon and lewellyn for your info.

I have an out of curiosity question, why did you go to the Orlando conference? I can't believe you all are from Orlando or it's surroundings.
Is it because the first one is better? Or because you wanted to ensure you got the alpha device?

Haha, sorry for my curiosity. 

[ekke]

hi, I'm not from Orlando - I'm from Germany ;-)

I do my most work from home-office so it's always important for me to go to conferences to meet other developers.

I really like BlackBerry Dev conferences - it's a great chance to learn new things, to get in direct contact with BlackBerry core developers (and also cascades developrs from sweden this time)

yes: to have the Alpha Device is great but that wasn't the reason.

I wanted to see the progress Cascades did in the last months - I was part of the closed beta and I can say: thy made a huge progress. Now I'm absolutely sure that BB10 will be there later this year and I'll start to move some of my Java apps soon.

BB10Jam was one of the best BB dev conferences I ever attended and its much better live then only looking at slides or videos.

so I know I'll be again in San Francisco and also next European DevCon

ekke

[peter9477]

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Kshmire wrote:

I have an out of curiosity question, why did you go to the Orlando conference? I can't believe you all are from Orlando or it's surroundings.
Is it because the first one is better? Or because you wanted to ensure you got the alpha device?

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You may not have realized that before the Orlando conference, they had not announced there would be any additional BB10 Jam conferences...  It wasn't so much that we attended "the first one" but, at the time, it was "the only one". ;-)

[Aviator168]

Who is qualify to get the current alpha device?

[simon_hain]

everybody who attended BB JAM 10 got one.
If you attend the BB JAM 10 OnTour events you can also get one.

Otherwise there are no official channels. I know that the partner leadership forum attendees on the BBW also got DevAlpha devices, but that counts as unofficial i guess.

[peter_strange]

I would just like to support everything that has been said here about the conference, especially the comments from Simon and Ekke.  And it was great to meet a load of other developers too. 

This was a good conference to go to for me because, after the DevCon Europe, I was not convinced about the progress on the native device, both from a development tooling perspective, or from a useable device perspective.  At the Jam I got some test code running on device and got to play with it and more importantly, see what the plan was.  So now I am convinced. 

The important points for me were:

a) RIM are committed to the platform, they are putting their money where their mouth is (note the promise for the guaranteed income for applications and the replacement of a real device for the Alpha device)

b) The real device will have some features that will make it stand apart from the 'other devices'.  I was very concerned that RIM were going to make a 'me too' device, but they are really trying to make the the BB10 devices stand-out from the crowd. 

I do have two concerns:

1) Timetable - no more delays as that will put people off

2) My Java backlog, I have at least 2 months, probably more Java work to do before I can start playing with Native and Cascades. 

One final thought.  At this time I think that the other option that I'm sure everyone here has considered, (swapping to Android), would require only slightly less "re-learning" than going the C++/Cascades route, and is not likely to be as rewarding.  But I hope that other people make a different decision because that will leave the BB10 market more open for me!

[Aviator168]

I will go to their Jam Road Show when they come to my city to get the alpha device.

Question about that 10K deal. Is that only restricted to apps listed in AppWorld? We sell our apps ourselves and we net way way above their requirement to get the 10K deal. Are we still eligible for the deal if we prove sales figure?

Peter,

I think going BBX (C++/Cascades) is easier than going to Android. Yeah, Android is java and that made many think it would be very easy to port BBOS apps to Android. The fact is, Android works very different. With BBX, at least the general structure of the programs are about the same as with BBOS. Coming from a MFC background, things like Cascades is just second nature for me.

Question for all.

If I don't have the alpha device, will a playbook be a good enough testing device? The price has come down a lot for them.

[ekke]

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peter_strange wrote:
...

2) My Java backlog, I have at least 2 months, probably more Java work to do before I can start playing with Native and Cascades...

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same for me.

have to do Cascades work besides my full-time java projects.

One of my projects is Android 4.0 + BlackBerry OS (+ BB10) ... a good chance to see the architecture of Android 4.0 and BB10 side-by-side ... I'll blog about my experiences