Cheap Mobile Mysteries: What Is Java?

Cheap Phone Mysteries: What Is Java?
Java is a technology that allows developers to create platform independent applications. What does this mean to you, the end user? It means that you can buy phones from lots of different companies and yet use the same applications. For the developers it is good because it allows them to create applications which run on lots on phones. For the user it is good because it means developers will be more interested in developing applications which results in there being a large quantity of applications for the users to enjoy. Most cheap phones have Java.

Java Apps
A Java app is simply an application which you can download and install on your phone if your phone supports java. There are many java applications available on the internet, free and commercial, which you can get for you java enabled phone. These java apps, once installed, provide functions ranging from educational, gaming, reference to many other things.
Java applications generally have the .jar or .jad extension.

Installation
Installing Java applications on your phone is not a hard thing to do. All that you have to do is get the file, copy to your phone and run it from your phone. Some companies, such as Nokia, provide a software suite which allows you to install applications through your computer. Most other companies simply require you to copy the java app on your phone and simply run it from the phone. You can also download them directly through your cell phone if you have GPRS, EDGE or 3G capability in your cell phone.

Compatibility
Just because your phone has java in it does not mean that all java applications will run on them. Most will run but there are going to be some issues with some apps. The reason is that some phones are too slow to run apps with 3d graphics. Screen resolution is also an issue; you will have to check that you are downloading an application for the correct screen resolution. If you download an app of a size other than the screen resolution of your phone then the application will display incorrectly on your phone. Some phones also have an older version of java which means newer java apps will not run.

Problems
There are a few problems which you have to keep in mind, such as
*Make sure you download an application with the right screen resolution
*Your cell phone may run some applications slowly because some java apps are very demanding
*You will need an internet connection on your phone or a cable connector in order to be able to put the java apps in your cell phone
*Make sure you only get java apps from trusted sites

Cheap cell phones have java apps because it allows the companies to allow apps without having to put in an elaborate operating system. Just go to some website and download java apps and run them on your phone. You will be amazed at the amount of java apps available and the variety of functions they perform