Sony Ericsson SDK 2.5 for Java ME platform vs Java ME SDK 3.0

[Meysam Mahfouzi]

Would somebody please tell me the difference between the two SDKs?

I want to develop and application on Sony Ericsson. Should I download Sony Ericsson SDK 2.5 for Java ME platform from Sony Ericsson website or Java Platform Micro Edition Software Development Kit 3.0 from Sun website? Is there any major difference between them?

[Ashish Bhandurge]

Anyways you have to download Java Platform Micro Edition Software Development Kit 3.0, this is your basic thing,without this you cant do anything.About Sony Ericsson SDK 2.5 for Java ME platform , these are the api's provided by sonyerricson in j2me ,s o if you want to use them you can use, but JDK is must.

[Meysam Mahfouzi]

Hi,
You are right, JDK is a must, but I don't think "Java Platform Micro Edition Software Development Kit 3.0" is JDK, it is SDK, isn't it?

[Ulf Dittmer]

Just a guess (as I know nothing about the Sony/Ericsson SDK), but the safe thing would seem to be to use the Sun SDK, otherwise you might end up with something that runs only on Sony/Ericsson devices, but not on those made by Nokia, BlackBerry and other manufacturers (unless that's specifically what you want to do).

Meysam Mahfouzi wrote:I don't think "Java Platform Micro Edition Software Development Kit 3.0" is JDK, it is SDK, isn't it?

Where do you see the difference between an SDK for Java and a JDK?

[Meysam Mahfouzi]

Ulf Dittmer wrote:Where do you see the difference between an SDK for Java and a JDK?

At the bottom of this page it's said that JDK 6 or higher, is required to be installed prior to installing Sony Ericsson SDK 2.5.0.6 for the Java™ ME Platform. And in the JDK download page, it reads:

You must have a copy of the JRE (Java Runtime Environment) on your system to run Java applications and applets. To develop Java applications and applets, you need the JDK (Java Development Kit), which includes the JRE.

So JDK seems to be the development kit (including JRE) required to develop java applications. And SDK for Java ME platform, is used to develop applications on Mobiles.
Now again, my question is, while both Sony Ericsson SDK 2.5 for Java ME platform hosted on Sony Ericsson's website and Java ME SDK 3.0 hosted on Sun's website seem to be SDK, which one should I choose? Is there any advantage to choose the SDK from Sony Ericsson's website if I am specifically targeting Sony Ericsson mobiles?

[Tim Holloway]

Meysam Mahfouzi wrote:
Now again, my question is, while both Sony Ericsson SDK 2.5 for Java ME platform hosted on Sony Ericsson's website and Java ME SDK 3.0 hosted on Sun's website seem to be SDK, which one should I choose? Is there any advantage to choose the SDK from Sony Ericsson's website if I am specifically targeting Sony Ericsson mobiles?

I'm going to make a wild guess that the Sony Ericsson SDK may just be implemented as a Java app, or even installed via JNLP. So that would require the full Java SDK. Well, normally, just the JRE, but I don't know what games they are playing. Then again, maybe they're just using the development tools (javac, etc.) from the full-service Java. Obviously you wouldn't run a J2ME app using the desktop/server JRE bootstrap and support classes. It would kind of defeat the purpose of even having a Mobile Edition of Java.

The more usual case is where you have a choice between the generic Sun J2ME JDK or a vendor's own JDK. Usually the vendor JDK is an enhanced version of the Sun J2ME jdk with helpful little things to make developing for that vendor's products more enjoyable. And usually, the vendor-specific version only runs under Microsoft Windows.

So to develop for general JME, use the Sun SDK. If you want to exploit features in a specific vendor platform, you'll typically want to use their own development kit.