DoD Mobile Client-A Comparison between J2ME and Symbian Platforms

Abstract: With increasing need for mobile communication in today’s world, there has been a constant hike in the cost of mobile communication as well. To cater this problem of increased cost of communication, OptiCall AB has devised an integrated solution called Dial over Data, or DoD. DoD is an integrated Client-Server solution combining a mobile interface with Asterisks PBX and a GSM gateway in an intelligent way giving the customer various flexible ways of using their mobile phones and providing the ability to control their phones bills to a huge extent. The client part of the DoD solution is developed over J2ME platform and runs over Java enabled mobile phones. Although the client application provides the basic functionalities of dialing a call, call records, contacts etc, it lacks user friendliness. In order to make a call, the application needs to be started from the mobile phones’ application folder which is not the most natural way of making calls from mobile phones. This thesis project aims at exploring the possibilities of and developing a client application which is transparent to the users of mobile phones and provides them with the natural way of making call using the DoD solution. This thesis project analyses the existing J2ME client application for DoD solution to see how well it has been developed. It then compares the J2ME and the Symbian platforms to see which of the two platforms provides the capability of developing a transparent mobile client. In the end, we will develop a mobile client application which fulfils the major aim of this thesis work using one of the two platforms.