RIM announced over the wire that they have updated the BlackBerry JDE to version 4.6 officially. They have also released a updated beta 4.7 for the upcoming Storm. These are designed to create and test applications not only for the Storm, but also for BlackBerry Pearl Flip and BlackBerry Bold, the other two new smartphones produced by the Canadian company.
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.
RIM is also promising that 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.
BlackBerry JDE v4.7, especially created for the new BlackBerry 4.7 OS that runs on the Storm, is available only in public beta for the moment. Its features include:
- Touchscreen support, so the applications can receive input from taps or slides on the display of BlackBerry Storm;
- Accelerometer support;
- Orientation and rotation support;
- Virtual keyboard control;
- Advanced camera and media integration;
- Home screen background image setter – allowing an application to directly change the image that appears on the Storm’s home screen.
Built for BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Pearl Flip, BlackBerry JDE v4.6 offers:
- Location-based services (aka LBS);
- Scalable vector graphics;
- Customized messages and alerts;
- Time zone improvements;
- Multiple calendar and contact list support;
- Décor enhancements;
- SMS and MMS Listener;
All the features of BlackBerry JDE v4.6 are also available in the 4.7 version. You can find the official 4.6 JDE at this link and the 4.7 JDE Beta at this link
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