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The BlackBerry® Storm™ smartphone is the first touch screen BlackBerry® smartphone from Research In Motion (RIM). It builds upon a variety of existing BlackBerry smartphone features and capabilities to produce a truly compelling touch experience. With the BlackBerry Storm smartphone, RIM has introduced a version of software (v4.7) that delivers a new set of APIs and capabilities for third party developers including:
- Enhancements to the existing RIM User Interface APIs to provide support for touch and gestures, including proper handling of multi-touch events
- Support for MIDP applications that leverage touch
- Virtual keyboard APIs
- Enhanced and open GPS APIs on all networks
- Accelerometer APIs
In addition to the new API capabilities, your Browser-based applications will build upon the browser capabilities released in v4.6.0 including:
- Improved web page rendering including AJAX
- XMLHttpRequest
- JavaScript® 1.5
- CSS 2.1
- DOM L2 (including Core, HTML, Style, Events)
- HTML 4.01 (including Forms, Maps, Tables, Frames, Objects)
- Improved Native Attachment Download
- Support for downloading files via the browser
Key Features
- Screen Resolution: 480x360 (Landscape Mode) and 360x480 (Portrait Mode)
- Screen Type: Capacitive Touch Screen, Multi-Touch Support
- Virtual Keyboard: Full Keyboard (Landscape Mode) and SureType® (Portrait Mode)
- Networking: Global 3G Network Support (HSPA/EVDO Rev A)
- Memory: 1GB Embedded microSD™ card
- Autonomous and Assisted GPS Support (Assisted GPS dependent on carrier network support)
- Compatibility Mode (more info below)
For third party developers, one of the unique features of the BlackBerry Storm smartphone is its "compatibility mode" which provides an operating environment for existing 3rd party applications that are not implemented to support touch. This feature will automatically convert touch events into existing trackball events. When an application is executing in compatibility mode, a virtual keyboard will be shown at most times to mimic the physical keyboard on previous devices and will only be displayed in portrait mode.
All applications that are compiled with a JDE prior to v4.7 will automatically use compatibility mode, but the user will be able to change this configuration setting at their leisure. Any applications compiled with JDE v4.7 or higher will automatically run in the standard configuration.
To get started in your development, visit the Hot Links section to download the appropriate products.
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How to Use the BlackBerry Storm Simulator
Learn how to simulate touch gestures, clicks, multi touch and tilting the device
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In this segment of Developer Tips and Tricks, discover the top four items every developer should know about the BlackBerry Storm smartphone.
1. Handling Gestures and Screen Details
If your application simply leverages existing built-in BlackBerry User Interface components, your application does not need to be modified for the BlackBerry Storm smartphone to handle gestures and screen layout. The underlying UI Engine will automatically perform these operations for you. However, if your application leverages custom UI fields, you will want to enhance their implementation to handle touch events.
More information on the different gestures and sample code on how to use them can be found in the BlackBerry Storm smartphone Development Guide.
2. Orientation and Re-Sizing Events
Similar to handling gestures and screen details, you only need to worry about explicitly handling these events if your application leverages custom UI fields and managers. It is important to understand that you can leverage the UI APIs on the device to explicitly indicate what types of orientation your application will support, giving you the ability to control the layout of your application.
However, your application will likely need to handle re-sizing events regardless of the orientation to support the dynamic display of the virtual keyboard. It is possible to have the virtual keyboard shown at all times to minimize this work but the resulting end user experience is significantly degraded.
3. Virtual Keyboard
With the inclusion of a virtual keyboard, your application can control both the type of keyboard (Full QWERTY or SureType®) and its visibility (shown or hidden). The Virtual Keyboard API’s also allow developers to lock their keyboards into place when required. Similar to the previous sections, the virtual keyboard should be shown and hidden automatically for built-in UI fields and managers.
4. Networking Technologies
The BlackBerry Storm smartphone is an incredibly unique device with the inclusion of both HSPA radio and EVDO Rev A radio producing 3G download and upload speeds worldwide. The EVDO version of the product will leverage the EVDO network within North America and roam to HSPA when outside of North America. In contrast, the HSPA branded version will leverage HSPA in all regions and will not roam to EVDO.
From a third party developer perspective, the usage of these different radio technologies is handled automatically by the underlying BlackBerry solution implementation and does not require any additional work or effort.
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Online Registration is coming to an End
Online registration for the BlackBerry Developer Conference closes October 17th. Don’t wait too long to register for the conference, taking place October 20-22, 2008 in Santa Clara, California, or you might miss out on this unrivaled technical opportunity.
Focused BlackBerry Development Content You Can't Get Anywhere Else
Organizations are looking to developers to come up with solutions that help teams work faster and more efficiently while they’re mobile. Whether you're a master developer, just getting started or looking to build on your project successes, the BlackBerry Developer Conference is where you can accelerate your efforts. No other conference provides the place to:
- Hear from leading minds in the industry, including Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM)
- See where the BlackBerry® development platform is going with more than 70 Breakout Sessions
- Learn advanced development techniques in the Hands-on Labs and from peers in your community at the Mobility Pavilion
- Meet and network with the experts at the One-on-One Meetings featuring developers from RIM to offer you feedback on your unique development challenges
Register now so you don’t miss out on this great chance to benefit you and your company, or find out more information about the BlackBerry Developer Conference.
Developing for the New BlackBerry Storm
The newly announced BlackBerry Storm will provide developers with a whole new opportunity to deliver compelling mobile applications to consumers and business professionals around the world. The BlackBerry Developer Conference will feature numerous sessions and labs to teach you how to develop new applications for the BlackBerry Storm or how to port existing applications for the BlackBerry platform to the new touch-screen interface.
The BlackBerry Developer Conference is the place to learn about how to develop for the BlackBerry Storm and to meet the experts at RIM who designed the new touch-screen interface.
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Listen Here for BlackBerry Storm Touch events, Compatibility Mode and BlackBerry Storm coverage at the BlackBerry Developer Conference |
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 Jobs @ RIM
We are always looking for the best and brightest to join our family! Take some time to learn about just a few of our exciting opportunities...
Software Developer- Applications (0803624), Waterloo
Senior Embedded OS and Virtual Machine Developer (0802143), Waterloo
Java Development Platform Gatekeeper (0803853), Waterloo
Technical Partnership Manager (0803580), Hong Kong
Click Here: for these and hundreds of other great opportunities
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