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RIM allows developers to spice up the BlackBerry
Tools for getting touchy-feely

By David Meyer

Published: Thursday 09 October 2008

RIM has announced new developer tools for those who want to write or adapt applications for the latest BlackBerry handsets.

RIM's latest smart phones use a refreshed version of the BlackBerry user interface, and one in particular - the touchscreen BlackBerry Storm - has functionality that has not been available in the line before. The new tools, released on Wednesday, allow developers to address the new capabilities of these handsets.

The tools include two new versions of the BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE), as well as desktop simulators for the Storm, Flip and Bold handsets.

RIM's senior vice president of BlackBerry platforms, Alan Brenner, said in a statement on Wednesday: "Each new BlackBerry smart phone presents an opportunity for mobile developers to create new applications or extend their innovations with the latest advances in mobile technology and application development."

Version 4.7 of the BlackBerry JDE, which is now available in public beta, allows developers to write applications that will work across both touchscreen and physical-keyboard-toting handsets. Developers writing for the Storm can also take advantage of the handset's accelerometers - the internal sensors that make it possible for the screen orientation to flip from portrait to landscape when the phone is turned onto its side, or for games to be based on the phone's motion.

Version 4.6 of the BlackBerry JDE is tailored to the Bold and Flip handsets, and addresses the updated functionality of BlackBerry features, such as GPS usage, multimedia service integration and messaging.

RIM is also promising the new tools will offer developers better functionality for their browser-based mobile applications, notably improved web-page rendering with Ajax, Javascript 1.5, CSS 2.1, DOM L2 and HTML 4.01, and support for downloading files using the browser.