GUI SDK for J2ME
April 27, 2006 · Print This Article
It seems that everyone is a-flutter with the limited news available about Project Omega, a GUI SDK for J2ME development. Project Omega is being developed by Tricastmedia, the same folks who released Pegasus earlier this month.
I’ll remain on the skeptical, but hopeful, side of fence for now. GUI development in MIDP applications isn’t fun. Either get stuck with the standard widgets, or spend 75% of your budget rolling your own canvases. I’d love to see a toolkit that adds a few additional widgets to my quiver, and from the folks I’ve chatted with today, I’m not in the minority!
Hi Chuck, saw your posting on OMEGA. I have seen their stuff. It is not just a GUI SDK, it is a flash-like toolkit. J2ME development has been lacking in the area of GUI, I’m sure you know of that, Sun’s LCDUI is dismayed, I just can’t imagine anyone seriously developing apps with Wireless Toolkit’s built-in MIDP UI API. What I think we need is a rich UI API that rivals Flash on mobile, like Flash-LITE. It is high time someone start looking at that.
Catch the video animation of OMEGA here -> http://mobiko.blogs.com/mutant/2006/04/looks_like_i_am.html#comments
Oops… apologies. I mean Joe…
Project OMEGA’s FORM Widgets
Seen enough of the video animation? Now the update on Tricastmedia’s OMEGA - Their FORM widgets! J2ME Form has never looked this good!
I did see it described as “Flash-like,” but I labeled it a bit more conservatively. When I think of Flash, I think of scalable vector graphics, a robust scripting language, data access, form controls, animation, and so on. I see from your post today that some of those have been addressed!
I agree with your comments regarding the lcdui package — UI development is just plain painful for MIDP applications. Custom items, UI development via canvases — ack! — there’s got to be an easier way. I’d love to see Project Omega address this, and I would most definitely be an early user.
It sounds like you have a hands-on perspective on this, and I’d love to hear more about it, so I’ll be checking in periodically. . .
OMEGA Interactive FORMS!
OMEGAs own form widgets. They are interactive and skinnable.
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If only J2ME apps can be so sexy and small
The guys at Tricastmedia updated me with their latest development on OMEGA, their ultra-small, compact GUI platform (codenamed TWUIK, don’t ask me what it stands for) for J2ME MIDP development. It was fascinating such small footprint can deliver so much